http://www.redhat.com/magazine/003jan05/features/networkmanager/
That article describes a new NetworkManager "subsystem" (consisting of a daemon and some frontend GUIs) which does all it can to get and keep a network connection, be it wireless or wired. The interface lets you switch between wired and wireless, and pick up new wireless networks quickly from a GUI without arcane editing of wireless opts files.
Fedora Core 3 users have it already, or can get it with a simple 'yum install NetworkManager'. Others can build it assuming they have GTK/Gnome development libraries loaded. It uses the new FreeDesktop.org D-BUS and HAL subsystems to do its work, so you may need to be running a reasonably recent desktop.
Only downside I see currently is lack of support for Prism-based cards. But Atheros (madwifi), Cisco Aironet and the Intel chips found in Centrino laptops are supported.
It looks quite promising! Future plans include VPN management and a two-way interface with desktop apps (the magic of D-BUS!) so things such as mail clients can switch to offline mode and back based on what NetworkManager reports.
-- Joshua Penix http://www.binarytribe.com Binary Tribe Linux Integration Services & Network Consulting
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