UI bug with setting up 40MHz modes on certain channels
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 8:40 pm
I'll start off with a disclaimer...I'm trying this out on a dual radio router, which doesn't seem to be properly supported yet, but I have a feeling that this issue appears on other routers besides mine (as Gargoyle seems to set up one of my radios correctly, even if it won't let me access the second).
When you set the channel width to 40MHz, it seems Gargoyle always wants to set the mode for that to HT+. Trouble is, if you do this at the top of the allowable frequency range (Channel 11 in most countries), wifi will refuse to start. So while I can start wifi on channel 2 with 40MHz mode enabled, I can't start it on channel 11.
There are three ways this can be fixed. Either:
* an option can be added for +/- mode in the dropdown menu,
* more intuitively, the gui could display a "+ channel 2" next to the channel where channel 1 and 40MHz is selected, but automatically change that to "and channel 10" where channel 11 is the max channel and is selected along with 40MHz.
* probably the best, and least confusing option would be to just leave the setting as always HT+ mode, but hide the highest channels that are unavailable with this setting. Perhaps adding a note about the additional channel used next to the channel here would also let the user better know what's going on...
This of course all assumes that we're following a philosophy of trying to prevent the user from making mistakes, and not assuming they know everything about how what they're doing works...if I can make this mistake, a lot of other people will too...though they probably won't be able to figure out what they did wrong...
When you set the channel width to 40MHz, it seems Gargoyle always wants to set the mode for that to HT+. Trouble is, if you do this at the top of the allowable frequency range (Channel 11 in most countries), wifi will refuse to start. So while I can start wifi on channel 2 with 40MHz mode enabled, I can't start it on channel 11.
There are three ways this can be fixed. Either:
* an option can be added for +/- mode in the dropdown menu,
* more intuitively, the gui could display a "+ channel 2" next to the channel where channel 1 and 40MHz is selected, but automatically change that to "and channel 10" where channel 11 is the max channel and is selected along with 40MHz.
* probably the best, and least confusing option would be to just leave the setting as always HT+ mode, but hide the highest channels that are unavailable with this setting. Perhaps adding a note about the additional channel used next to the channel here would also let the user better know what's going on...
This of course all assumes that we're following a philosophy of trying to prevent the user from making mistakes, and not assuming they know everything about how what they're doing works...if I can make this mistake, a lot of other people will too...though they probably won't be able to figure out what they did wrong...