On 2008-12-31, Low Kian Seong <low.suse@gmail.com> wrote:

Most of the laptop has a hardware based wifi switch which can be used to achieve this.

On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 8:38 PM, r <r.trev@fastwebmail.it> wrote:

...

Hi, how to switch off permanently the wifi ( on laptop ) and switch on just when I want ??

I could be wrong, but it seems to me this works for windows. I explain. Yes there is a button to switch on wlan, and in windows it works so, but ( and here I could be wrong ) in linux it seems to me that the wlan is always active. For exemple, if I boot and go, with knetworkmanager in the tool for managing networks I see an option to switch off wlan. I tried to switch off but at reboot it was again active, so it seems to me the button doesn't works on linux. A tips I had is to blacklist the driver which kernel/networkmanager loads at boot, but my question is, if I don't load the driver I cannot connect ( until I do a modprobe ) to wlan, but the device itself is in anyway switched on ? because blacklisting the driver too, I, in networkmanager, see always the option to swirch off wifi. So it seems it is not switched off -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wednesday 31 December 2008, Anton Aylward wrote:

r said the following on 12/31/2008 09:00 AM:

Same here with my HP/Compaq Presario X6000 series machine. I've tried with 'ev' and that's the only button that doesn't send a signal, which makes me think its hard-wired. But under Windows, windows knows if its on or off, so its must be software readable.

And on Linux it doesn't turn the wifi on and off. So it can't be hard wired.

There's an inconsistency here which means we're missing something.

-- Now let us retract the foreskin of misconception and apply the wire brush of enlightenment. --Geoff Miller, in comp.lang.perl.moderated

I have a Compaq Presario V5030 running on 11.1 with a broadcom wirless chip the wifi button works ok here if i turn wirless off then reboot it stays off untill i manually press the switch to turn it on again running stock Opensuse 11.1 with that strange thing KDE 4.3.1 Pete . -- SuSE Linux 10.3-Alpha3. (Linux is like a wigwam - no Gates, no Windows, and an Apache inside.) -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wednesday 31 December 2008, Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. wrote:

On Wednesday 31 December 2008, peter nikolic <p.nikolic1@btinternet.com>

wrote about 'Re: [opensuse] Re: wifi':

...

that strange thing KDE 4.3.1

I think you mean 4.1.3. 4.2.0 isn't due out until Jan.

bout right .. thanks .. Pete . -- SuSE Linux 10.3-Alpha3. (Linux is like a wigwam - no Gates, no Windows, and an Apache inside.) -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

Dne četrtek 01 januar 2009 ob 14:15:58 je Sven Burmeister napisal(a):

Am Mittwoch, 31. Dezember 2008 15:00:20 schrieb r:

...

I could be wrong, but it seems to me this works for windows. I explain. Yes there is a button to switch on wlan, and in windows it works so, but ( and here I could be wrong ) in linux it seems to me that the wlan is always active. For exemple, if I boot and go, with knetworkmanager in the tool for managing networks I see an option to switch off wlan. I tried to switch off but at reboot it was again active, so it seems to me the button doesn't works on linux. A tips I had is to blacklist the driver which kernel/networkmanager loads at boot, but my question is, if I don't load the driver I cannot connect ( until I do a modprobe ) to wlan, but the device itself is in anyway switched on ? because blacklisting the driver too, I, in networkmanager, see always the option to swirch off wifi. So it seems it is not switched off

If so, report this to you hardware manufacturer/laptop seller and tell him that he should make sure that the driver handling your hardware is up to the job, since you paid the same money as a Windows user did. Windows would not work without drivers, MS does not write drivers, hardware suppliers do, so why should Linux work without drivers from hardware manufacturers? (Although it does, bu that's not the point.)

