GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 709353
Two Bluetooth entries in the system status
Last modified: 2014-04-16 03:36:49 UTC
Created attachment 256358 [details] Screenshot See the screenshot. One is NetworkManager's bluetooth device, has "Turn Off" (which means disconnect and does not affect radio) and "Mobile Broadband Settings", the other is gnome-shell's bluetooth menu, has "Turn Off" (which brings the bt radio down) and "Bluetooth Settings". I'm filing a bug without a patch because I'm not sure what is the best solution. Maybe rename one to "Bluetooth Network" or "Bluetooth Hotspot"? Or maybe merge them? Note: if I disconnect from the hotspot, the second item disappears (because now there are 0 connected devices), the first one is visible, allowing me to connect again. If I disable bt radio, both disappear.
I also have two bluetooth items in the menu, and found it confusing. It's a tricky problem; I'll see if I can spend some time on it.
*** Bug 711633 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
OK, here are a few proposals: * Use the device name instead of "Bluetooth". * Only show the menu item if bluetooth is on [1]. * Use one of the signal strength icons if we have signal strength available. If we can't get the signal strength, use an icon for the device (phone, tablet, etc). We should also make sure that whatever we do here is mirrored in the network settings. [1] If you then select "Connect" from the submenu, we'd try and connect to the device.
Using 'Mobile Broadband' for the Network Manager entry would fit better, IMHO.
(In reply to comment #4) > Using 'Mobile Broadband' for the Network Manager entry would fit better, IMHO. Can you say why? What is the "Network Manager entry"?
The one with the cell phone icon in Giovanni's screenshot is the "Network Manager entry". It's about Bluetooth networking, not about Bluetooth in general.
(In reply to comment #6) > The one with the cell phone icon in Giovanni's screenshot is the "Network > Manager entry". It's about Bluetooth networking, not about Bluetooth in > general. Exactly. And the link to the settings from the menu is called 'Mobile Broadband Settings'... that's why. I think it would be coherent.
(In reply to comment #6) > The one with the cell phone icon in Giovanni's screenshot is the "Network > Manager entry". Thanks for the clarification. > It's about Bluetooth networking, not about Bluetooth in > general. Ah yes, I see the point. However, I think the problem with calling it "Mobile Broadband" or "Bluetooth Networking" or some other service type is that it sounds very generic. This isn't some abstract or generally available capability - it comes from a particular device. It doesn't make sense unless you specify which device the bluetooth network connection is coming from. Also, I assume that you may have more than one device paired over bluetooth, each providing bluetooth network services. What I think we could maybe do is use the names of the actions within the menu to clarify what is going on. Instead of having a "Connect" option, it could have "Use as internet connection", for example.
(In reply to comment #8) > (In reply to comment #6) > > The one with the cell phone icon in Giovanni's screenshot is the "Network > > Manager entry". > > Thanks for the clarification. > > > It's about Bluetooth networking, not about Bluetooth in > > general. > > Ah yes, I see the point. However, I think the problem with calling it "Mobile > Broadband" or "Bluetooth Networking" or some other service type is that it > sounds very generic. This isn't some abstract or generally available capability > - it comes from a particular device. It doesn't make sense unless you specify > which device the bluetooth network connection is coming from. > > Also, I assume that you may have more than one device paired over bluetooth, > each providing bluetooth network services. Well, the code is already built to disambiguate in case you have multiple bluetooth phones configured for tethering (although it's buggy right now and will end up with "Bluetooth (bnep0)" and "Bluetooth (bnep1)" or so). Of course, we can change that code to always include the device name. (Note that the code is currently shared with gnome-control-center, where there is less ambiguity as to the meaning of "Bluetooth") Moreover, the screenshot does not show it for some reason, but as soon as you activate the tethering, the connection name (which is usually "<device name> Network") will be shown in the status area. We can maybe always include that, or put that in place of the device name. The case would still be ambiguous if you have multiple connections for one bt device (say, one for tethering and one for using the phone as a modem). > What I think we could maybe do is use the names of the actions within the menu > to clarify what is going on. Instead of having a "Connect" option, it could > have "Use as internet connection", for example. It would still be two menus, identical from the outside, wouldn't it?
(In reply to comment #9) ... > > What I think we could maybe do is use the names of the actions within the menu > > to clarify what is going on. Instead of having a "Connect" option, it could > > have "Use as internet connection", for example. > > It would still be two menus, identical from the outside, wouldn't it? Not entirely sure I understand your question... each bluetooth tethered network device would have a submenu (labelled with the device name); each menu would contain the same actions.
Created attachment 267443 [details] [review] NetworkMenu: show the device name instead of Bluetooth To distinguish the bluetooth network menu from the bluetooth menu proper, use the device name as the label. Also, replace Connect with "Use as Internet connection"
Created attachment 267444 [details] [review] BluetoothMenu: show the submenu when active but not connected Following the updated designs for system status, show the submenu but not the indicator when bluetooth radio is on but no device is connected.
Review of attachment 267444 [details] [review]: OK.
Review of attachment 267443 [details] [review]: Code looks OK, want to make sure it passes by design review. If it's good, ACN. ::: js/ui/status/network.js @@ +539,3 @@ + + getConnectLabel: function() { + return _("Use as Internet connection"); Have you double-checked this with Allan? It's not on https://wiki.gnome.org/Design/OS/SystemStatus
What if the other bluetooth entry in the menu (the one with the bluetooth icon) contained a shortcut to bluetooth-sendto? It's been a bit cumbersome since the unified system status to send files to a bluetooth device - you must open the bluetooth settings to do it.
Attachment 267443 [details] pushed as ed53a45 - NetworkMenu: show the device name instead of Bluetooth Attachment 267444 [details] pushed as aa42684 - BluetoothMenu: show the submenu when active but not connected
Ok, I upgraded to gnome 3.12. The 'Use as Internet Connection' appeared only once. When I removed the device and set it up again, this still happens: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=712383