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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