i heart wicd-curses ;-)

[wizard10000]

muon broke another update today and trashed plasma-desktop.

I booted into recovery mode but didn't enable networking and selected "repair broken packages", and after hitting 'd' for details learned plasma-desktop was broken. Rebooted the machine and logged on to a black screen, switched consoles with Ctrl-Alt-F2, ran wicd-curses and connected to the network, then did apt-get install --reinstall plasma-desktop. Rebooted the machine again and everything was fixed and I didn't have to move my laptop or drag out an ethernet cable

Having a command-line wireless utility is a wonderful thing.

[GreyGeek]

....Having a command-line wireless utility is a wonderful thing.

AND, the major reason why, in my opinion, having a wifi connection start only AFTER KDE began running is a bad idea. Without wicd on the command line connecting to the Internet when in recovery mode forces one to use the cable. If you don't have one convenient you are out of luck.

[oshunluvr]

I don't use wifi much - but a question: Could your wifi be enabled and connected using wicd-curses before log in as a matter of course? What would be the down-side of this approach?

[wizard10000]

I don't use wifi much - but a question: Could your wifi be enabled and connected using wicd-curses before log in as a matter of course? What would be the down-side of this approach?

From reading the man page it doesn't look like wicd-curses has any command-line options but you could always script the connection with wpa_supplicant.

[GreyGeek]

I don't use wifi much - but a question: Could your wifi be enabled and connected using wicd-curses before log in as a matter of course? What would be the down-side of this approach?

In my own experience, with KNM, using the recovery console required a cable connection in order to be able to access the web, unless you started KDE manually. But, when KDE won't start that option is off the table. With curses-wicd you can run its console app and make the connection.

When wicd is the default wifi tool I've noticed that my weather app is already connected when it is displayed during KDE boot. With KNM it spins the busy icon until KNM connects, THEN it loads.

IOW, wicd is a much quicker and more reliable wifi tool.

That said, I am still using the network management tool that Precise installed because it is working reliably for me. My rtl8192ce driver, on the other hand, is somewhat flaky.