wicd - better wireless network manager than NetworkManager?
Dan Williams
dcbw at redhat.com
Mon Mar 10 14:28:33 UTC 2008
On Mon, 2008-03-10 at 14:29 +0100, Valent Turkovic wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 6:33 PM, Paul Johnson <pauljohn32 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 9:07 AM, Valent Turkovic
> >
> > <valent.turkovic at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > On Mon, Mar 3, 2008 at 4:40 PM, yonas Abraham <yabraham2 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >
> >
> > > > /yonas
> > >
> > > Any chance you make a package for us who are packaging-impaired :)
> > >
> > > Valent.
> >
> > Yes, I made a package, but have mixed success with the wireless
> > detection in wicd 1.4.2t. Maybe you should test it out, see if it
> > works for you.
> >
> > http://pj.freefaculty.org/Fedora/8/i386/kups/packages/wicd-1.4.2-1f8.pj.noarch.rpm
> >
> > http://pj.freefaculty.org/Fedora/8/i386/kups/packages/wicd-1.4.2-1f8.pj.src.rpm
> >
> > wicd is not a "compiled" program, it is just python scripts, and
> > that's why it is noarch.
> >
> >
> > Turn off NetworkManager service, either by using system-config-services or
> >
> > /sbin/service NetworkManager stop
> >
> > That stops it temporarily, there is a chkconfig command that can do
> > so, but I always just use system-config-services because it "just
> > works" for me.
> >
> > How to use it:
> >
> > Install the first RPM, then start the wicd daemon with (as root)
> >
> > # /etc/init.d/wicd start
> >
> > Then start the gui configuration thing like so:
> >
> > # /opt/wicd/gui.py
> >
> > Tell it the name of your wireless device (for me, it is eth1, but for
> > people using the builtin Fedora setup, it is often wlan0). I don't
> > know how to give it what it wants for WPA.
> >
> > That does not automatically start a system tray icon, for that
> >
> > # /opt/wicd/tray.py
> >
> > Here's what you see in the terminal. This is my third restart and
> > third separate environment testing wicd, and it is the first time I've
> > seen it work. One different is that now I am within a full gnome
> > session, but yesterday I was trying it in a non-desktop setup with
> > just a window manager running. So maybe Gnome gives some glue that
> > holds it together., I don't know. See it does find an ESSID here.
> >
> > # /etc/init.d/wicd start
> > Stopping any running daemons...
> > Starting wicd daemon...
> > /opt/wicd
> > wicd daemon: pid 3753
> > # /opt/wicd/gui.py
> > attempting to connect daemon...
> > success
> > starting gui.py...
> > refreshing...
> > using global dns: 0
> > disabling ip
> > disabling dns
> > dns checkbox toggled False
> > global dns checkbox toggled False
> > no wired profiles found
> > Number of wireless networks detected: 1
> > using global dns: 0
> > ESSID : sbhsd Yello Sub
> > making a new network entry...
> > disabling ip
> > disabling dns
> > dns checkbox toggled False
> > global dns checkbox toggled False
> > 0
> > found language key key
> >
> >
> > If I thought this framework was fundamentally sound, I might go to the
> > wicd group to try to find out why it doesn't work all the time for me.
> > Could be some inconsistency with the ipw3945 card, or possibly the
> > fact that I don't have any WPA bothers it. It is true that
> > NetworkManager is a pain, and wifi-radar is just OK. I'll keep trying,
> > now that I have seen it work once.
> >
> > My personal opinion is that this program is not quite ready for people
> > who "really need to have an RPM" before they can use it, if you know
> > what I mean. If you really need somebody to build an RPM, it could be
> > a sign you aren't ready to wade through their Debian-oriented website
> > and translate it into Fedora-speak. But you can try it and see.
> >
> > Warning: this is not designed to fit in well with RedHat or Fedora
> > (and I did not take the initiative to re-craft the program for them).
> > The wicd framework does not use anything similar to a standard
> > filesystem and it sticks out like a sore thumb in a Fedora System,
> > dropping scripts into /opt/wicd. Plus the wicd starter they supply in
> > /etc/init.d is not consistent with chkconfig, so you have to start its
> > daemon manually (as I showed above). On the wicd website, they have a
> > page discussing running wicd on Fedora 7 and that has what appears to
> > be a workable daemon starter. If wicd had worked for me the first
> > time, I would have patched their code and/or the SPEC file and put in
> > a working daemon starter/stopper script, but since it did not, I did
> > not.
> >
> > Other than that, I found the wicd experience to be completely satisfying.
> >
> > Somehow, I feel as though I've just spent an hour punching a heavy bag
> > with boxing gloves on.
> >
> > --
> > Paul E. Johnson
> > Professor, Political Science
> > 1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504
> > University of Kansas
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > fedora-list mailing list
> > fedora-list at redhat.com
> > To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
> >
>
>
> I tested wich and it works great!
> I really hope that NM gets this kind of configuration options that
> wicd has! You can really easy choose all options, be it dhcp, static
> IP, wep & wpa encryption, different profiles if you roam with your
> laptop a lot on wired connection... in one word - excellent!
>
> I really would like to see NM get these features and if not then that
> fedora devels check this app and maybe even include it by default in
> F10 if NM turns out to be not moving forward fast enough.
NM 0.7 has all these features underneath; the one missing bit is the
edit support in the connection editor (right-click on the applet and
pick Edit Connections...). Also, if you set up a static IP
configuration in system-config-network, NetworkManager will use that
static connection when it's available, and allow you to choose it from
the menu.
Dan
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