networkmanager and legacy networks

[kel_en]

To quote from the Debian NetworkManager WIKI:
"The point of NetworkManager is to make networking configuration and setup as painless and automatic as possible. If using DHCP, NetworkManager is intended to replace default routes, obtain IP addresses from a DHCP server and change nameservers whenever it sees fit. In effect, the goal of NetworkManager is to make networking Just Work."

In order to get the 3 laptops in my wireless network to "just work" I had to issue these commands on each laptop:
#apt-get install wicd
#systemctl stop NetworkManager.service
#systemctl disable NetworkManager.service

I've been using Debian since Sarge, upgrading as new versions are released, and apparently my system of network configuration no longer works with the default version of Stretch. I use static configurations, not DHCP, defined in /etc/network/interfaces. I also have a discrete /etc/resolv.conf file containing effective nameservers. None of this seems compatible with NetworkManager.

My intention with this post is to request that Buster and later can be made to work with networks like mine with no more than the previously listed 3 commands.

Thank you.

[sunrat]

If you are using /etc/network/interfaces to define your networks, you can purge NM and wicd. Simple!

[Bulkley]

If you are using /etc/network/interfaces to define your networks, you can purge NM and wicd. Simple!

+1.

[GarryRicketson]

My intention with this post is to request that Buster and later can be made to work with networks like mine with no more than the previously listed 3 commands

So what do you want us to do ? We are all just Debian User's, and have no say
in what the Debian Developers do.
https://www.debian.org/contact

Debian Development

If you have questions that are more development related, there are several development mailing lists in Debian that you can use to contact our developers.

The general development mailing list is debian-devel: you can subscribe to it and then send e-mail to debian-devel@lists.debian.org.

[kel_en]

Thanks for the replies.

wicd is needed to use the laptops on non-network wifi hot spots. Purging networkmanager removes most or all of gnome and my way seemed easier.

I know this is a users list and not a developers list. My attempts to contact Debian and post to a developers list have failed. I hoped that a developer might wander through this list to see what the users were saying. I don't expect the users on this forum to do anything.

I apologize if this post causes a problem.

[p.H]

What is a "non-network wifi hotspot" and why is Wicd needed with it ?

[kel_en]

Bad terminology, guess. For instance, at the doctor's office, away from my network, I can't see the wifi in order to connect without wicd.

[Bulkley]

I can't see the wifi in order to connect without wicd.

Code: Select all

# iwlist wlan0 scan

It is worthwhile learning Wi-Fi on the Command Line. The workhorse is wpa-supplicant; Wicd, N-M and wpa-gui are just Guis.

[kel_en]

Thank you. A welcome suggestion.

[debiman]

what's a "legacy network"?

[kel_en]

What would you call a wireless network of several laptops configured with fixed IP starting with Lenny or Squeeze and upgraded to each new release of Debian? If not a "legacy network", then what is better terminology?

[debiman]

i'm not criticizing your terminology, i'm just trying to understand what you mean.
so you mean a bunch of computers hanging on the same router since a very long time?
since all of these have been updated to current debian versions (or so i understand), there's no "legacy" afaics.
it's just 3 computers hanging (wireless) on the same router.
what's the router then?

edit:
oh, i think i understand now the nature of this thread.
you can disregard my questions, which were meant to clarify a (non-existing) problem.

[GarryRicketson]

what's a "legacy network"?

from: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/25121/legacy-network
Definition - What does Legacy Network mean?

A legacy network is the generic name assigned to any old network, which is rarely used today and not part of the TCP/IP protocol suite. Legacy networks are mostly proprietary to individual vendors. With the advent of TCP/IP as a common networking platform in the mid-1970s , most legacy networks are no longer used. ------- snip-----
As TCP/IP developed and became more widespread, most proprietary networking platforms went extinct. Some of the more well-known legacy networks are Systems Network Architecture (SNA) from IBM, AppleTalk from Apple, DECnet from DEC and IPX/SPX from Xerox and Novell. Some of the manufacturers initially clung stubbornly to their own platforms and refused to join the TCP/IP bandwagon, usually at some peril to the survival of their products. An example is Novell. It dropped from controlling over 90% of the market with its NetWare system in the early 1990s to being a niche player today, because of sticking with IPX/SPX.

See Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_system

Postby kel_en » 2017-10-30 08:56
Bad terminology, guess.

Very misleading, in any event.

Post by kel_en » 2017-10-31 05:49
What would you call a wireless network of several laptops configured with fixed IP starting with Lenny or Squeeze and upgraded to each new release of Debian?

You are currently using Debian 9 , on all of these ? and also the newest versions of "network manager" and "wicd", correct ?
I would call it a rather modern wireless network. But it certainly is not a "legacy network".

For instance, at the doctor's office, away from my network, I can't see the wifi in order to connect without wicd.

Well obviously, if you are some where else, you would need to re-configure
the wifi.
In the link provided by Bukley:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/wi-fi-command-line

The first step is to see what wireless networks are available in your area. A utility called iwlist provides all sorts of information about your wireless environment. To scan your environment for available networks, do the following:

[/code]sudo iwlist wlan0 scan[/code]
---- it goes on to say:
Depending on your card and its driver, you may have the option to set the essid to the special value “any”. In this case, your card will pick the first available access point. This is called promiscuous mode.

I don't have/ or use either network manager nor wicd, and have no problems
detecting wifi networks when I travel, with my laptops.
But I do not use "public access points" my self, to risky. When I go some where
I take my "Blu-dash" phone with me, and just tether it, to the usb,... any way I guess that would be another topic.

[kel_en]

Clearly, the term "legacy networks" is misleading. Sorry about that. Perhaps, I should have titled the post "Stretch/networkmanager killed my network". I'm sorry I wasted the time of the users on this forum. That was never my intent.

[GarryRicketson]

Well , no problem really, on my older Debian versions, network manager
all ways worked well and it had settings to automatically detect any wifi
"hotspots", I don't know why that would have been changed, but lots of things
have changed in the newer versions of Debian.