[KDE-India] a network config wizard for linux

[Vivek Rai]

> First things first: this has already been done. Check the Pardus
> distro for a good one. I believe Suse also does this in Yast (which is
> being ported to Debian-distros in the Yast4debian project). IIRC,
> guidance also provides a module for this.
>
yast4debian  was a great idea and great project. sadly, the status  
does not look promising.. and has not had much activity in last 2 years?

I have seen and tried the pardus network manager, and had interacted  
with the pardus team just before I started work on this, I have  
looked at its code too.. trust me, i had no reason to spend many  
hours on re-inventing the wheel..

pardus network manager relies on (and is very tightly coupled with)  
the comar config daemon, running pardus config network manager on any  
other distribution requires u to also run comard - not always  
straightforward..

also, its scope is different, if u just want what pardus n/w manager  
provides, there are a lot of similar tools (like the ones u  
mention).. these allow u to input some basic connection params, and  
the TCP/IP settings, for some of the basic connection methods.

my aim was to provide something that does all of the below, (in  
addition to what pardus or other n/w mgr gives)

1. device config - (relevant for users with wifi cards, internal  
modems) look up PCI ID's guide the user thru setup of suitable  
drivers ... arguably the most difficult problem for a newbie linux  
user.. if the device config is present.. rest is not really a problem.

2. "plugin" like support for any non-standard ISP specific clients  
(sifyclient types, or those used with some cable ISP's) - the idea  
being that u just provide a way of easily defining the GUI input for  
any new type of client, and fit this into a single configuration  
application... (a new user doesnt want to get confused with something  
like.. ohh ok.. u are on sify, use this CLI tool, and use that one  
for reliance etc.. this wizard provides a centralized place for  
anything related to network)

3. pre-configured ISP details.. again, a simple enough thing, but can  
be very valuable for newbie users...

4. handle direct ADSL using pppoa/ppoe, use multiple dialers (wvdial,  
kppp, or anything..), any specific cable authentication...

>> b) a taskbar application that shows configured connections, and
>> status etc (this is for KDE, i suppose we would have to code a
>> different one for gnome - perhaps reusing a lot of code) .. i havent
>> checked this in.. yet..
>
> Secondly, there is absolutely no need for something "gnome-specific"
> as far as systray applications are concerned (especially one that is
> done in PyQt). Echoing gnomey's standard comment on such a statement,
> the use of Qt (or GTK) does not make one's application
> desktop-specific.
>
OK, thats good to know, I have not done much study on it, and I was  
under the impression that i would have to decouple the core  
processing of my systray applet code from the UI, and have 2  
versions.. one a KSystemTray  and other a gnome PanelApplet. Either  
ways, thats a minor thing.