Hi Troy,

Thanks for your message. I tried NetworkManagerInfo last night, and as 
you said might happen, the kernel hung :(

What I did was to go to System_Settings -> Server_Settings -> Services 
and started NetworkManager. It started with no problems. I then started 
NetworkManagerInfo and it gave me a few available wireless networks and 
their signal strengths. So far so good. I then typed in my SSID (which 
is hidden) and at this point it hung the machine. I was speaking to a 
linux expert and he was wondering if it has to do with the fact that it 
was a hidden n/w. It is quite possible that it might work if its an open 
network. Something that I will try when I get a chance.

Thanks!
Shri.

Troy Dawson wrote:

> Shrihari Gopalakrishna wrote:
>
>> Hello!
>>
>> I had SL40rolling (and updated to SL4.1 as per instructions on this 
>> list) on an IBM Thinkpad T42 and would appreciate any help on getting 
>> the following working: (I am new to linux setup)
>>
> ...
>
>> 4)  A general wireless question: Is there someway to switch easily 
>> between wireless settings when I move from place to place (from home 
>> to work and back etc). I think right now I have to edit info in 
>> System_settings->Network (system-config-network) for it to work. 
>> There is something called "profile" in system-config-network - is 
>> this supposed to enable easy switching between access points?
>>
>> I would appreciate any help.
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Shri.
>
>
> For the wireless question
>
> There is a program called NetworkManager.  It probrubly is installed, 
> but not turned on.  This is because it currently is very picky about 
> what network card get's used.  But I believe your's is one that will 
> work.
> Basically what it does is makes it easy for *users* (you don't have to 
> be root to use it, only to set it up) to connect to various wireless 
> networks.  It basically will put a little icon on your panel, that you 
> can click and select which wireless network to connect to.
> Note: results have varied from computer to computer.  From "this is 
> the greatest thing i've seen" to "the stupid thing completely locks my 
> computer up."  So try it, if it works, that is great and let us know. 
> If it doesn't, sorry about that, and let us know also.
>
> Installation and setup
>
>   yum install NetworkManager\*
> (that should get NetworkManager and NetworkManager-gnome)
>   /sbin/chkconfig --level 345 NetworkManager on
> (and so you don't have to reboot the machine to start the deamon do)
>   /etc/init.d/NetworkManager start
> (Then as a regular user, on either gnome or kde do)
>   NetworkManagerInfo
>
> This should start the user interface, which gives you a icon on the 
> panel, that you can then click on and select your network.
>
> Some nice features, that can be changed.  If you have a wired 
> connection AND a wireless connection, it will prefer the wired and 
> turn off your wireless.  But when you remove your network wire, it 
> will detect that and switch you back to wireless.
> You can also confgure your WEP stuff through it as well, and tell it 
> which wireless networks are prefered.
>
> On the downside.  If your machine DOES lockup when you select a 
> wireless machine.  Power cycle the machine and at least turn 
> NetworkManager off
>
>   /sbin/chkconfig --level 345 NetworkManager off
>   /etc/init.d/NetworkManger stop
>
> or just remove it
>   yum remove NetworkManger\*
>
> Troy
>