DialUpSupport

Please check the status of this specification in Launchpad before editing it. If it is Approved, contact the Assignee or another knowledgeable person before making changes.

Summary

It should be easy to configure dial-up and ADSL out of the box, we should use Network Manager to at least bring the connections up and down.

Release Note

This section should include a paragraph describing the end-user impact of this change. It is meant to be included in the release notes of the first release in which it is implemented. (Not all of these will actually be included in the release notes, at the release manager's discretion; but writing them is a useful exercise.)

It is mandatory.

Rationale

This should cover the _why_: why is this change being proposed, what justifies it, where we see this justified.

Use Cases

1. Andres is anxiously waiting for it's new ADSL Broadband service recently aquired. When the technician finally arrives , he/she starts to unpack the adsl modem, connects the telephone line and connects your desktop pc or laptop to the adsl modem. He/she stares at you and asks you. ¿Where are the dial-up networking folder? ¿Is this windows?. You proudly smile and show him/her the Network Manager, ready for an easy configuration. No more pppoeconfig!!!

2. John is in Taiwan, and needs to be able to switch between PPP profiles due to their ADSL setup. He connects his machine to the switch, chooses the correct PPP profile and is then able to play World of Warcraft(tm) as much as he wants

3. Jane is attempting to connect to the Internet via her cell phone. The configuration utility detects that this is a cell network and offers the possibility of choosing an access point and sending the PIN before connecting

4. Matthias would like his ISDN to work properly. NetworkManager should query HAL to determine which extra parameters are required for PPP and pass this automatically.

Assumptions

NetworkManager 0.7 will become available and stable within the Hardy timescale

Design

You can have subsections that better describe specific parts of the issue.

Implementation

Most of this functionality should be provided by the PPP functionality implemented in version 0.7 of Network Manager. Investigation is required in order to check whether it provides the necsesary UI for all of these use cases, and some work may be required on the configuration interface. This is likely to be significantly less work than adding this functionality to an abandoned branch of development.

HAL requires extra fdi information in order to provide the correct capabilities for ISDN and cell hardware.

UI Changes

Some additional UI may be required in Network Manager to support the desired use cases (setting APN and PIN for cell networks, for example)

Code Changes

Additional code may be required to support the UI configuration changes. Bugs may need to be fixed.

Migration

Migration from existing static PPP configurations is likely to be impractical.

Test/Demo Plan

Coordinate with QA team to create a community testing process.

Outstanding Issues

We need to perform more investigation of the current state of Network Manager in order to determine whether this is feasible within the Hardy timescale.

KNetworkManager will also be updated for 0.7, but a timescale for this will not be known until NM 0.7 is more clear.

ISDN still needs manual configuration, but could be fixed at runtime if coded properly. This may not just be a simple matter of coding, as non-free drivers are involved.

Documentation on the wiki, https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DialupModemHowto and https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DialupModemHowto/SetUpDialer, needs to be complelty re-written as it is way out of date.

Comments

There is an older spec with similar scope: EasyUsbAdsl - check it out. -- AzraelNightwalker 2007-10-31 23:08:58

Another similar spec: PPPOESpec


CategorySpec

DialUpSupport (last edited 2008-08-06 17:00:05 by localhost)