[SOLVED] WICD in antix17prerc1

Shay · posted: 2017-09-18 19:00

Curious as to why I have to tell it to connect each time I boot the hdd.

Would like to fix that if possible.

dolphin_oracle · posted: 2017-09-18 20:30

Shay wrote: Curious as to why I have to tell it to connect each time I boot the hdd.

Would like to fix that if possible.

make sure you have selected in the wireless network's settings that its ok to autoconnect to the network.

Shay · posted: 2017-09-18 21:50

Everything is all setup correctly, just have to hit the connect button.

Same setting as I use in 16

BitJam · posted: 2017-09-18 23:31

In antiX-16, the wicd service was enabled by default on laptops running live. In previous versions and in antiX-17 it is disabled by default. New in antiX-17, that choice carries over to the installed system. On the live system you can enable wicd with the"wicd" cheat available in the"F4 Options" bootloader menu. On the installed system you can control it and all other services with the sysv-rc-conf command.

We had a LOT of trouble getting networking to work reliably in antiX-17 due to the systemd changes. There were at least four different programs, including wicd, that were trying to bring up the network interfaces at boot time and this caused conflicts, failures, and unreliable behavior.

"wicd or nowicd", that was the question. Some people want wicd enabled by default and some people want it disabled by default. We went back to leaving wicd off by default on the live system but we made a change that we though would help people who want it enabled. We added the"wicd" and"nowicd" cheats (which can be abbreviated with"disable=W" (enable) and"disable=w" (disable)) and we made the choice sticky so you only have to do it once on a live-usb. This also means the choice carries over to the installed system which is why you are now seeing a problem you didn't see before. It seemed safest to carry over the live choice to the installed system to avoid having networking problems on the installed system that didn't show up on live.

I honestly don't know what the best solution is to please everyone. Assuming wicd is disabled by default on the live system, here are some options:

Leave it as it is now and advertise better how to enable wicd
Go back to the old system so the wicd choice is not sticky and does not carry over to installed
Explicitly offer to enable the wicd service in the installer
Automatically enable the wicd service in the installer
Automatically enable the wicd service when it is called via the control centre
Offer to enable the wicd service if it is disabled and called via the control centre

dolphin_oracle · posted: 2017-09-19 00:11

if you are already installed, then you just need to comment out the"daemon startup" line in /etc/default/wicd and reboot.

the reason launching the client to bring up your network worked is that the launching the client also launches the service if its not already running.

Shay · posted: 2017-09-19 00:15

I prefer wicd myself.

"wicd or nowicd", that was the question. Some people want wicd enabled by default and some people want it disabled by default. We went back to leaving wicd off by default on the live system but we made a change that we though would help people who want it enabled. We added the"wicd" and"nowicd" cheats (which can be abbreviated with"disable=W" (enable) and"disable=w" (disable)) and we made the choice sticky so you only have to do it once on a live-usb. This also means the choice carries over to the installed system which is why you are now seeing a problem you didn't see before. It seemed safest to carry over the live choice to the installed system to avoid having networking problems on the installed system that didn't show up on live.

I will redo the install using the cheat code. Then report the outcome.

I see the problem now.

BitJam · posted: 2017-09-19 00:25

Shay wrote:I will redo the install using the cheat code. Then report the outcome.

You don't need to re-install. I gave you the wrong directions before for enabling wicd on the installed system. You just need to edit the file /etc/default/wicd and change one line to:

Code: Select all

START_DAEMON=yes

If you want to re-install for testing purposes, that's fine too.

figosdev · posted: 2017-09-19 00:28

i wish every distro put that much thought behind important defaults and explained it that well.

dolphin_oracle · posted: 2017-09-19 00:34

figosdev wrote: i wish every distro put that much thought behind important defaults and explained it that well.

BitJam has about a month in basically fixing basic networking under sysVinit. It was the most aggravating thing, and he really pulled it out. I've got several reboots and restarts, both live and installed, and its holding together very well so far. both with wicd and just /etc/network/interfaces (ceni).

BitJam · posted: 2017-09-19 00:50

It was a group effort and it would still be broken without the work of dolphin_oracle and anticapitalista. It was a nasty problem because there was an obvious fix (disable all but one of the programs competing to start the network interfaces) which didn't work and an non-obvious fix (replace resolvconf with dnsmasq) which did. I'm still not sure that fix is going to work if people try to set up VPNs or things like that.

The fix also means it probably wouldn't be catastrophic to enable wicd by default on installed systems as I had first feared. ISTM we should add a little controller application that gives the current status of the wicd service and offers to change it. I'd like to use the lib from the persist scripts so the controller will work via cli as well as gui, probably similar to alsa-set-default-card.

Shay · posted: 2017-09-19 00:51

Well I did the F4 wicd with the thumbdrive and the wireless popped up showing connected.
Did the install, rebooted and network showed up beautifully.

Thanks for the instruction and now I see your second post.

You don't need to re-install. I gave you the wrong directions before for enabling wicd on the installed system. You just need to edit the file /etc/default/wicd and change one line to:

Code: Select all

START_DAEMON=yes

Appreciate the help

ile · posted: 2017-09-19 04:39

hello Shay, BitJam, dolphin_oracle
where you have indicated that it carries over from notebooks, does that mean wireless? does a desktop with wireless fit into that category? or only notebooks detected as portables.?
just a thought... besides that
machine here is using wicd; installed from live usb to a notebook portable. so I follow this thread... right now the machine is runnin. not in a shutdown and restart mode. so i thought to prepare for next restart by following your instructions upon
finding the dictate to change in /etc/default/wicd one line
START_DAEMON=yes. went to that file to find it already has that line. no change necessary. on hp8440P of recent posts. is it because on first boot the F4"wicd" was selected? or because it is a portable? the wicd daemon icon disappeared from view. wireless is working after the previous restarts. will let you know if wicd comes up blank on next restart. I think it will be fine.
most of Shay's posts are about notebooks. ? Shay? are you having this wicd trouble on a desktop or a notebook?

BitJam · posted: 2017-09-19 05:20

ile wrote: [...] following your instructions upon finding the dictate to change in /etc/default/wicd one line
START_DAEMON=yes. went to that file to find it already has that line. no change necessary. on hp8440P of recent posts. is it because on first boot the F4"wicd" was selected?

Yes.

or because it is a portable?

No, not on antiX-17-pre-rc1 or greater.

SamK · posted: 2017-09-19 09:38

BitJam wrote: ...here are some options:

Whatever is the outcome, we should ensure there is no inequality in the usage experience of users of live and installed systems.

figosdev · posted: 2017-09-20 02:07

its too bad that there isnt more of this stuff being documented, i mean when people act like s5d is proprietary, its because the interface isnt stable, theres never a guarantee of anything standard working (no interoperability) and when someone fixes it, theres no telling when the s5d people will break it again.

and when i say its too bad its not being documented, i mean the month of fixes to get things working in sysvinit again. not that bit hasnt done enough, i dont mean it that way obviously. just that youd think there would be people interested in learning more. im aware that antix can simply be used as a new base distro as it contains fixes... believe me, i am well aware of that. the sad thing about s5d is-- THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE a MODULAR os! not that bit hasnt done enough, but if l5t and redhat were being good citizens, we wouldnt need to remix antix just to have a fully-functioning debian base without some newfangled giant blob added. (or did i just get weird on you guys?)