I was wondering if there are any GUI alternatives to the Network Manager. It seems, I always run into problems with it (unstable connections, wrong icon shown, wrong notifications, etc.).
asked Jan 26, 2011 at 5:12
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could you tell us which ubuntu version you are using?– chrisJan 26, 2011 at 6:05
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"IWD can now be enabled for use with Network Manager. IWD is a new alternative to wpa supplicant and is in testing for consideration in the future." source– Pablo BianchiAug 19, 2019 at 20:51
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8 Answers
I know of wicd, but it feels ugly.
Latest version is 1.7.4, released on 2016-01-25.
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wicd is a usability nightmare and doesn't even respect the theme icons Jan 26, 2011 at 8:14
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1Wicd does not support multiple connections at the same time which basically makes it useless as handling connections is what a network manager is supposed to do. While a server (fixed ip) would not need anything like this, a laptop which connects to different networks depending on its current location does need a proper network manager. A program which can't connect to a WiFi because I'm connected to some wired company network does not qualify as a proper network manager. Just a heads-up.– basic6Nov 18, 2014 at 11:33
The alternative being investigated by Canonical is called ConMan, or the Intel/Moblin Connection Manager:
http://moblin.org/projects/connection-manager
It's got a couple of great features that can recommend it above network manager, but it's also got some integration issues with the normal FreeDesktop setup. I believe people are working on the ubuntu packages and integration:
You can see why the two are still being worked on here:
answered Jan 26, 2011 at 13:46
I wrote a very simple python script to manage network, vsnm -- Very Simple Network Manager. I have described how it works here and source code is here.
Wicd works but as other mentioned is ugly and clunky. If you need VPN support, you will also need to setup KVpnc which is just as ugly.
I had to switch to WICD a year ago because of a specific issue on my network card. Its a little clunky, but not that bad. You can switch to WICD in 2 minutes, try it, and then make a decision. Also, for VPN you can also use vpnc, which is what I used.
Details are here: Switching to WICD
I am using nmcli from time to time, which is (I guess) a Fedora/Redhat CLI interface to NM. It allows listing wireless networks and existing connection and connecting to them, if the connection was already created (and, in my case, is available to all users - for some reason it didn't shows non-system connections in list).
It worked when I bricked the configs so nm-applet was unable to connect to NM via dbus.. however lack of ability of adding new connections is a problem, maybe will write a hack for this and finally rule the GUIsh part of NM out for good.
Try Wifi-Connect for wpa/psk AP, open, and two phase authentication networks like eduroam. Plus wired eth0 eth1/2/3/4/5/6/7 and usb from mobile phone etc.
The scripts (no binaries) use busybox udhcpc, and dhcpcd as fallback if available.
Wifi-Scanner-2 supports 8 wireless interfaces for simultaneous scanning with results shown in tabbed yad gui. Provides mode and driver options. random mac generator for scanning and again for connecting.
Wifi-Scanner-2 menu options include wpa_cli, auto-connect, saved-profiles with ssid+mac, eth1 eth2 usb0 wired connections.
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?mode=attach&id=112794
For people looking for NM alternatives in 2021, wicd is no longer maintained and getting dropped from several Distros.
One working alternative is ConnMan as given by this answer.
I want to add to that answer that if you want a GUI systray interface to ConnMan, use cmst. The two alternatives are connman-ui and connman-gtk, both of which lack essential features and are not actively developed.
