Preferred program for using wifi on laptop.
 

It has been a while since I got on the internet with my laptop which has built in wifi hardware. Last time I did it, I think maybe I used wicd. That was back a couple years and I was probably running about slackware 13 something then.

Now I have an internet provider, Century Link, which has a wifi router installed in the house. My laptop can get on the internet, using windows 7, by going through the control panel, network stuff, but I need to set it up so I can do the same thing on Linux.

What is the present preferred linux program for getting my laptop to communicating with the wifi router that Century Link installed?

I believe I am running version 14 of slackware linux, maybe 14.1 or 14.2. I suppose the program is somewhere on the distribution disk, but I am not sure what to look for.

wicd is a good option if you want a gui style wireless configuration.

But if you're only connecting to one access point in your home, you may as well just configure wpa_supplicant.conf and the rc script rc.inet1.conf

The slackbook covers both methods

http://docs.slackware.com/slackbook:wifi

WICD is in the extra directory on your Slackware media. Use installpkg to install it (as root). It works just fine.

There is also networkmanager. It's a little more complex to set up and get it going.

Use one or use the other but do not enable both (they interfere with one another).

I lean toward WICD, YMMV.

Hope this helps some.

wpa_supplicant already has a gui... wpa_gui... somehow tho, everyone seems to miss it.

NetworkManager comes with the standard installation, as does wpa_supplicant, so in that sense either could be called the "preferred" method. wicd is in /extra so it is a "blessed" alternative. If you are roaming, both wicd and NM are really convenient and both are IMHO dead easy to set up and work well. They have historically had their little quirks, so at times I have gone back and forth. I'm currently using NM only because it seems to automatically connect to a new network faster than wicd.

Brian

Thanks guys, this should be enough to get me going.

The problems just never end. After some fumbling around I
installed wicd using installpkg as root.

The program is now apparently installed as the installer said
it was, and I now have these extra files in things like /usr/bin
/usr/share /usr/sbin/wicd that are part of the package.
I changed the permissions on /usr/sbin/wicd to executable by all.

My problem is, I apparently have no idea how to use the
program. It seems to me that I had to run the program
a couple years ago to use it. I had to run then put in
a password for the wifi hardware, and choose a wifi
from a list.

I have no idea how to do this now. I ran an xterm and
entered "wicd", as root. It told me the program was
already running.

So where am I wrong? What am I missing?

Going to give you a quick option:
1. removepkg wicd
2. add these lines to /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
3. uncomment these lines to /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf (kinda toward the middle of the file)
4. reboot
5. in your x of choice, run wpa_gui, scan and select network, and save the file.

The only caveat to this is, if you start up your laptop and no wireless networks are in range, you'll need to run as root:
when you do connect to a network the first time after booting. After this is set up you will see the wireless connecting as part of your boot sequence.

Hope it helps.

Running just "wicd" as root just starts the daemon. To actually connect, use "wicd-curses" for an curses-based CLI interface, "wicd-gtk" for an actual GUI, and "wicd-cli" for just using it in a traditional cli format.

Hope this helps!

Fumbling is good for a while. However the quick way to do such a thing, as root, is:

slackpkg update
slackpkg install wicd

or

installpkg /path-to-dvd/extra/wicd/wicd-1.7.2.4-x86_64-4.txz


You should not need to change any permissions.

wicd daemon should be launched by making rc.wicd executable with

If you've used it, make sure networkmanager is stopped/not running with:

and make this file NOT executable. (These modifications may happen automatically when wicd is installed, I'm not sure. If this has happened the last command will fail unless you put an "sh" infront.)

Then launch wicd daemon with

(You may also need to remove modifications you may have made to rc.inet1.)

At which point, as a regular user, you can run one of the programs mentioned above like wicd-gtk.

whitewolf,

I removed the package wicd with removepkg

Then I added the 2 lines
to wpa_supplicant.conf
The first line you recommended was already in the file as the first line.

Next I uncommented the 3 lines in /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf

I rebooted.

Upon bootup I got the repeated error message:
wpa_supplicant failed.

I executed x windows
and in an xterminal ran: wpa_gui

got the screen which says something like:
the drop down boxes Adapter and Network have no
choices to choose from. This interface really
lets me do nothing.

BCarey,

Thanks for the tips, looks like some good info there.
Right now I have the package uninstalled, but I can
now better install it with less fumbling if need be.
I have to put this on hold for a few hours, as I have
to run some errands. Appreciate all the help, and I
will get back to this soon.

ok, I'm going to guess you have something weird in your wireless setup.. can you run
and post the output? Guessing right now your wireless card didn't show up as wlan0... or it's not enabled.

assuming you see a wlan0, run
and post that output as well.

output of ifconfig -a


output of rfkill list

Go to /etc/rc.d and "chmod +x rc.networkmanager" minus the quotes. Reboot then go to the icon on the panel and click.
Pick your connection give it the password and surf. Of course you need to be root!