Glad you got it some what sorted.

Good luck. ;-)

I set up wicd successfully as it is connecting to the router. However, there is one problem about wicd: the gui interfaces shows the password in plain text! as I am on Squeeze (Stable), I am out of luck, because the developer stated that the bug has been corrected in a version that is beyond Squeeze. My only salvation, is to edit the source code for the graphical interface disallowing it to display the password in plain text.

Looks like it's been corrected in version wicd/1.7.0+ds1-7. I'm not sure what the time frame would be for that version to make it to squeeze?

Good luck. ;-)

Don't be too optimistic. Squeeze is the current Debian Stable branch, so I doubt whether the bug's correction will ever be allowed to into it.

According to Debian, Stable means 'no updates apart from security ones'.

That may be reason enough to upgrade or try a different distro.

Good luck. ;-)

Upgrading to Debian Testing will only introduce more serious problems. Moreover, in my experience, GNU/Linux is already buggy: so I will not use anything that is still in its developmental phase. Even Stable has unresolved naggy bugs. My most sensible option is to edit the wicd Python script to make it behave the way I want.

I see your point. I was suggesting more of a Distro change than an upgrade to testing, but if you're confident you can edit the script to get the desired effect that may be just as simple.

Good luck. ;-)

Intermittent loss of Wifi connection.

Since I have been using a wifi, I am noticing that my connection breaks after some time it is idle i.e. when I pause/stop browsing the internet or when I read an article requiring several minutes. My router is placed in a room at my first floor. I experience the loss of my network connection when I use my laptop at the ground floor.

Do you know what may be wrong?

Could be a dhcp lease problem. Is it random or can you see a pattern or certain amount of time involved?

Good luck. ;-)

I am noticing that it drops every time after a few minutes of disuse.

When the connection gets dropped is it dropping from the router or the isp? Are you losing your ip address from the router completely or just unable to browse the web? Can you ping the router when the connection drops? The next time the connection drops issue the following and post the results please:

Note: substitute 192.168.0.1 with your actual routers internal ip address.

Good luck. ;-)

Thanks for all your help so far. :)

The problem seems to have been resolved when I realised wicd was using another network management daemon instead of its own specifically designed for its use. I instructed KDE 4 to use the wicd network management daemon and the problem appears to have vanished into thin air. :)

Hurray, for Linux wireless stability!

... and another GREAT THANKS for your assistance.

Glad you got it sorted.

Good luck. ;-)

I had to reopen the thread because the problem seems to be still unresolved. The wifi connection is still unstable dropping now and then but not with the initial frequency.

I removed wicd together with all its dependencies purging them in the process. I did the wifi reinstallation, this time, without a GUI's help. At the moment, I am testing the wifi connection thus established by issuing ifup wlan0. However, to run the latter I need to be root and it is not very nice to type my root password in the presence of anyone. I included the command in a shell script so that only that shell script would be allowed if I edit the sudoers file to allow me as a normal user run the script but I have no idea as I have never fiddled with the /etc/sudoers file and I want to keep the security of my system high.

Thanks.

This may help.

http://wiki.debian.org/sudo

Good luck. ;-)