# wicd vs network manager

## BK201

Currently I am using network manager with my minimalist laptop install (no DE, no gdm, etc) and I am not entirely impressed with how it works (gnome deps, need X server running, etc). The only feature NM seems to have over wicd is better integration with desktop apps, for example putting pidgin into offline mode. What are everyones experiences with the two?

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## jcTux

Personally, in minimalist environment I use wpa_supplicant &   wpa_gui to manage networks. 

It's light and esay to setup.

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## d2_racing

A good thing about WICD, it doesn't need any WM to work, I mean on the boot runlevel, you can have a working wifi card and a lan card.

Network Manager need to be in X to start working.

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## kukibl

 *d2_racing wrote:*   

> A good thing about WICD, it doesn't need any WM to work

 

++

You could try cnetworkmanager. I've used it during my "Fedora days" and it worked just fine.

My choice in general is WICD, though. :Smile: 

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## Rexilion

 *BK201 wrote:*   

> Currently I am using network manager with my minimalist laptop install (no DE, no gdm, etc) and I am not entirely impressed with how it works (gnome deps, need X server running, etc). The only feature NM seems to have over wicd is better integration with desktop apps, for example putting pidgin into offline mode. What are everyones experiences with the two?

 

If you consider glib as a gnome dependency, yes then NetworkManager pulls in gnome. However, what does need a working desktop environment is nm-applet which is optional.

You could only install NetworkManager and as the previous poster stated use cnetworkmanager. That way, you banish a lot of new gnome dependency's.

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## depontius

 *d2_racing wrote:*   

> A good thing about WICD, it doesn't need any WM to work, I mean on the boot runlevel, you can have a working wifi card and a lan card.
> 
> Network Manager need to be in X to start working.

 

I'm looking at getting started with wicd, and noticed that the wiki has it starting in the boot runlevel.  Seems to me that it should be starting in default instead of boot.  I get the impression that wicd uses dbus, and dbus is currently started in default.  Can someone point to guidance for the separation and choice of boot vs default for inits?

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## d2_racing

Hi, you should check inside the file :

```

# cat /etc/init.d/wicd

```

I think that wicd depends on dbus and hald actually.

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## ippo

 *d2_racing wrote:*   

> ...
> 
> I think that wicd depends on dbus and hald actually.

 

Indeed, but my wicd works without hald  :Wink:  (I`ve removed hal out of system).

BTW - wicd doesn`t need X, in CLI you can use wicd-curses to configure wicd, in X - wicd-client (but after last upgrade my wicd-client is dead).

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## depontius

@d2_racing - I did check, it needs dbus and uses hald, both of which are normally started in default, not boot.  That's why I was asking why the Gentoo wicd wiki and other forum posts suggest starting it in boot instead of default.

@ippo - Elsewhere in the forums, it looks like someone solved your problem by downgrading dbus.  There is a bug filed, also.  They started the wicd daemon in the foreground and watched it spit error messages related to dbus.

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## xaviermiller

Hello,

Do I still need ifplug / netplug with wicd, or do wicd handle unplugged interfaces (ethernet without cable, non-connected wifi, ...) ?

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## ippo

 *depontius wrote:*   

> ....
> 
> @ippo - Elsewhere in the forums, it looks like someone solved your problem by downgrading dbus.  There is a bug filed, also.  They started the wicd daemon in the foreground and watched it spit error messages related to dbus.

 

Thanks, but i think it`s strange in stable gentoo  :Wink: 

Hm, i`m using dbus-1.2.24...

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## depontius

 *ippo wrote:*   

>  *depontius wrote:*   ....
> 
> @ippo - Elsewhere in the forums, it looks like someone solved your problem by downgrading dbus.  There is a bug filed, also.  They started the wicd daemon in the foreground and watched it spit error messages related to dbus. 
> 
> Thanks, but i think it`s strange in stable gentoo 
> ...

 

I think it's strange, too.  They had to downgrade to 1.2.23-something.  I suggested that it not be marked [solved] if stable doesn't work together.  They've filed a bug, and we don't have a [workaround] tag.

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## ippo

 *depontius wrote:*   

>  ...Elsewhere in the forums, it looks like someone solved your problem by downgrading dbus.  ....

 

Show me this topic, please - i can`t find it..  :Sad:  There is 5 sites of search results if i type "dbus" to search...

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## depontius

Here: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-6377221.html#6377221

I just downgraded dbus, myself.  I installed wicd the other day, and am getting set to try it out.  Today I do the stuff manually in an xterm.  It's not so much the GUI desire as the wish to automate the sequence of steps.  I guess I could script it, but I could also pick something up off the shelf.

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## ippo

Thanks a lot!

Edit:

Holy sh.t! I can`t run gajim too 

```
gajim

process 27050: arguments to dbus_connection_ref() were incorrect, assertion "connection != NULL" failed in file dbus-connection.c line 2556.

This is normally a bug in some application using the D-Bus library.

  D-Bus not built with -rdynamic so unable to print a backtrace

```

Last update world was a big mistake - it crashed my dbus (wicd-client, gajim), pidgin (freeze or crash) and laptop-mode ("failed - udev not active?")...

Is gentoo stable really stable or isn`t?

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## depontius

It's generally quite stable.  It's just that every now and then they throw in a real clinker.

Then again, you have my son's attempt to upgrade Ubuntu 9.04 to 9.10.  What a disaster!  He gave up and reinstalled 9.04.  More recently he had to do some major surgery (new motherboard) and just installed 10.04.  He's really happy with that.  My daughter is still running 9.04, and I want to have that up to 10.04 before school starts.

All in all, I generally prefer an OS that doesn't need version upgrades.  Version upgrades tend to be so hazardous that most recommend a straight reinstall.  Occasional snags are preferable to me.  I'm not so dependent on dbus, so this didn't hit me.  Then there were libexpat, libjpeg, libpng, etc.

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