Hello:

I have 2 laptops with Antix8. The first one has RC2 upgraded to"semi-final" release; the second one has test 1 (not public release).

I'm trying to connect to my new wireless router (FIOS) which is encrypted. First I couldn't connect with either box no matter what I tried. Then I changed the router setting from WEP to WPA and the first box connects fine with WICD, however, the second box (running a slightly older antix) does not.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Pedro

As a follow up, I was able to get wireless working in box 2 but using CENI, not wicd.

I guess that's progress, except I'm not very familiar with CeNI but it seems like I will have to go through it manually each time (rather than click the autoconnect box in wicd).

It would be nice to find out why WICD worked in box1 but not box2. Could it be the upgraded system in box 1?

thanks

Pedro

Hello:

I continue to have problems with connectivity. I thought I had fixed them with Ceni, however, after a few minutes of inactivity, Ceni gets stuck (I guess) and although ifconfig, route tell me I am connected, in fact there is no network traffic. So I have to redo Ceni and then my connection works again. It's very odd (and a hassle, of course). Never had a problem like this before with wicd.

Pedro

Pedro,

I have as a matter of habit, set up my wireless first with the mepis tool mnetwork, then once it is configured, I reboot and start wicd, then choose my essid, put in the wpa encryption, and check the autoconnect box, I have found over time that occasionally, both at home and when I'm out of town and I can not get connected, that this is the only procedure that consistently works.

cheers,
oldhoghead

Maybe try wpa_gui. I think it's in the sidux repos.

Oldhoghead, Erie:

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try what oldhoghead suggested first, to see if I can fix this without adding yet another connection program. wpa_gui looks very nice. I didn't know about it. Thanks for pointing it out, Erie.

Pedro

Well, I tried oldhoghead's suggestion and the problem persists. WICD disconnects every 7-10 min or so and I have to restart the connection (even though I have checked the box for autoconnect).

I've also noticed kernel panic messages during two recent reboots. They resolved when I restarted, but I wonder if these problems are not related to the new Mepis kernel.

Any ideas?

I suppose I could go to a sidux kernel using smxi, but I'm hesitant to try that if I run the risk of hosing this system altogether.

Thanks.

Pedro

Pedro,

I do use the smxi script, and am currently running the 2.6.28-0.slh.11-sidux-686 kernel, I really like smxi, it seems a bit overwhelming at first, it is very well documented and follows a logical path, just getting used to how it does it's magic takes a bit of getting adjusted to, I have hosed my system a few times, due to my own incompetence, not smxi. But, a reinstall of antiX is very quick. I just chalk it off to the learning curve. But getting back to your current problem, the only time I have had frequent disconnects was using Knetworkmanager, and usually wicd will be very stable. I do seem to recall, that at one point I changed my channel on my router, from the default to another one that was not used by any of my neighbors, using wicd refresh see which channels your neighbors are using and try one that has the least amount of traffic, I changed from channel 6 to 11 and it did help.

cheers,
oldhoghead

Hello oldhodhead:

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll check the channel on the router (I think it's set to variable) and possibly set it to 11 or whatever is not used by my neighbors.

I really think it might be a system isue though. First, my old laptop with antix8 upgrade (to"semi-final"; using script) does not have this problem. Also, my daughter's laptop (Acer) running antix8-rc2 does not have disconnect problems. I think it may be related to my running antix8 test 1.

If it is that, then hopefully it will be fixed soon (when the final version is released).

Anyway, thanks for your help.

Pedro

Well, I still think the problem with wireless disconnects is related to the version of Antix I'm running, because when I ran RC2 from a livecd, the problem did not occur. So, I think it's a pretty good indicator.

BTW, when I said earlier I was reluctant to use smxi, I wasn't disparaging the script, just my ability to mess things up. I'm sure the script is fine.

Best,

Pedro

pedro, is that the version that got upgraded via the script?

If it is, then wpa_gui should already be installed.

You might need to edit the /etc/network/interfaces file (as root) by hand.
It might work by deleting that file (make a back up and put in in /home though) and starting again with ceni/wicd.
You'll probably need to reboot.

Hi Anti:

No, this is the box running antix8 test 1 (first test; not public release). My old box, which I did upgrade with the script is not having this problem. As a matter of fact, it's been connected for nearly 2 days without a break. So, I think this problem will most likely be solved with an upgrade.

thanks.

Pedro

Just to weigh in on the general conversation, personally, I've had very good results with both ceni and wicd. Ceni was the first wifi tool that I had consistently good results with, but I've since had good luck with many of them. Personally, I do not find ceni to be any more difficult than any other tool; actually in some ways, I find it superior because: 1. It is a lightweight tool, 2. The commands are all visible, so you don't have to navigate through all the menus to find the correct settings, and 3. When a connection is made, ceni grants it (without a lot of extra delay) so it tends to be one of the fastest wifi tools around.

Of the GUI based tools, I think that wicd is the best one around. Too bad the developers were screwing around with it recently, messing up the packaging for a while. Other than that brief tarnish, it may be one of the best tools around. Pedro, it may be a result of the changing wicd package that you ran into problems. If so, wipe out wicd completely and reinstall it; that might solve your problem.

On kde based systems, I usually have good results with knetworkmanager, though inexplicably, some implementations of it seem willing to run straight away for me, and others prompt me for a su password - probably the quirky way that they are set up. Because of the inconsistency of implementations, I will keep ceni at the top of my list - I have never had an issue with it.