Network Settings tool, PPPoE DSL, Ubuntu 8.04

[Russell McOrmond]

Don Kelly wrote:
> There has (historically) been little relation b/w /etc/network (a
> Debian concept) and NetworkManager. In order to use NetworkManager for
> wireless interface control, I've had to disable everything except lo
> in /etc/network/interfaces. I would assume the same goes for ppp.

   The Network Manager seems to claim that it can tell the OS to bring 
the link up at boot.  But that fails.

> Of course, this means no network w/o running the desktop (which seems
> to be acceptable in the setting you've outlined). The alternative is
> to configure ppp using /etc/network.

   I'm likely to just configure it in /etc/network so it connects at 
boot, just like Windows would do, and disable the Network Manager applet.

   While great advise for me, not so great for your average desktop user 
who should be able to do this level of simple thing from the GUI.  In 
Fedora their system-config-network tool seems to just get the job done 
and work without needing to go to the command line at all.

   This is the desktop of a convert from Windows, with this being their 
first Linux destkop.  It has been a little frustrating that I've had to 
admit to him that there are a few areas where Linux (and specifically 
Ubuntu) lack polish.  The two areas I've had problems (the missing /boot 
partition to deal with big disks, and now Network Manager) are areas 
where Fedora works out of the box.

   Any chance one of the more geeky Ubuntu evangelists on this forum can 
take this up as a challenge to work out for a future release of Ubuntu?

> Don Kelly/

Thanks!

-- 
  Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/>
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