[Solved by getting Adept] Please help with wicd! :(

[fidesratioque]

In the previous version of Kubuntu, when I wanted to install wicd, I simply used the package manager to do so; it installed and then removed network-manager. Now, if try to install wicd, it does not remove network-manager, and it refuses to install wicd. If I remove network-manager, I am suddenly offline and unable to install wicd-- a perfect catch 22.

How the hell do I get wicd on, and remove network-manager? This is so frustrating. Thanks for any advice.

[fidesratioque]

Re: Please help with wicd!

I just downloaded the .deb (from here: http://sourceforge.net/project/platf...roup_id=194573). Then I uninstalled network-manager. Then I tried to install the deb and it didn't work because it could not get online. So, I had to reinstall the entire operating system and format the hard disk.

Is there at least a way for me to get network-manager back on, after removing it, without having to reinstall the operating system? That would be a step forward, heh.

Thanks for the constructive help, it's appreciated. But I'm starting to lose my mind here. :P

P.S. Is there any way to just get the old package manager back? It seems that it was a whole lot better than this.

[flarson]

Re: Please help with wicd!

After yo udownload the .deb you do not install it with apt-get or adept or kpackagekit. I understand there is something called Gdebi which has aGUI for this but the best thing is

dpkg -l wicd-...deb

[fidesratioque]

Re: Please help with wicd!

After yo udownload the .deb you do not install it with apt-get or adept or kpackagekit. I understand there is something called Gdebi which has aGUI for this but the best thing is

dpkg -l wicd-...deb

Thanks, I appreciate that tip. Why is the new package manager so strange? It was working great before!

[flarson]

Re: Please help with wicd!

You asked the wrong guy that question. It is so strange because it was created by GUI developers who think they can anticipate every need, or at least every one they consider worth considering, for use by people who want to run linux without learning how to run linux, because they already learned Windoze, at least some of the buttons, and it is not fair that they should have to learn something else, especially if it means they have to use a command line,eeeew!!

Adept was better and it is probably true that Synaptic is the best available GUI package manager. The best package manager is aptitude combined with apt-cache. You will do yourself a favor if you decide to learn linux rather than learning a new GUI.

[fidesratioque]

Re: Please help with wicd!

Adept was better and it is probably true that Synaptic is the best available GUI package manager. The best package manager is aptitude combined with apt-cache. You will do yourself a favor if you decide to learn linux rather than learning a new GUI.

I've got nothing against that. I was using apt-get but it wasn't yielding the desired result. And the GUI package manager is superior to the command line for obvious reasons when it comes to discovering new programs.

[flarson]

Re: Please help with wicd!

I've got nothing against that. I was using apt-get but it wasn't yielding the desired result. And the GUI package manager is superior to the command line for obvious reasons when it comes to discovering new programs.

They may be obvious to you but I don't buy it. You just have to know how to use them.

[KeithZG]

Re: Please help with wicd!

Adept was better and it is probably true that Synaptic is the best available GUI package manager. The best package manager is aptitude combined with apt-cache. You will do yourself a favor if you decide to learn linux rather than learning a new GUI.

I've got nothing against that. I was using apt-get but it wasn't yielding the desired result. And the GUI package manager is superior to the command line for obvious reasons when it comes to discovering new programs.

I disagree, but then again I've spent a long time finding out every obscure apt related function; plus there's a hell of a lot you can do with "apt-cache search X | grep Y", and I often get better results being able to layer searches like that than in the GUI package managers.

That all being said, isn't adept still around?

I know personally I just went

kdesudo adept manager

....and presto! Adept loads. I don't remember if I deliberately installed it on this Jaunty laptop of mine I'm writing from, but I don't think I did. Even if so, obviously it's in the repos!

So if you'd rather (like myself, and apparently many others) use Adept still for now (maybe KPackageKit will get better, but honestly I'm mainly holding out hope for Aptitude-GTK heh) then it's definitely still an option in Kubuntu.

.....and personally I didn't bother with downloading any .debs for wicd, I just went

sudo apt-get install wicd

and wham-bam-thankyou-ma'am NetworkManager and all its kruft was removed, with wicd put in its place.

Oh, and another idea when fiddling with networking stuff like this would be to first "re-install" whatever you're running at the time (I put quotes on that since we're just doing that to make sure we have the packages in the cache) and *then* install whatever you're replacing it with. That way if there's issues you can just run the install again for your previous networking thing and it won't have to connect to anywhere to download it, since all the required .debs should still be around. So something like

sudo aptitude reinstall network-manager-kde
sudo aptitude install wicd
......oh no, things are FUBAR!.......
sudo aptitude install network-manager-kde

I know I've done that before, although despite preparing for that on this Jaunty laptop the switch over to wicd (which is very nice since I usually just have it auto-booting up into LXDE) there weren't any issues, the version from the repos is working just fine. Strange that this all went fine on my computer and failed at other peoples', heh, normally I'm the one to get the outlandishly annoying bugs that test my patience (like how for me DigiKam has mysteriously lost all entries in the Export menu and no one seems to have a solution, or...well, not to go into it, but there's reasons why I'm typing this in Konqueror but from LXDE, heh).

[fidesratioque]

Re: Please help with wicd!

Heh, thanks Keith et al. I apologize if I seemed a little bit frantic in my post. I just could not get to grips with why anyone would include a package manager incapable of uninstalling network-manager and installing wicd without crashing my internet completely especially since this worked 100% fine in my previous installation. I felt betrayed and abused by a catch 22. :P

I think I'll familiarize myself with apt-get a little bit more, since so many people have such a high opinion of it.