# GUI to manage Wireless networking?

## jerrry94087

What is the best GUI allowing to view available networks, set passwords, etc?

Windows has pretty nice interface for this purpose.

So I am looking for the same in Linux.

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## slackline

 *jerrry94087 wrote:*   

> What is the best GUI allowing to view available networks, set passwords, etc?
> 
> Windows has pretty nice interface for this purpose.
> 
> So I am looking for the same in Linux.

 

"best" is a subjective term.

There are a few options (some depend on the desktop your using)

```

 $ eix network manager

* kde-misc/knetworkmanager

     Available versions:  (~)0.2.1_pre20071119 (~)0.2.1_p20071228 (~)0.2.2_p20080528 {arts cisco debug dialup elibc_FreeBSD openvpn pptp xinerama}

     Homepage:            http://en.opensuse.org/Projects/KNetworkManager

     Description:         A KDE frontend for NetworkManager

[I] net-misc/networkmanager

     Available versions:  0.6.5_p20070823 (~)0.6.6 {crypt debug doc gnome}

     Installed versions:  0.6.6(10:11:32 07/01/08)(crypt gnome -debug -doc)

     Homepage:            http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/

     Description:         Network configuration and management in an easy way. Desktop environment independent.

* net-misc/networkmanager-openvpn

     Available versions:  (~)0.3.2_p20070621 {crypt debug doc gnome}

     Homepage:            http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/

     Description:         NetworkManager OpenVPN plugin.

* net-misc/networkmanager-pptp

     Available versions:  [M](~)0.1.0_p20070726 {crypt debug doc gnome}

     Homepage:            http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/

     Description:         NetworkManager vpnc plugin for daemon and client configuration.

* net-misc/networkmanager-vpnc

     Available versions:  (~)0.6.4_p20070621 {crypt debug doc gnome}

     Homepage:            http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/

     Description:         NetworkManager vpnc plugin for daemon and client configuration.

[I] xfce-extra/pynetworkmanager

     Available versions:  (~)0.3-r1 {doc}

     Installed versions:  0.3-r1(11:40:26 02/12/08)(-doc)

     Homepage:            http://www.tfd.chalmers.se/~mk0foma/pyNetworkManager

     Description:         Xfce4 Panel Plugin that connects to NetworkManager through DBUS.

Found 6 matches.

```

I'd recommend net-misc/networkmanager as a good start.

slack

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## depontius

Too bad they're all bound to one desktop or another.

Over the years I've cobbled up various scripts on my own to do some of this, some of those scripts are very specific to my employer's VPN and network setup.  But I don't have a GUI.  I've played GUI games a little, starting with eggtrayicon and moving to gtkStatusIcon, but haven't taken the time to produce anything usable.

I just wish Linux would stick a little more to the "Unix philosophy" of small focused tools, and less "Windows wannabee" of giant, monolithic messes.

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## slackline

 *depontius wrote:*   

> Too bad they're all bound to one desktop or another.
> 
> 

 

Really?  What about this one (note the last sentence in the package description  :Wink:  )

```

[I] net-misc/networkmanager

     Available versions:  0.6.5_p20070823 (~)0.6.6 {crypt debug doc gnome}

     Installed versions:  0.6.6(10:11:32 07/01/08)(crypt gnome -debug -doc)

     Homepage:            http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/

     Description:         Network configuration and management in an easy way. Desktop environment independent.

```

 *depontius wrote:*   

> 
> 
> I just wish Linux would stick a little more to the "Unix philosophy" of small focused tools, and less "Windows wannabee" of giant, monolithic messes.

 

Err, it does, no one forces you to install or use a desktop of any sort, particularly under Gentoo where an install will leave you with a set of TTY's to work from.  That is the beauty of GNU/Linux and specifically Gentoo, you can install what you want.

IMO linux is far from being monolithic, everything is in a sense "modular" there isn't one thing that does everything, even if it appears that way, its actually lots of little apps (okay some are larger than others, but still, its nothing like Vista).

slack

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## depontius

 *slack---line wrote:*   

>  *depontius wrote:*   Too bad they're all bound to one desktop or another.
> 
>  
> 
> Really?  What about this one (note the last sentence in the package description  )
> ...

 

Didn't see that last line...  Saw only the "gnome" on the line before.  I'll have to look harder at this.  I'm more than a little leery of gnome packages.  I use icewm at home, and also run gnucash, which means that I have a fair amount of gnome stuff installed.  Once when I made the mistake of hitting the "help" button, the blasted thing turned my entire session into a gnome desktop before bringing up firefox pointed at the appropriate help information.  Since then I've been more than a little paranoid about anything "gnome", and I've never hit gnucash's "help" button, again.

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
>  *depontius wrote:*   
> 
> I just wish Linux would stick a little more to the "Unix philosophy" of small focused tools, and less "Windows wannabee" of giant, monolithic messes. 
> ...

 

That's not what I'm complaining about.  I'm not being forced to install one desktop or another.  But these days, so much functionality is being tied to gnome or kde.  In some cases that's necessary, but in other cases the tying is needless, just the path of least resistance.  So yes, you can install what you want, but if you want this or that, we only have gnome and/or kde versions, even though the function isn't particularly gnome or kde dependent.

Looking a bit harder, I see that I can indeed emerge networkmanager with "-gnome", so that looks more interesting now, though it looks as though the systray applet is still tied to gnome, since there isn't a separate dependence on gtk or any other gui stuff.  Still, maybe I can tack my gtkStatusIcon stuff on top.  I'll also have to see how difficult it is to create a plugin for my employer's VPN(s).

Thanks for the pointer.  Not quite what I want, but closer than I thought.

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## slackline

 *depontius wrote:*   

> 
> 
> That's not what I'm complaining about.  I'm not being forced to install one desktop or another.  But these days, so much functionality is being tied to gnome or kde.  In some cases that's necessary, but in other cases the tying is needless, just the path of least resistance.  So yes, you can install what you want, but if you want this or that, we only have gnome and/or kde versions, even though the function isn't particularly gnome or kde dependent.
> 
> 

 

My misunderstanding then, that just seeme to be the thrust of what you'd written originally, and the above is much more detailed and clearer, but I guess its down to the fact that devs are working on GNOME/KDE and decide they want some functionality or other that isn't already available, so write it as part of the project they're working on, as opposed to a few years back when mostly things were front ends to command line programs*.   I suppose one could take their code and use the useful sections for developing platform neutral versions.

Anyway, hope you find something satisfactory.

* Take this statement with as large a pinch of salt as required

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## depontius

Holy cow, I just took a harder look at networkmanager.  These come to mind:

http://mail.gnome.org/archives/networkmanager-list/2008-June/msg00163.html

and the linked:

http://gentoo-wiki.com/NetworkManager

I currently have some fairly slick stuff hooked into ifplugd and the "Gentoo way" of networking.  I have several runlevels, based on what networking connection I've got, and a "runChange" script that works with that.  It checks to see if I'm plugged in at my desk at work, elsewhere at work, at home, or traveling.  If I'm at work it tweaks /etc/pam.d to give me integrated network login to my employer's stuff.  If I'm traveling, it starts NO services and starts gdm with "-nolisten tcp" for better security.

Using networkmanager would involve first ripping out all of Gentoo networking and my stuff along with it.  Then I'd have to reexamine if I can even layer my changes on top of the networkmanager way, like they are on top of the Gentoo way today.

Oh well.

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