I have a laptop with two cardbus cards:

1. Standard rtl-8139 -based 10/100Mbps ethernet card (used with DHCP and static addresses)

2. Rt2400-based 11Mbps wireless netword card (to connect to 2-3 different wireless routers)

Currently I use "ifplugd" for the 10/100Mbps ethernet. As "ifplugd" gets it interface info from /etc/network/interfaces, it can only cope with one configuration setting. So, to use DHCP on eth0 (not default), I have to reconfigure the interface manually (with dpkg-reconfigure etherconf) to make it work.

As for my wireless card, although the "Ralink utility" is quite good, if I know the (iwconfig) settings, I don't need it. Am I correct?


So to my question: is there some program or "Debian Way" of creating different network profiles for this kind of scenario? I don't mind activating the right profile manually... Or do I just write a bunch of scripts?

Thanks in advance!

i've seen utilities that can store and then activate/deactivate network profiles. these are generally GUI apps to be run after boot (obviously).

i've been playing with my own scripting for slackware that probes the network and determines the configuration to use during boot. but i know that i want my machine to operate in this order:
1) static IP if plugged into home network (determined by MAC of server)
2) dynamic ip if plugged into remote network
3) static ip if wirelessly connected to home network (again - MAC test)
4) give up, leaving the user to connect to any wireless network available.

so the end result to your question:
it's a matter of preference on your part, perhaps a GUI util for managing profiles is what you want. or perhaps you'd be happy hacking your boot process. or perhaps you'd just rather deal with any network changes as you go to remote networks...