VL7.0 STD - unprivileged user cannot launch wicd

[Trio3b]

VL7.0 std-gold-live on Thinkpad T20 with no onboard wireless. Using netgear USB wl adapter which has drivers in kernel. Immediately after a fresh installation I can get the adapter wireless working . lsusb, ifconfig,iwconfig, wicd all fine and connected and able to surf.

OK, Read VL wireless sticky above and at wikis and how tos ( chap 6 ). All seems well when wicd is working however the how tos are very general concerning vasm wirelss networking.

I have not documented but it seems if I change a USB wl adapter ( i have several netgearWG111 which work fine) or change to different network ( home, library) then upon new login, error comes up " wicd canot connect to dbus" and wicd will not launch. I have tried every combination in vasm wl networking but am pretty lost with differences betweeen add inet, add connection, add essid. Device is seen in lsusb but maybe not in ifconfig or iwconfig unless I delete all inets, connections, essid, everything in vasm. Then I can muck around in VASM and wicd will launch and all is well again until the next time.

Probably doing something wrong but am setting this thinkpad up for someone who will be using it at various locations. Will give them one of the netgear wl USB adapters so we shouldn't have problem with different devices, but still want to know how it all works. Am I missing something or is there a good tutorial on the finer points of VASM wl networking?

Any help appreciated.

[bigpaws]

Actually the problem sounds more like udev rules creating
a problem. Not wicd.

Udev is what will load the modules (drivers).

I did not see a mention of wether you did a udev refresh or
a restart.

Using one device will reduce the roaming issues.

Bigpaws

[Trio3b]

Am on the hunt for a good distro for older gear and had good luck since VL3-4 days but gave it up for a while. ( Using PCLOS and Magei KDE spins on daily drivers  for quite a while now),  but for older gear VL seems to be the only decent distro with modern browser and desktop for older gear but this wireless thing has got to be sorted before I proceed.

Well, considering some of the issues in another thread with adding users to the live install and wl issues with VL7.0 live I took a reommendation and gave VL7.0 std a shot on this Thinkpad T20 and now netgear wl USB adapter is not detected at all by vasm following all stickies and how tos.

lsusb shows adapter, but following directions going to init 2 then vasm hdwr config then back to init 4 and checking /etc/modprobe.conf, device is not seen.

Just booted live and Both live and install use kernel 3.0.2 and both show the following:

modprobe shows RTL8187B not found
lsmod shows  module RTL8187 used by "0"

Although live detects the adapter on boot and install version does not.

So, this netgear WG111 wl USB adapter works on other distros and on VL7.0 Live and has been in kernel since 2.6.27 but still receive error "wicd cannot connect to dbus ".

Any ideas from here how to check if  udev/hal or permissions are causing this issue?

Thanks

[bigpaws]

Why are you switching run levels?

Anything involving most devices will not require changing run levels.

Moving from VASM to wicd can cause problems.

The rtl8187b modules should load automagically, and therefore the
only other thing that should be needed is to configure the network settings.
That is handled by wicd.

Wireless problems are created by the wireless manufacturers. They change
chipsets on the same model, with the only indication of a change being the
version number.

Most wireless devices work out of the box, without intervention. If you can
post the wireless cards name, make and version number, more specific
help can be given.

As far as roaming. That too should be an easy situation. Take laptop to
place. Start laptop, in the task manager click on wicd. wicd starts, browse
for a network, set it up and all is well.

If wicd is not running (which maybe the problem) then you would get an
error about the wicd daemon.

To check that. Open a terminal, and type:

ls -la /etc/rc.d/rc.wicd

making sure that it is executable. Normally it should already be done.

Use lsmod before making any changes.

You are showing that the module is loaded. So either any module has control
of the card, or the card is not started.

There are alot of things to troubleshoot, and several areas to start.

There are differences in VL Live and VL Std. They are not the same. So
problems on live are not usually part of STD.

We can start troubleshooting from the beginning.

Reinstall VL 7.0 STD.  Then insert the card or start with the card inserted
before starting.

Use wicd for the wireless. If that fails post the name, make and version number
of the failed card.

Then proceed from there.

HTH

Bigpaews

[Trio3b]

Why are you switching run levels?



Anything involving most devices will not require changing run levels.

Moving from VASM to wicd can cause problems. 

http://forum.vectorlinux.com/index.php?topic=1282.0

The rtl8187b modules should load automagically, and therefore the
only other thing that should be needed is to configure the network settings.
That is handled by wicd.

Wireless problems are created by the wireless manufacturers. They change
chipsets on the same model, with the only indication of a change being the
version number.

Most wireless devices work out of the box, without intervention. If you can
post the wireless cards name, make and version number, more specific
help can be given.

As far as roaming. That too should be an easy situation. Take laptop to
place. Start laptop, in the task manager click on wicd. wicd starts, browse
for a network, set it up and all is well.

If wicd is not running (which maybe the problem) then you would get an
error about the wicd daemon.

yes that's the problem - no wicd

To check that. Open a terminal, and type:

ls -la /etc/rc.d/rc.wicd

making sure that it is executable. Normally it should already be done.

Use lsmod before making any changes.

You are showing that the module is loaded. So either any module has control
of the card, or the card is not started.

