Do You Use NetworkManager or Wicd?

cwizardone · 07-04-2018, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisretusn

I haven't had many problems with NetworkManager.

One recent problem that just surface was with my new laptop. I'm using Slackware64-current Ktown Plasma testing.

I could not connect at the office to the providers box, it would go through the motions but never establish a connection. This was true for both the wifi and ethernet. At home no problem connecting via ethernet or Wifi. Same provider, different boxes. Home box has one LAN port, which I connect to my router. Office has wifi and two LAN ports.

Weird part was until a few days ago the laptop connected find at the office. Not sure what changed. I don't think is was the recent updates in Slackware64-current, could be I suppose but can't pin point it down.

I solved the problem by switching the laptop to use dhclient instead of dhcpcd. Works at home too.

Anyway been quite happy with NetworkManager. I've been using it since Eric introduced it in ktown back 2011.

Yes, there have been problems with the recent updates of NetworkManager in -current and, as of the moment, I'm not sure they have been fixed. The NetworkManager-openvpn plugin no longer works with NetworkManager, even after being rebuild, but, maybe, that is just a problem with networkmanager-openvpn. As I've mentioned before, to successfully make a vpn connection I've had to re-install the previous version of NetworkManager and the previous build of networkmanager-openvpn.

phalange · 07-04-2018, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwizardone

Yes, there have been problems with the recent updates of NetworkManager in -current and, as of the moment, I'm not sure they have been fixed. The NetworkManager-openvpn plugin no longer works with NetworkManager, even after being rebuild, but, maybe, that is just a problem with networkmanager-openvpn. As I've mentioned before, to successfully make a vpn connection I've had to re-install the previous version of NetworkManager and the previous build of networkmanager-openvpn.

There is indeed an issue with NM on -current, but I believe it is much more limited that this (at least on my systems).

--> If you select the pulldown menu from the nm-applet and select "VPN Connections" and then select "Configure VPN" no window opens. Dead!

However, my previously saved configurations remain functional.

Also, if you right-click instead of left-click the nm-applet and select "edit connections" the expected windows open and you can import new VPN connections or edit current ones as normal.

As an additional workaround, you can use

Code:

$ sudo nmcli connection import type openvpn file /path/to/filename.ovpn

from the terminal to add new connections which will then be available from the anm-applet pulldown.

And finally, nmtui will still show any openvpn files you've imported by either method above, and you can use it to connect.

I am doing all these things using the most current slack-current.

netcrawl · 07-04-2018, 04:16 PM

I started using wicd on one of my slackware PCs, simply because it was recommended to me by someone I trust... For the most part it has worked for what I need, it's pretty slack, mostly, so good enough.

frankbell · 07-04-2018, 08:43 PM

I'm not using wireless with Slackware right now, but, when I did, I much preferred wicd, primarily because of wicd-curses, which can run from the command line.

Right now, the only wireless machine I'm using runs Mageia, and I use the KDE network manager (I forget its exact name), which does the job.

cwizardone · 07-04-2018, 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankbell

......Right now, the only wireless machine I'm using runs Mageia, and I use the KDE network manager (I forget its exact name), which does the job.

I'm curious if that isn't just a "pass through" to NetworkManager?

frankbell · 07-04-2018, 10:16 PM

Quote:

I'm curious if that isn't just a "pass through" to NetworkManager?

I will be blunt.

I don't have a clue.

jakedp · 07-05-2018, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwizardone

I'm curious if that isn't just a "pass through" to NetworkManager?

It is KDE' s own and much better nm-applet.

ajevremovic · 07-05-2018, 04:14 PM

I switched to NetworkManager few years ago. It worked fine, but last few months (running Slackware current 64bit) I experience problems with freezing (sometimes only nm-applet, sometimes whole GUI), for about 60 seconds. So, after seeing this thread, I decided to install wicd again (slackpg install wicd), and I don't see any problems for the last 5 minutes

Best,
Aleksandar

Gnisho · 07-05-2018, 04:37 PM

Same here as many others. NetworkManager for wifi, rc.inet1.conf for wired. NM can still occasionally misbehave, but much like PulseAudio, it's a hell of a lot better behaved since sometime after one specific { developer || target of much flamebait } stopped being as involved with it.

frankbell · 07-05-2018, 11:12 PM

In my experience, Network Manager today is much improved over Network Manager from several years ago.

As an aside, nm-applet does not appear to exist on my Magiea box.

But, with Slackware, I would still go with wicd because of wicd-curses.

stoffepojken · 07-06-2018, 06:16 AM

I use Network Manager with nmtui. Wifi, wwan and openvpn with no problem.

mralk3 · 07-06-2018, 09:00 AM

I use Network Manager on my main system because it is a laptop. Network Manager works great on it. On my older systems I use wicd. On my home server I use rc.inet1.conf.

rkelsen · 07-07-2018, 04:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard Cranium

It's really convenient to use NetworkManager or wicd for laptops.

Amen, brother. NM makes life very easy when you have to connect to 3 or 4 different wifi networks during the course of a working day...

The simple truth is that NM works so well, that I've not used anything else for desktop or laptop since 2012.

It's part of Slackware and is easily activated during installation. I don't see the sense in making life any harder!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard Cranium

I've used rc.wireless.conf to connect to wireless networks; it wasn't convenient but it was doable.

Been there, done that. In the early days, I had to compile wifi drivers which weren't even in the kernel. I had an atheros wireless card, and was using the madwifi driver. It took a while to set up initially, but then it worked perfectly for many years... on that one machine connected to the same wifi network.

These days I don't even know what brand of chipset my wifi card has. All I know is that it works with no effort from me!

TheTKS · 07-07-2018, 08:07 AM

rc.inet1. I stuck pretty closely to defaults when I installed Slackware, so I probably just followed the installer prompts. Never had a connection problem in Slackware.

Home desktop running wired only. Has wireless but I don't use it.

TKS

brobr · 07-09-2018, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisretusn

I could not connect at the office to the providers box,
Weird part was until a few days ago the laptop connected find at the office. Not sure what changed.
I solved the problem by switching the laptop to use dhclient instead of dhcpcd. .

The above rings a bell; DHCPCD has been updated in -current not so long ago;

To get connected at my work I need to change the /etc/dhcpcd.conf file.
Try to use (uncomment) clientid and not (comment out) duid in this section of /etc/dhcpcd.conf

Code:

# Use the hardware address of the interface for the Client ID.
#clientid
# or
# Use the same DUID + IAID as set in DHCPv6 for DHCPv4 ClientID as per RFC4361.
# Some non-RFC compliant DHCP servers do not reply with this set.
# In this case, comment out duid and enable clientid above.
duid

HTH

Rob

BTW Loved WICD until I began to use vpn; then NM was easier; NM also allows for scripts to be linked to a connection, like WICD, which is nice.