Wicd (pronounced “Wicked”) is an alternative to the network-manager applet. Although its integration with Gnome is not as nice it seems to work better with WIFI encrypted networks. If you’re having problems with network-manager and you can’t connect to your network you should definitely give Wicd a try.
To install it, remove network manager:
sudo apt-get remove network-manager
Then download and install (by double clicking on it) this deb package: http://wicd.longren.org/pool/feisty/extras/wicd_1.3.1-all.deb
Then open the Control Center from mintMenu and search for “sessions”. In there add a “Wicd” entry and type “/opt/wicd/tray.py”. (You can also remove network-manager from there).
Then reboot…
Upon restart you should see this little icon in your panel:
Click on it to access Wicd:
It’s too early to tell whether Wicd will replace Network-Manager in future releases of Linux Mint. Both projects have improvements to make, whether it’s to do with networking or Gnome integration. The presence of two competing projects in that area is a very good thing though and we should expect wireless connectivity to improve greatly in the months to come.
Nice! I would definitely vote for Wicd, it is worlds better than NM. It may not integrate as well with Gnome, but that’s a good thing when you are using a non-Gnome desktop. And as far as fundamental WiFi control, Wicd is the best.
Previously I could not reconnect to my wireless netwok after suspending from Cassandra – using Wicd I have no problem.
I have installed wicd before onto Ubuntu, but haven’t done it with Mint. When I did, I didn’t uninstall NM first. As a noob, I am concerned about your first step: “uninstall NM”. If I do that, won’t it kill my connection? If so, then how can I connect to download the wicd?