There are alot of things to troubleshoot, and several areas to start.

There are differences in VL Live and VL Std. They are not the same. So
problems on live are not usually part of STD.

We can start troubleshooting from the beginning.

Reinstall VL 7.0 STD.  Then insert the card or start with the card inserted
before starting. ]/quote]

just did that

[quoteUse wicd for the wireless. If that fails post the name, make and version number
of the failed card.

These are all netgear WG111v3 USB adapters which everyone has used with no problems for months .
lsusb shows as dev ID 0846:4260 netgear (realtek 8187) Wicd seems to work fine when it is runnng. During boot wicd shows as "ok"

Thanks

[bigpaws]

That link you refered to is deprecated for VL 7.0
I agree it is misleading for VL 5.0 and above.
There have been many changes from 6 years ago.

Open a console as root type:

ps x  | grep wicd

(The above will test if the wicd daemon is running)

then type:

ifconfig

This will list the interfaces available.
Post the results.

Bigpaws

[Trio3b]

ps x  | grep wicd


returns
2583 ?     S   0:02 /usr/bin/python -0 /usr/share/wicd/gtk/wicd-client.py
2795 pts/0    0:00 grep wicd



ifconfig returns only eth0 and lo

Thanks

[Trio3b]

Also there seem to be no error messages or configuration files in :

~/.wicd     none
/etc/wicd   there is a dhclient.conf.template.default file but recommends to change dhclient.conf.default of which there is none in this dir
/var/lib/wicd/configurations   none


Where the wicd error message says to look, howerver there is one in /var/log/wicd  but too long to list here until I either fire up eth0 on Thinkpad ( which have not done yet or sneaker net to another machine to post here.)

The second line in this wicd.log claims " did not find backend in configuration, setting default external"

Then continues with Traceback info... and last line:

typeError: decode() argument 1 must be string, not NONE


Logged into root GUI and  wicd runs fine . Then created new user but same problem so maybe permissions or misconfigured conf file.

led is now on USB adapter after launching wicd as root.

Hope this helps

[bigpaws]

There are two problems.

Test this first:

Open a terminal and as root type:

tail -f /var/log/messages

Then plug the USB device in watch the messages.

If that works then in the same terminal:

ifconfig

If there is nothing more than eth0 and l0
then try this

modprobe rtl8187

Now try:

ifconfig wlan0 up

Now cehck ifconfig again.

Let's get the card working first.

Bigpaws

[Trio3b]

OK, logged in as GUI user but in terminal AS ROOT (with those commands) card led comes on and wlan0 shows in ifconfig but of course since I am logged in as GUI user, wicd returns the error when launched from menu.


I did find the print error "Could not connect to wicd's DBus...." message in line 936 of file wicd-client.py of /usr/share/wicd/gtk/. I know this is not the problem but it apparently is issued when there is a DBusException according to the code in that file.

As mentioned wicd and card work as root GUI  

1. When added new user options came up to let user have access to netdev.How do I check that for original user? didn't see option in vasm (create new user) to check existing user access to services.
2. Is it possible that the live version gives user "vl" access to these services?
3. Why are many of the user wicd.config related files (in various locations) empty or non existent?


Thanks

[Trio3b]

OK, if I log into user GUI, then open terminal and execute as ROOT wicd, card fires up, but launching wicd from user GUI menu I get error.

But if I exit out of root and still in terminal I execute as user "wicd-client" , then wicd interface comes up and networks shown and can connect with adapter.

since I have to start wicd as root during a session, does this mean wicd daemon is not starting at boot?

Hope this helps

[bigpaws]

I am confused.

I am seeing Live, STD different times, which adds to the confusion.

So if you start VL STD and then login as a normal user and then
use a terminal and as root try using wicd. Then log out a normal user
can use wicd.

That would mean that wicd daemon is not starting. Can you as
root in a terminal type:

ls -la /etc/rc.d/rc.wicd

and post the output. It is possible that wicd is not executable which
would create these problems.

Bigpaws

[Trio3b]

I am confused.

I am seeing Live, STD different times, which adds to the confusion.

Soryy just was comparing files. We  are working on std install not the live version

So if you start VL STD and then login as a normal user and then
use a terminal and as root try using wicd. Then log out a normal user
can use wicd.

 OK, if I log into normal user GUI, then open terminal and execute as ROOT wicd, card fires up (LED comes on), then minimize terminal and  try to launch GUI wicd from user GUI menu I get the dbus error.

But if I maximize same terminal, then exit out of root, then I execute  "wicd-client" as user still in same terminal , then I can launch wicd GUI from GUI menu, wicd GUI interface comes up and networks shown and can connect with adapter as normal user with wicd GUI interface.

That would mean that wicd daemon is not starting. Can you as
root in a terminal type:

ls -la /etc/rc.d/rc.wicd

and post the output. It is possible that wicd is not executable which
would create these problems.

returns:
 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1087 Sep 26 2011 /etc/rc.d/rc.wicd*

[bigpaws]

Have you tried issuing the command wicd-client
as a normal user before trying anything as root?

Bigpaws

[Trio3b]

Yes:

Notifications support True
connecting ...cant connect, trying automatic
sudo: sorry a password is required to run sudo
wicd d shutting down
display True
done loading


Where did sudo come from?

Thanks