Ubuntu Networking :: Wicd & WiFi-radar Fail To Get IP Address

When trying to connect to a wireless AP, neither wicd or wifi-radar are able to obtain an IP. With wicd, a string of various hex/dec characters flow by, with an eventual error. This happens with both WEP and unencrypted APs (- the hex/dec). With wifi-radar it simply fails, but not every time. NetworkManager connects with zero problems every time; though I prefer to not use NetworkManager, so please spare me of such replies. Someone please tell me why there should be only one wireless manager in Ubuntu that works? I have used wicd since before gutsy gibbon, and it always worked fine until the last two versions, Lucid, and Karmic. What is occurring in Ubuntu which over time breaks these excellent applications? I have tried this with four different wireless cards, and all suffer either identical or similar issues. Those chipsets are Broadcom, two RealTeks, and an Intel.

I really wish to emphasize that this post is not a request for a lecture on why I should use only NetworkManager, or why I should go find another distro. With something like Linux, maybe we could push a little harder, and have maybe say, two, wireless managers that actually work? I would honestly like to see more than two, but one is not enough. It baffles me a bit why new versions of Ubuntu mangle some perfectly good applications, but not others. In IT, surely networking, IP4, WEP, basic wifi technology, etc. has not changed so much that every six months whole new programs should need to be written to connect to a wireless access point. Nor should old ones need much tweaking. What's going on? With such boastings of repositories abundant and brimming with free apps, why does anyone want to make NetworkManager the only app that works?