A proper Network Manager alternative for WI-FI

[KIMW]

I really HATE Network Manager for Linux Mint. I had issue with my previous laptop and AGAIN I have issue with my new one.
Each time I try to connect an external WiFi adapter to my laptop, sometimes it's works BUT most of the time it does NOT.

I'm fed up trying to understand why, SO I WANT to get rid of the Network Manager pre-installed and find a reliable one.
Wicd and Conman have not been update for a long time so does anybody know a proper Network Manager alternative instead?

[JeremyB]

What adapter and what kernel?

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lsusb; uname -r

[KIMW]

lsusb; uname -r
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 009: ID 0bda:8187 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8187 Wireless Adapter
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 8087:0026 Intel Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
5.15.0-53-generic


[sleeper12]

Does it work if you do:

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sudo modprobe rtl8187

[KIMW]

Does it work if you do:

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sudo modprobe rtl8187

No, it does not help.

Does anybody know a proper Network Manager alternative??

[Joe2Shoe]

My advice, from my personal experience with Linux, is to remove that Realtek WiFi card and install an Intel 8265 WiFi card (or newer) on ebay for less than $6 USD.
I have more problems with Realtek/Broadcom WiFi cards, so they all get replaced with Intel; no more problems.
Just make sure you remove the current Realtek card and get one with the same pin configuration & card dimensions (take photos with phone).
The LM Network Manager works fine, as I have never had any issues with it.
Good luck.

[sleeper12]

I also doubt that it's a Network Manager issue. It sounds more like a wifi card problem. Anyway, what does this show:

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rfkill list && iwconfig

[KIMW]

remove the current Realtek card and get one with the same pin configuration & card dimensions (take photos with phone).

The rtl8187 I'm using, is an external WiFi adapter.

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rfkill list && iwconfig


0: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
2: dell-bluetooth: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
4: phy1: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
12: phy9: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
lo no wireless extensions.

wlo1 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"SkyNet"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.447 GHz Access Point: 38:10:D5:0B:70:9B
Bit Rate=144.4 Mb/s Tx-Power=22 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:on
Link Quality=70/70 Signal level=-40 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:12 Missed beacon:0

wlx00c0ca4ead4c IEEE 802.11 ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off

[sleeper12]

If this is the one you are using:

wlo1 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"SkyNet"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.447 GHz Access Point: 38:10:D5:0B:70:9B
Bit Rate=144.4 Mb/s Tx-Power=22 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:on

Turn power management off:

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 sudo sed -i 's/3/2/' /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf 

Reboot

[KIMW]

If this is the one you are using:

wlo1 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"SkyNet"

It's the one I'm using but the one I want to use and does not always work is:
wlx00c0ca4ead4c IEEE 802.11 ESSID:off/any

[Joe2Shoe]

What is the brand, model#, and the chipset of the external usb wifi adapter that you wish to use (wlx00c0ca4ead4c)?
That info would be helpful.

Also, copy & paste the following command into the Terminal with the "wlx00c0ca4ead4c" external usb wifi adapter plugged in:
inxi -Fxpmrz

Then post the output to the forum.

[KIMW]

Brand: Alfa
Model: AWUS036H
Chipset: Realtek 8187L (information found on internet, because there is nothing written on the device itself about the chipset)

But, I don't think the problem is with the external usb WiFi adapter, because I have the same issue with a different adapter from TP-Link, model: TL-WN722N.

inxi -Fxpmrz

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System:    Kernel: 5.15.0-53-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A Desktop: Cinnamon 5.2.7 Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una 
           base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:   Type: Convertible System: Dell product: Latitude 9410 v: N/A serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Dell model: 0W70P7 v: A00 serial: <filter> UEFI: Dell v: 1.14.2 date: 05/12/2022 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 75.1 Wh condition: 75.1/78.0 Wh (96%) model: LGC-LGC6.5 DELL 8RTVG0C status: Full 
Memory:    RAM: total: 15.28 GiB used: 7.51 GiB (49.2%) 
           RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required. 
CPU:       Topology: 6-Core model: Intel Core i7-10810U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: N/A L2 cache: 12.0 MiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 38399 
           Speed: 1095 MHz min/max: 400/4900 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 2973 2: 2998 3: 2610 4: 2236 5: 1894 6: 1457 7: 800 
           8: 753 9: 2557 10: 700 11: 776 12: 1970 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (CML GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.2.6 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.15.0-53-generic 
Network:   Device-1: Intel Wireless-AC 9462 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 00:14.3 
           IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Realtek RTL8187 Wireless Adapter type: USB driver: rtl8187 bus ID: 1-4:12 
           IF: wlx00c0ca4ead4c state: up mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-1: nordlynx state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 325.08 GiB (34.1%) 
           ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: SK Hynix model: PC611 NVMe 1TB size: 953.87 GiB 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 888.91 GiB used: 324.98 GiB (36.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p6 
           ID-2: /boot/efi size: 236.0 MiB used: 101.0 MiB (42.8%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 
           ID-3: /snap/bare/5 raw size: 4 KiB size: <superuser/root required> used: <superuser/root required> fs: squashfs 
           dev: /dev/loop0 
           ID-4: /snap/core18/2620 raw size: 55.6 MiB size: <superuser/root required> used: <superuser/root required> 
           fs: squashfs dev: /dev/loop1 
           ID-5: /snap/core18/2632 raw size: 55.6 MiB size: <superuser/root required> used: <superuser/root required> 
           fs: squashfs dev: /dev/loop4 
           ID-6: /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/161 raw size: 164.8 MiB size: <superuser/root required> used: <superuser/root required> 
           fs: squashfs dev: /dev/loop2 
           ID-7: /snap/gtk-common-themes/1534 raw size: 81.3 MiB size: <superuser/root required> 
           used: <superuser/root required> fs: squashfs dev: /dev/loop3 
           ID-8: /snap/gtk-common-themes/1535 raw size: 91.7 MiB size: <superuser/root required> 
           used: <superuser/root required> fs: squashfs dev: /dev/loop5 
           ID-9: /snap/snapd/17883 raw size: 49.6 MiB size: <superuser/root required> used: <superuser/root required> 
           fs: squashfs dev: /dev/loop8 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mozillateam-ppa-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nordvpn.list 
           1: deb https://repo.nordvpn.com//deb/nordvpn/debian stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
           1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com una main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
           2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
           3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
           6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/opera-stable.list 
           1: deb https://deb.opera.com/opera-stable/ stable non-free #Opera Browser (final releases)
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu-mozilla-security-ppa-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mozilla-security/ppa/ubuntu focal main
Info:      Processes: 392 Uptime: 2d 19h 53m Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.4.0 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 
           inxi: 3.0.38

[sleeper12]

Does the external adapter work any better if you temporarily disable the internal one?:

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sudo modprobe -r iwlwifi

Just a test since the internal adapter will reload when you reboot.