When I first saw NetworkManager back in Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft), I realized what a godsend it was. Previously connected to a wireless network was to the new user confusing at best. Previously I had created scripts that used iwlist, iwconfig, ifconfig…, then NetworkManager came in and make my laptop truely mobile. When I moved to Gentoo, NetworkManager took a bit more to set up so I wrote the NetworkManager wiki.
Lately though I’ve discovered NetworkManager doesn’t configure dhcp correctly with certain networks, and I have to configure dhcp manually. This isn’t a big deal, but it is an inconvienance. Lately, I heard boast about another wired/wireless network manager called Wicd so I decided to give it a try.
In Gentoo it’s easy to set up, just emerge it and add it to the default run level:
sudo emerge -v wicd sudo rc-update add wicd default
Also if using baselayouts network-connecting scripts disable them. Either delete the net.eth0, net.ath1 links (or whatever they are called) or you can edit “rc.conf” which located in /etc/ if using OpenRC or in /etc/conf.d/ (if you haven’t migrated to OpenRC yet), and edit the preference “rc_plug_services” to “!net.*” Leave net.lo alone though as loopback will still be needed.
Stop NetworkManager daemon and load Wicd daemon:
sudo /etc/init.d/NetworkManager stop sudo /etc/init.d/wicd start
Restart X server so the applet is loaded:
Wicd is a claims to work well with lightweight desktops. Clicking on the notification icon will bring up the Wicd Manager.
Wicd will not connect automaticly to a network unless the option is selected, which I think is a good idea:
The preferences of Wicd allow connecting to more difficult networks.
Looks like I got a new network manager. Thanks to the developers of Wicd.
What a coincidence. I myself decided to ditch NetworkManager and install Wicd just yesterday. So far it works just as well, and with much less dependencies than NM.
I’m going to try out the custom encryption templates at my school’s wonky network today. If Wicd passes that test, I’m switching to it permanently.
For some mystical reasons wicd does not start via its init script at boot on my Gentoo box (OpenRC 0.4.2).
So I just made it to start via /etc/init.d/local. Belive it or not but _nothing_ else helped me to get it started at boot.
Here is my /etc/conf.d/local:
local_start() {
/usr/sbin/wicd &>/dev/null
return 0
}
local_stop() {
pkill wicd
return 0
}