Sven

I'd like to add my 2 € cents to the above. In my view, the issue is a bit more complicated than that. Hardware is rarely made so it would "just work"; on the contrary, it usually works with specific OSes only; more frequently than not, the fact is visibly and clearly indicated before you buy (logos such as Vista- approved, Windows-compatible etc.) The HW vendors have no actual "obligation" to provide drivers for BeOS, FreeBSD, OS/2, CP/M or any other OS, as long as they SPECIFY what OS their hardware is intended for. Very very roughly speaking it is not too dissimilar to the situation where you buy a Diesel car and then complain why it doesn't run on, say, hydrogen, or ordinary gasoline, etc. In my view, however, there IS one thing we GNU/Linux users can do. But we must do it PRIOR to purchasing hardware: and that is, always purchase GNU/Linux supported/certified hardware. That way, certain pieces of hardware should get a noticeable increase in sales, while other models (even from the same vendor) should get a corresponding decrease. It shouldn't take long for the manufacturers to figure out why this is happening. To be sure, your approach still holds: making pressure on the manufacturers IS a good strategy and DOES produce results. The two aspects described are complementary; moreover, there may be additional ways to help manufacturers change their attitude. The whole issue ultimately depends on market share: once the GNU/Linux segment becomes interesting enough, you may be sure the HW industry will act accordingly. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

JosipBroz wrote:

I'd like to add my 2 € cents to the above. In my view, the issue is a bit more complicated than that. Hardware is rarely made so it would "just work"; on the contrary, it usually works with specific OSes only;

This is simply not so; in general, it's impossible. More below.

more frequently than not, the fact is visibly and clearly indicated before you buy (logos such as Vista- approved, Windows-compatible etc.) The HW vendors have no actual "obligation" to provide drivers for BeOS, FreeBSD, OS/2, CP/M or any other OS, as long as they SPECIFY what OS their hardware is intended for.

Here you're less wrong, but only in the sense that they have no "obligation" even to specify an OS; they do it to make sure that people who have sense enough to read the box will know that at least those drivers exist. And they provide drivers to the most popular OS's for marketing purposes only. Your comments would make better sense if you were talking about PCI vs. USB vs. SCSI, etc. Any piece of hardware has a physical interface which just a set of voltages, currents, and bit-pattern sequences. All OS drivers have 1) a physical interface consisting of addresses and these bit-pattern sequences and 2) OS-specific procedures and addresses. If you know the hardware sequences, you have everything you need to control the hardware completely under _any_ OS. If a vendor specifies these bit-pattern sequences completely and publicly, _any_ OS may have complete control of these devices. Where we run into difficulty is that many vendors hide this information from the outside world and write their own drivers. So, under linux, we have: 1) the ATI (now AMD) situation that much of their capability cannot be used until the Linux pros finally succeed in guessing what the sequences are to get to the advanced features; 2) the nvidia situation that the manufacturer actively supports linux by writing their own complete drivers, but keeps them closed to the public; 3) the Intel situation that the manufacturer both publishes complete access requirements to their hardware, and writes comprehensive drivers for linux. But _none_ of this has anything to do with "building hardware that only runs under a particular OS."

In my view, however, there IS one thing we GNU/Linux users can do. ...

I heartily endorse all the rest of your comments :-). I'm presently buying where possible only Intel hardware, since they are, as far as I know, the only manufacturer who provides open-source drivers, or at least open access information. A distant second for video might be nvidia, since they at least provide comprehensive linux support. But, since they don't provide anything I need beyond Intel (I'm not a gamer or advanced CAD person), I can do without the extra performance of nvidia or ATI. John Perry -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

Anders Johansson wrote:

...

ATI has been providing drivers for their cards for quite some time (not very good ones, but their drivers were never very good for any OS), and for some time now they have published their hardware specifications as well (see the radeonhd project). It takes a long time to write good drivers for 3d, it's not just "calling functions on the card" the way it would be for a network card, for instance, but no guesswork is involved

Ah. So I'm behind the times again. I've been watching hardware issues on opensuse and other lists, and, while I knew that the AMD buyout was hoped by the community to result in better linux support, I hadn't heard that anything was actually happening. So ATI would be in the nvidia category now, even if not very skillfully? Do you know of any specific (current) hardware that is hidden from us? jp -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org