it is definitely not the same thing.
actually, those packages used to conflict with each other in the worst way possible; I once had to first uninstall networkmanager completely, reboot, then install wicd (and the other way round).

ondoho: thanks for the feedback. I've found some info on wicd here: https://docs.slackware.com/slackbook:wifi#wicd. Searching my system I have:

[ installed ] - wicd-kde-0.3.0_bcf27d8-x86_64-2
[uninstalled] - wicd-1.7.4-x86_64-2

So, the wicd for KDE is apparently different from the wicd for not-kde in some way. The page I referenced makes no mention at all of NetworkManager. I've apparently got 3 or 4 choices:

NetworkManager
rc.inet*, wpa_supplicant.conf - w/o NetworkManager
wicd non-KDE
wicd KDE

This all leaves me with questions. I want to try NOT using NetworkManager for the wireless:

1. Can I disable NetworkManager and just use wicd-KDE?
2. Should I disable NetworkManager and use non-KDE? If so, should I first uninstall wicd-KDE?
3. Should I disable disable NetworkManager and just use good 'old rc.inet*/wpa_supplicant?

I disabled networkManager and went with straight inet1*/wpa_supplicant. That works perfectly. Now, instead of my remote session getting disconnected every 5 minutes (though rarely it would stay connected for a couple of hours), I have stayed connected since the change - approximately 3 days. No disconnects. So, it appears that something is squirrely with networkManager. I'll not use that in the future.

As mentioned, the system in question is remote. This makes it difficult to experiment with network settings. The user misses the 'wireless' icon from his KDE tray. I m planning on setting up a local wicd rig to experiment with that. Any opinions on KDE-wicd as to how well it works would be appreciated.

In particular, now that I have inet1/wpa_supplicant configured, how would I go about switching to KDE-wicd? I assume the netconfig offer of wicd is not KDE-wicd (the former is not installed). So, how to I get wicd running?

later ...

OK, I've googled for wicd and found nothing on how to set it up. I've tried `man wicd` and `man wicd-KDE`, no man pages on Slackware. Is there a tutorial on this somewhere?

I'm going to mark this as solved because it is, as summarized below. My penultimate post asking about wicd belongs to a different thread and, in fact, has been addressed here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...er-4175607583/. I am heading down the path of using wpa_gui.

To summarize:

This is a wireless only computer on which I've had NetworkManager running for several months, but every remote ssh connection was disconnected on an average of between 4 and 6 minutes (although there were stretches of connectivity for hours). I replaced 2 (for a total of 3) network cards to no effect. Finally, I got rid of NetworkManager and configured using inet1*/wpa_supplicant at boot time. An ssh session has now been running continuously connected for more than a week with NO disconnections. So, there is clearly something wrong with NetworkManager!

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