Rebelling against insanity: Wicd requires half of GNOME

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:44:02 GMT

UPDATE: you can get this program now at google code

I have been using my eee for a while already with a sort of Kubuntu in it.

However, my favourite wireless/wired network management app is wicd, which is a Python/GTK application. Or was, since version 1.4.1 requires python-gnome2-extras.

Which depends on ....

libart-2.0-2 (>= 2.3.18), libaspell15 (>= 0.60), libatk1.0-0 (>= 1.13.2), libbonobo2-0 (>= 2.15.0),
libbonoboui2-0 (>= 2.15.1), libc6 (>= 2.6-1), libcairo2 (>= 1.4.0),
libfontconfig1 (>= 2.4.0), libfreetype6 (>= 2.3.5), libgconf2-4 (>= 2.13.5),
libgda3-3, libgdl-1-0, libgdl-gnome-1-0, libgksu1.2-1 (>= 1.3.3), libgksu2-0 (>= 1.9.6),
libgksuui1.0-1, libglade2-0 (>= 1:2.6.1), libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.14.0), libgnome-keyring0 (>= 2.19.6),
libgnome2-0 (>= 2.17.3), libgnomecanvas2-0 (>= 2.11.1), libgnomeui-0 (>= 2.19.1),
libgnomevfs2-0 (>= 1:2.17.90), libgtk2.0-0 (>= 2.12.0), libgtkspell0 (>= 2.0.2),
libice6 (>= 1:1.0.0), libnspr4-0d (>= 1.8.0.10), liborbit2 (>= 1:2.14.8),
libpango1.0-0 (>= 1.18.2), libpng12-0 (>= 1.2.13-4), libpopt0 (>= 1.10), libsm6,
libstartup-notification0 (>= 0.8-1), libx11-6, libxcomposite1 (>=1:0.3-1),
libxcursor1 (>> 1.1.2), libxdamage1 (>= 1:1.1), libxext6, libxfixes3 (>= 1:4.0.1), libxi6, libxinerama1,
libxml2 (>= 2.6.29), libxrandr2 (>= 2:1.2.0), libxrender1, zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.3.3.dfsg-1),
python-support (>= 0.3.4), python (<< 2.6), python (>= 2.4), python-gtk2,
python-pyorbit, python-gnome2-desktop

In short: a 87MB download. That can't be good. In fact, there are almost no changes from 1.3.1 which didn't require all that! Except for one change that makes all the difference on a eee PC: vertical resizing to under 400px. :-(

So, because I am who I am, I did this:

wicd-qt.png by Roberto Alsina

It's a replacement for wicd's gui.py and tray.py. Only needs PyQt4 which I already had and depends on:

libc6 (>= 2.6-1), libgcc1 (>= 1:4.2.1), libqt4-core (>= 4.3.2),
libqt4-gui (>= 4.3.2), libstdc++6 (>= 4.2.1), python-central (>= 0.5.8),
python (<< 2.6), python (>= 2.4), python-sip4 (>= 4.7), python-sip4 (<< 4.8)

See a difference there?

Took me about 3 hours to hack together, and works (except for wired config, the prefs dialog, static IP and scripts) but the hard work is done.

If anyone wants a copy, just ask. I expect KUbuntu could use something like it?

Yes, Xandros was horrible. But this ubuntu thing is working out nicely!

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:47:41 GMT

As I said before, the bastardized Xandros [1] sucked. In fact, I managed to destroy it. So I decided to switch to another distro. Any distro.

Enter eeeXubuntu, a eee-tuned Xubuntu [2].

Since I prefer KDE to XFCE, I started hacking at it, and produced, IMVHO, a much nicer thing.

keee.png by Roberto Alsina

As you can see, it takes slightly less space than eeeXubuntu's default, and a whooping 1GB less than the default distro.

How did I do it? First, by deciding what I wanted.

No OpenOffice. Koffice is enough to read docs, then there is Google docs, and I produce my texts using docutils
No printing. I have not used a printer in 5 years. What are the odds I will use one from the eee?
wicd for network configuration. It works for wireless/wired/encrypted and has no problem whatsoever reconnecting after suspend.
yakuake for terminal. It uses the least screen-space possible: none if you are not using it.
Firefox + Flash (I would use Konqueror, if flash9 had not broken it)
Kmail + Akregator for mail and RSS

It works great, boots in 35 seconds (and I have not tuned that, yet).

Here's the list of installed packages and here's the list of repos I am using

Maybe someone more enterprising will make a real distro out of it.

[1]	Which is itself a bastardized Debian etch.

[2]	Which is a XFCE-tuned ubuntu

Posts in Lateral Opinion about wicd-qt

Rebelling against insanity: Wicd requires half of GNOME

Yes, Xandros was horrible. But this ubuntu thing is working out nicely!