Network wirelessly with wicd

This is the main list of wireless networks available to you. You can select the network to connect to and set its properties

Part of the properties you can set is the type of encryption being used, along with any special values that are needed, like passphrases

When you click on the Properties button, you get a window where you can set static IP properties

On most Linux systems, network management – both wired and wireless – is handled by a utility called NetworkManager. It is so

ubiquitous that you may not even think about it. But, in Linux, there is always another choice. You can always do network management by manually confi guring the appropriate confi guration fi les. A better option is to use the utility wicd. Wicd provides interfaces using either GTK or KDE. This means you can use the

one appropriate for the graphic libraries for your desktop. There is also a text-based interface, which uses the curses library. You can even use wicd within your scripts or on the command line with the CLI interface. This tutorial will walk you through most of the interfaces, and how to use them to confi gure your machine's networking. This will include some issues, like using unusual setups of WPA security and adding functionality in the guise of network templates.

Resources

Wicd:

01

Wicd is hosted at both SourceForge and Launchpad – the URLs are provided on the previous page. On both websites you can fi nd information on how to use wicd, as well as source code for the latest version.

02

Most distributions include a series of packages to install wicd. On Ubuntu each interface is available as a separate package. This means you can install only the portions that you need for your system. As always, you can install from source if you need the latest options.

03

On most systems, you will likely want to use the GTK interface. To start it up, you can just type wicd-gtk. If your desktop has a tray, wicd will start up minimised to the tray. You can then click on it to open the main window. You can bypass the tray by using wicd-gtk -n.

05

There are general preferences that you can set in wicd. To get to them may not be obvious, depending on the default size of the main window. You may need to click on the arrow on the far right to display the other menu items available. On your advisor’s system, this is where the Preferences option is located.

08

Selecting the External Programs tab of the Preferences window will allow you to set which external programs to use for various portions of the network confi guration steps. It will query your system and only provide the options that are installed on your system. You can then select the specifi c programs for tasks like DHCP lookup.

04

When you open up wicd, it will try to pull up the wireless networks available to you. Depending on the specifi cs in your area, it may

07

In the Preferences window, you can set global DNS options. This is useful if you want to use some other DNS server than that provided by your DHCP server. Or, if you are manually confi guring the network details, you can set the DNS here.

miss some. You will want to click the refresh button to be sure that you pick up all of the networks available.

09

WPA security is a bit of a bugbear. It is the preferred system to use, since WEP is so badly fl awed. But, on Linux, it requires a separate program to handle the handshaking required. Clicking on the Advanced Settings tab in the Preferences window will allow you to select which program to use for WPA security.

06

In wicd, you can only confi gure one interface at a time. You set this in the Interfaces section of the Preferences window in wicd. You can check to see which interfaces are available on your system with the commands ifconfig

and iwconfig. Just running these with no

11

Each available network has its own set of properties. You can pull up the Properties window by clicking on the Properties button. Here you can set options if you are using a static IP address. If you are using encryption, you can select from the list of possible templates at the bottom of the window.

13

When you set up a Wi-Fi hotspot, you have the option of whether to broadcast the network name or to hide it from casual perusal. They’ll still appear under wicd, labelled with the name <hidden>. This lets you fi nd and connect to these hidden networks.

12

At the bottom of the window, you also have the option of running scripts. There are options to set scripts to be run just before or just after connection, as well as just before or just after disconnection. This lets you customise connections to your needs.

14

If the network you are using needs encryption, you can select the specifi cs from the list of available templates. These templates will change the remaining options in the Properties window and ask you for whatever values you need for that particular type of encryption.

15

There are a surprising combination of options in encryption. So, wicd allows you to add templates for any combination of properties that wicd doesn’t already support. The template fi les are stored in the directory /etc/wicd/encryption/templates. You should be able to fi nd one that is already close to what you need. You can make a copy of this template and edit it to match the settings that you need. Once your new template is fi nished, you can add an extra entry in the fi le /etc/ wicd/encryption/templates/active. It will then show up when you go to select the encryption template to use for your particular network.

10

Also in the Advanced Settings section is a selection for how to handle all of the back- end tasks to confi gure your network interfaces. The default (and most stable) is to use external programs, like iwconfi g and dhclient. You can also choose to use IOCTL instead. It works faster, but is also more likely to fail.

“Setting up Wi-Fi

at the console