WICD. A great alternative to Network Manager (not at all a bash to the Network Manager devs, but on some of our systems this works much better). This Howto was tested using Feisty but WICD also works w/ Gutsy, Edgy, and Dapper.
Many users have been having problems with Network Manager or just prefer WICD. I find that it handles WPA much better and loads at boot up through init.d so there is no reason for the annoying keyring to ask you for your password at login.. you're already connected.
Of course all the credit goes to the developer of WICD.
Before continuing be sure that your wireless works (even if it hardly works). If not you need to follow threads on the forum to install the correct drivers to enable yourwireless nics.
Disclaimer: I can't see what would go wrong but of course I take no responsibility. 
The script... @ the bottom of this post.
wicd.py will backup new packages (or existing packages) of network-manager if you opt to, and then install WICD
Download and move to it's directory:
Make it executable:
Run it:
Code:
sudo python wicd.py
If you don't use sudo the script will not work.
Enjoy See below to load tray icons..
Or do it manually...
Backup
First check to see if you have the network-manager and network-manager-gnome packages archived just in case you want to switch back to Network Manager:
Code:
cd /var/cache/apt/archives
ls | grep network-manager
If you don't see the packages you can download them to this folder using the -d option:
Code:
sudo apt-get -d --reinstall install network-manager network-manager-gnome
When you install WICD it uninstalls Network Manager.. same deal the other way around as well.
To install WICD do the following: (for gutsy, edgy, or dapper replace feisty as needed)
Code:
echo 'deb http://apt.wicd.net feisty extras' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wicd
Now just goto Applications > Internet > Wicd (or /opt/wicd/gui.py in terminal) to setup it up. If using WPA be sure to set the correct driver. Here are some choices (wext is the generic and works with my Broadcom.
Code:
hostap
(default) Host AP driver (Intersil Prism2/2.5/3). (this can also be used with Linuxant DriverLoader).
hermes
Agere Systems Inc. driver (Hermes-I/Hermes-II).
madwifi
MADWIFI 802.11 support (Atheros, etc.).
atmel
ATMEL AT76C5XXx (USB, PCMCIA).
wext
Linux wireless extensions (generic).
ndiswrapper
Linux ndiswrapper.
broadcom
Broadcom wl.o driver.
ipw
Intel ipw2100/2200 driver.
wired
wpa_supplicant wired Ethernet driver
bsd
BSD 802.11 support (Atheros, etc.).
ndis
Windows NDIS driver.
No need to load wicd manually at boot as init.d will load daemon.py (with root privledges, so you don't have to enter your password) at boot up.
If you want the systray icon you'll need to add it to System > Preferences > Sessions...
Code:
Name: WICD Tray
Command: /opt/wicd/tray.py
In KDE run the following in terminal:
Code:
sudo ln /opt/wicd/tray.py ~/.kde/Autostart/tray.py
Having issues with the tray icon? Is it just a white box? There are two courses of action:
1. Dano has fixed this issue in his latest SVN release 1.3.3 > Here
2. Or, follow the instructions here.
Hopefully this worked for you. If not the network-manager packages should still be in you package archive. Do the following:
Code:
cd /var/cache/apt/archive
Now identify network-manager and network-manager-gnome:
Code:
ls | grep network-manager
Now re-install them:
Where nm.deb = the network-manager.deb package.
Code:
sudo dpkg -i nm.deb
Where nmg.deb = the network-manager.deb package.
Code:
sudo dpkg -i nmg.deb
If problems arise please let me know
Updates
12/26/07: Updated the Repository location
10/08/07: Cleaned up the network test
09/20/07: Added a couple of tests to wicd.py
09/18/07: Updated the python script. Cleaned it up...
09/08/07: Cleaned up wicd.py
09/07/07: Replaced wicd.sh with wicd.py.. no real reason.
Adv Reply
Originally Posted by EXCiD3
btw Appreciate the efforts nice guide 
Make it work for every1 
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