Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Network Bug Update

The network bug is still active and on my mind.  It even lives in a Firefox bookmark folder for active Launchpad bugs.

I've been in touch with the person who appears to be most responsible for the patch that disables the interface in gnome-network-admin.  Unfortunately he has been too busy to attend to this situation but I'm going to keep following up with him though.

However, I consider user's experience as one of the top priorities for Ubuntu Studio.  As such, the inability to configure an internet connection, especially for those on wifi or without routers, should be viewed as a major regression in my opinion.

Therefore, I am considering switching gnome-network-admin to network-manager which should give access to network interface configuration and also bring Ubuntu Studio closer in line to what Ubuntu desktop are doing as well.

This is not a definitive decision at this point, but I would consider a flawed solution better than a broken solution at this point.  However imperfect the situation may be, we simply need to find the most optimal solution to improve usability.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Scott, no doubt a need exists to quell this Foxfire bug as it relates to UbuStu; but explain your use of the word "regression". As a research scientist in the 70s we did thousands of multiple regression equations to arrive at answers. What's being said when you use this word?

Scott Lavender said...

Clarification: the bug does not relate or afflict Firefox, rather this bug prevents users from configuring a network connection on a fresh install of Ubuntu Studio. You can find more information in the bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-system-tools/+bug/570828

I mention Firefox because I keep the link bookmarked in a folder specifically designated for active Launchpad bugs so that I don't forget them.

As to the use of the word 'regression'; at one time Ubuntu Studio had the functionality to configure network directly after a fresh installation, it no longer has that functionality.

I consider this a 'regression' in functionality for Ubuntu Studio. I believe this is a common understanding in Launchpad.