* Re: [gentoo-user] WiFi on old Thinkpad
2020-12-21 13:21 [gentoo-user] WiFi on old Thinkpad Peter Humphrey
@ 2020-12-21 13:52 ` Michael
2020-12-21 15:08 ` [gentoo-user] " Grant Edwards
` (2 subsequent siblings)
3 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Michael @ 2020-12-21 13:52 UTC (permalink / raw
To: gentoo-user
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1099 bytes --]
On Monday, 21 December 2020 13:21:59 GMT Peter Humphrey wrote:
> Afternoon all,
>
> I'm reviving a somewhat elderly Thinkpad T61, installing from scratch after
> wiping out the old Windows XP setup. It has an Intel core-2 CPU.
>
> What does the team think is the best way to get WiFi going? Is
> wpa-supplicant a good idea? That's what the handbook recommends, but I
> think I remember something like wicd being better.
The best way to get it going is to add the necessary driver + firmware, then
use whichever front end you find easiest for you to manage associations and
authentication mechanisms and passphrases with various APs.
There's networkmanager, invariably dragged in by all big DEs these days, so
you can enable this if you are running KDE/Gnome. A simpler application is
connman. I always used wpa_supplicant and whenever I need a GUI I use wpa_cli
with its GUI - but it can also be run on the CLI.
From what I know wicd has been abandonware for years now. There may be other
applications offering the same function, it would be interesting to read what
others are using.
[-- Attachment #2: This is a digitally signed message part. --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 833 bytes --]
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread* [gentoo-user] Re: WiFi on old Thinkpad
2020-12-21 13:21 [gentoo-user] WiFi on old Thinkpad Peter Humphrey
2020-12-21 13:52 ` Michael
@ 2020-12-21 15:08 ` Grant Edwards
2020-12-21 18:10 ` Peter Humphrey
2020-12-21 18:18 ` [gentoo-user] " Neil Bothwick
2020-12-21 21:42 ` Matt Connell (Gmail)
3 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: Grant Edwards @ 2020-12-21 15:08 UTC (permalink / raw
To: gentoo-user
On 2020-12-21, Peter Humphrey <peter@prh.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
> What does the team think is the best way to get WiFi going? Is
> wpa-supplicant a good idea?
I've never used anything else.
> That's what the handbook recommends, but I think I remember
> something like wicd being better.
Better how?
--
Grant
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] Re: WiFi on old Thinkpad
2020-12-21 15:08 ` [gentoo-user] " Grant Edwards
@ 2020-12-21 18:10 ` Peter Humphrey
0 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Peter Humphrey @ 2020-12-21 18:10 UTC (permalink / raw
To: gentoo-user
On Monday, 21 December 2020 15:08:20 GMT Grant Edwards wrote:
> On 2020-12-21, Peter Humphrey <peter@prh.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
> > What does the team think is the best way to get WiFi going? Is
> > wpa-supplicant a good idea?
>
> I've never used anything else.
>
> > That's what the handbook recommends, but I think I remember
> > something like wicd being better.
>
> Better how?
Easier to use, more flexible, less constrained by config settings, ... Something
like that, but it was a long time ago.
--
Regards,
Peter.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] WiFi on old Thinkpad
2020-12-21 13:21 [gentoo-user] WiFi on old Thinkpad Peter Humphrey
2020-12-21 13:52 ` Michael
2020-12-21 15:08 ` [gentoo-user] " Grant Edwards
@ 2020-12-21 18:18 ` Neil Bothwick
2020-12-21 21:42 ` Matt Connell (Gmail)
3 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Neil Bothwick @ 2020-12-21 18:18 UTC (permalink / raw
To: gentoo-user
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 512 bytes --]
On Mon, 21 Dec 2020 13:21:59 +0000, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> What does the team think is the best way to get WiFi going? Is
> wpa-supplicant a good idea? That's what the handbook recommends, but I
> think I remember something like wicd being better.
Last time I looked, wicd was dead with the author recommending
NetworkManager, hardly ideal for old hardware. I'd probably stick with
using wpa_supplicant directly, but you could try connman.
--
Neil Bothwick
Oxymoron: Clearly Misunderstood.
[-- Attachment #2: OpenPGP digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 833 bytes --]
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] WiFi on old Thinkpad
2020-12-21 13:21 [gentoo-user] WiFi on old Thinkpad Peter Humphrey
` (2 preceding siblings ...)
2020-12-21 18:18 ` [gentoo-user] " Neil Bothwick
@ 2020-12-21 21:42 ` Matt Connell (Gmail)
3 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Matt Connell (Gmail) @ 2020-12-21 21:42 UTC (permalink / raw
To: gentoo-user
On Mon, 2020-12-21 at 13:21 +0000, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> Is wpa-supplicant a good idea? That's what the handbook recommends, but I think I remember
> something like wicd being better.
It depends on your needs.
If you're only going to connect to one or two networks, using
wpa_supplicant and learning wpa_cli will be managable. The Arch wiki
has an excellent step-by-step wpa_cli example.
However, if you're travelling from place to place and hopping networks,
then you may find that kind of maintenance tedious and opt to use
wpa_gui instead. It certainly isn't fancy but it is featureful and
user-friendly.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread