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>Networking doesn't randomly break. This used to happen A LOT. The most stable solution I could find was just using wpa_supplicant and maintaining a load of con

>Networking doesn't randomly break. This used to happen A LOT. The most stable solution I could find was just using wpa_supplicant and maintaining a load of config files, which was irritating and time consuming. Did you try using NetworkManager instead of netctl? netctl can be a bit fiddly. In any case, as an Arch user for a few years, I can definitely say that Arch is not for people who want something that Just Works. If you go back to Linux, you might want to look at Linux Mint, or even Ubuntu, if you aren't put off by Canonical.

GrinningFool 10y ago
I know that I've tried wpa_supplicant directly, network manager, and a plethora of others... on anything that uses wifi (even when teh chip is 100% supported), it's always been hit or miss. The frustrating thing is that nothing in the system tells you why. Networking suddenly just stops networking over wifi. No logs show that anything happened at all -- but it's not going to work again until you restart services (or in some cases, reboot). This happens to me 2-3 times a week, usually at the most inconvenient times... Nearly as much fun is using the nvidia driver. Every time I pull down kernel updates, I hope that my desktop will return... actualy this was a worry under noveau as well, so perhaps it's only made worse by nvidia. With that said, I still like it better than my few years with Mac OS. It probably costs me ~2 hours a week in "crap I should not need to waste my time on", but I accept that tradeoff in order to have an environment that lets me work the way I prefer to work. (Not to mention the bump in hardware performance, memory, and ssd size that I was able to get for the same $$)
- Frondo 10y ago
  I know it's just anecdotes, but I've simply never had this problem with Linux networking. In the last several years, I've switched from one low-end laptop to another, and they've all just worked with the wifi and Network Manager.
  - GrinningFool 10y ago
    I have to assume most people don't really see this - if it was as significant enough problem, someone would've gotten frustrated enough and fixed it. Or at least made enough noise about it :) Without any hints from the system, though, I find I'm not really interested in doing the deep dive needed to figure out the real cause. If it was just a little more frequent - so that it became more impediment than nuisance - I'd likely end up doing so. In my case, I'm sure some of the problems are self inflicted. I got away from NetworkManager because of the same issue. I tried wicd, and am currently just using direct configuration in /etc/network/interfaces. Since it still occurs and presents the same way, it seems to suggest either wpa_supplicant or the driver itself is at the root of it.
- antihero 10y ago
  One thing I found that broke it seemingly without reason and took me months to figure out was that if you run a manager, then wpa_supplicant separately, they'll basically eat each other and kick you offline.
  - GrinningFool 10y ago
    Thanks, I've done enough different things to this machine that it's worth checking to see if there could be a conflict like that.

GrinningFool 10y ago

I know that I've tried wpa_supplicant directly, network manager, and a plethora of others... on anything that uses wifi (even when teh chip is 100% supported), it's always been hit or miss. The frustrating thing is that nothing in the system tells you why. Networking suddenly just stops networking over wifi. No logs show that anything happened at all -- but it's not going to work again until you restart services (or in some cases, reboot). This happens to me 2-3 times a week, usually at the most inconvenient times... Nearly as much fun is using the nvidia driver. Every time I pull down kernel updates, I hope that my desktop will return... actualy this was a worry under noveau as well, so perhaps it's only made worse by nvidia. With that said, I still like it better than my few years with Mac OS. It probably costs me ~2 hours a week in "crap I should not need to waste my time on", but I accept that tradeoff in order to have an environment that lets me work the way I prefer to work. (Not to mention the bump in hardware performance, memory, and ssd size that I was able to get for the same $$)

Frondo 10y ago
I know it's just anecdotes, but I've simply never had this problem with Linux networking. In the last several years, I've switched from one low-end laptop to another, and they've all just worked with the wifi and Network Manager.
- GrinningFool 10y ago
  I have to assume most people don't really see this - if it was as significant enough problem, someone would've gotten frustrated enough and fixed it. Or at least made enough noise about it :) Without any hints from the system, though, I find I'm not really interested in doing the deep dive needed to figure out the real cause. If it was just a little more frequent - so that it became more impediment than nuisance - I'd likely end up doing so. In my case, I'm sure some of the problems are self inflicted. I got away from NetworkManager because of the same issue. I tried wicd, and am currently just using direct configuration in /etc/network/interfaces. Since it still occurs and presents the same way, it seems to suggest either wpa_supplicant or the driver itself is at the root of it.
antihero 10y ago
One thing I found that broke it seemingly without reason and took me months to figure out was that if you run a manager, then wpa_supplicant separately, they'll basically eat each other and kick you offline.
- GrinningFool 10y ago
  Thanks, I've done enough different things to this machine that it's worth checking to see if there could be a conflict like that.