Yesterday I’ve switched my whole work system from Kubuntu to openSUSE Leap. I’m not relatively new to Linux but far away from an advanced user.
All is going quite well, apart from some minor problems I’ve managed to solve. By now I’m only having a last small issue: I can configure wireless networks connection, etc. from YaST but can’t figure how get working a network management icon on notification area of the plasma 5 panel. There is a widget called “Networks” that doesn’t works, on hovering says “NetworkManager is not running”. I’ve seen that on YaST > Network Settings > Global Options > Network Setup Method, instead of “NetworkManager Service” is selected by default “Wicked Service” that I understand that is an alternative to the other but not compatible with plasma widget in the panel. So I’ve tried to install another python gui tool that seems to be compatible with this one, “Wicd” downloaded from SourceForge on version 1.7.1. It’s gui to configure networks works well but the notification indicator doesn’t, it shows no icon and not responds to clicks, only show on hovering “wicd-client.py”.
Can someone point me in the right direction to solve the issue? Thanks a lot!
I myself mistook wicd for wicked when the latter first was launched, and they are not the same.
wicd = wireless manager and configuration utility
wicked = openSUSE “ifup/ifdown” management wrapper, providing enhancements and consistency across releases
By default LEAP (and openSUSE) is installing Network Manager but not using it by default. If you prefer to use Network Manager for its many features particularly if your machine is a mobile device (eg laptop) which connects to many different networks, NM is still preferable.
But, if your LEAP connects only in one way (eg wired) and more often than not to the same network (eg a Desktop), then you may prefer to use the default Wicked.
If the NM icon in the taskbar/panel is bothersome or you wish to recover the space it’s using, I’ve simply uninstalled the Network Manager package, otherwise it can just sit there without causing a problem.
If you wish to use NM instead of Wicked (and the ifup/ifdown commands), then you’ve found the place to switch over in YAST.
Although others have expressed a preference for Wicked for static and/or wired connections, I have found either Wicked or NM works just fine for those types of network connections.
The slight gotcha to be aware of is if you configure static connections using Wicked, you need to be proficient in locating and configuring all the necessary settings in YAST, whereas in NM the settings are organized on a single (or at most additional) page and easy to set.
