Re: 9.1.0 : netinst : installs well, but useless after firstboot

[Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk>]

On Fri 06 Oct 2017 at 11:59:17 -0500, David Wright wrote:

> On Fri 06 Oct 2017 at 16:35:53 (+0100), Brian wrote:
> > On Fri 06 Oct 2017 at 20:25:51 +0530, Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
> > 
> > > On Fri, Oct 06, 2017 at 02:07:27PM +0100, Brian wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > As for your present issue:
> > > > 
> > > >  allow-hotplug wlo1
> > > >  iface wlo1 inet dhcp
> > > > 	wpa-ssid <station>
> > > > 	wpa-psk <passphrase>
> > > > 
> > > > in /e/n/i should work.
> > > 
> > > tried it, no effect, on close inspection of the boot-up process,
> > > the problem seems to be with the wifi hardware on my laptop.
> > > it takes more time to initialize and hence when "allow-hotplug"
> > > based commands are executed it isn't ready for work.
> > 
> > I've not usually encountered any problem with this stanza. I'm also
> > fairly sure it is what a preseeded installer gives you. You could
> > try "auto", I suppose.
> > 
> > > after letting the system boot-up, i have to wait a few seconds
> > > before i can issue "ifup wlo1" and that too takes unusually
> > > long to complete.
> > 
> > It could be dhcp taking its time. Use 'ifup -v wlo1' to find out.
> 
> My own experience is that ifup/down works fine with ethernet
> but is hopeless with wifi because there's nothing to restart
> it if/when the signal drops out.
> 
> So I install wicd-curses which has a daemon to monitor the service
> and restart it as necessary. You don't have to be root to run it
> either.
> 
> However, you would need to remove/comment out the   iface wlo1
> stanza from /e/n/i because its presence would prevent wicd from
> managing that interface.
> 
> Remember to start with P in wicd-curses to check that it knows
> to look for wlo1 and not wlan0.
> 
> (Please correct any misconceptions I might have.)

I do not think you necessarily have any miscoconceptions and, if you
have, I am not the one to disabuse you of them. My laptop's wireless
is managed by ifupdown and wpa_supplicant. Switching off the wireless
access point and switching it on again sees the laptop reconnect to
the access point. It could be ifplugd is involved in the process but
I have not examined the fine details of my setup to find out.

OTOH, the wireless sometimes drops out without my intervention. Then
I have to resort to ejecting and reserting the PCMCIA card to get it
going again. One day (I say to myself) I'll work out what is happening.

I see WiFi as akin to magic. All those elecromagnetic waves bouncing
of many walls and doors and even penetrating them when they shouldn't.
While I prefer ethernet connections I can live with wireless if it
behaves itself :).

wicd is fine but it utterly dependent on the supplicant. Now I am
thinking how to adapt my setup (if necessary) to do the same as the
wicd-curses daemon.

-- 
Brian.