On 4/23/21, David Wright <deb...@lionunicorn.co.uk> wrote: > On Fri 23 Apr 2021 at 10:49:00 (+0100), Richmond wrote: >> Cindy Sue Causey <butterflyby...@gmail.com> writes: >> >> > Questions where answers might help come to mind. Primarily, has this >> > always occurred, or did it just start up in the last couple days? >> >> It has occured since installing debian (10). Prior to that I was using >> opensuse. >> >> > I'm on a new old secondhand laptop today. Just started using it >> > yesterday. It's doing similar, but I can trigger it back on via >> > "wicd-curses". A quick CTRL+R (refresh) for no particular reason and >> > then CTRL+C (connect), and I'm back up and running. >> >> I don't think I am using Wicked, if that is the equivalent of the >> opensuse Wicked. I think I am using network manager. > > JFTR there's no connection (pun, sorry) between Wicd¹ and Wicked.² > Confusion is compounded by their identical pronunciation. > > Wicked would claim to be a superset of NetworkManager. Wicd is a > simple connection manager, handling just one connection at a time. > > In any case, wicd's days are numbered unless and until it moves > forward from Python2. There's a Python3 version in experimental, > but the hiatus might not be good for sustaining its popularity.
Experimental is the version I'm using. That was an empowering moment there. It helped me finally understand all the chatter about backports and the irreplaceable value to Users looking for missing programs that didn't make it in time to be included in any given release. > ¹ acronym, Wireless Interface Connection Daemon > > ² "No REST for the wicked", motivational joke after SUSE rejected > using REST, a REpresentational State Transfer interface. Thank you! I always wondered but never pursued what the wicd acronym was. I assumed it was an acronym, anyway, because of that "d" that appears in other packages, too. #1 I'm so sorry, I made a major mistake last night. To operate wicd-curses, the commands are SHIFT+R for refresh and SHIFT+C to connect. There's no CTRL used there. That was the first thought I had this morning after waking up. The tl;dr for the rest of this is that systemctl worked for me this morning, but I'm using wicd instead of e.g. network-manager. They're both still available on Debian because there are differences in how they function. They don't appear to be duplicate overkill by both being installable. My memory recall is that they don't play nice together. Ok, so I tried those various systemctl lines. When I actually read them, I realized this isn't an apples to apples comparison. That "network-manager" was the sign. In addition to that, I'm on a wired connection in case this was about wireless. For the moment, I can only assume wicd might handle wireless connections similarly. With respect to those terminal commands, I first tried wicd-curses instead of network-manager. That didn't work because it's an interface. So I tried "systemctl restart wicd" but couldn't tell that anything was happening beyond that it didn't throw any errors. I tried "systemctl stop wicd", and it understandably killed my open wicd-curses interface in the terminal. Next, "systemctl start wicd" was entered. I reopened wicd-curses... and it was already connected online without any further intervention. It was cool to see that interaction, am just waiting for my brain to have the ah-ha moment about exactly what happened. In the meantime, that's my "learn something new" today. One my earliest "thank you" posts about Debian was about the fact that there are frequently at least two ways to accomplish many tasks. That kept coming to mind over the last month of horrific hardware failures. Several of those alternates were used repeatedly the last few weeks. In particular, the right click on the desktop to access the Applications menu was invaluable. I was working on a badly damaged screen that blocked access to the usual method of clicking the word "Applications" on the top left in XFCE4. N.B. Apparently the dogs or I stepped on my Dell Duo when it was on the floor beside me here. The leaking damage on the screen looked just like a giant footprint, lol. AND I just now remembered that I could have moved the desktop panel that holds that Application menu. Hopefully there will never be a next time where that needs to occur. Cindy :) -- Cindy-Sue Causey Talking Rock, Pickens County, Georgia, USA * runs with birdseed *
