Wifi on BBB 3.8.x - Are there drivers for any USB wifi adapters?

[KurtE]

I would like to hook up a USB wifi adapter to my BBB, that is running with the 5/8 build (Kernel 3.8.11).  I would like to connect to this wirelessly.

Are there any adapters that have drivers that work with the 3.8 kernel.  I currently have at least 3 different adapters.  Two of them I have connected to Raspberry Pis, including:
Edimax - http://www.amazon.com/Edimax-EW-7811Un-Wireless-Adapter-Wizard/
Gymle -  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Y6UNI6/ref=oh_details_o05_s01_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Netgear WNA1100 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0036R9XRU/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The first two were choosen from the RPi verified list.  The last one was from another thread.

Are the drivers for any of the wireless adapters included in the main download, if not are there any that you can currently do an opkg install of?  Or do we need to build the driver(s).  I saw one thread that I believe built the driver for the Netgear adapter, but I believe that it was specific to the 3.2 kernel.    A few days ago I tried following the steps to build this driver, which failed on 3.8.  Unfortunately after that point, I did a opkg update and the upgrade, which failed and the system ran out of space... So I relashed from microsd...

Any suggestions? 

Thanks
Kurt

[Ben Loftin]

I've tried the edimax from amazon and this ourlinc from adafruit

http://www.adafruit.com/products/814

and followed these instructions here:

http://learn.adafruit.com/beaglebone/wifi

driver is something like

opkg list | grep linux-firmware-rtl8192cu

Unfortunately, both of those have been extremely unstable ( may just be my config).  I've found I have to disconnect and reconnect to my wifi network every 10 minutes or so.  I use connman-properties to do that and have not fiddled much with settings other than trying static ip and dhcp which both had the same problem.  Let me know if any work out for you.

Ben

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[ky...@cranehome.info]

I have used the ASUS usb-n10 with very good success on mine.  The caveat is that they 'just work' under Arch Linux and just don't work on Angstrom.  I didn't stick with Angstrom long enough try and figure out why.   I think the driver is r8712u.

[    6.168204] r8712u: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.

[    6.178011] r8712u 1-1:1.0: usb_probe_interface

[    6.178043] r8712u 1-1:1.0: usb_probe_interface - got id

[    6.178063] r8712u: Staging version

[    6.178146] r8712u: register rtl8712_netdev_ops to netdev_ops

[    6.178161] r8712u: USB_SPEED_HIGH with 4 endpoints

[    6.178733] r8712u: Boot from EFUSE: Autoload OK

[    6.637161] r8712u: CustomerID = 0x0010

[    6.637187] r8712u: MAC Address from efuse = 50:46:5d:ad:42:b2

[    6.637198] r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"

[    6.646875] usbcore: registered new interface driver r8712u

So far it works well.  I had the same experience with the Adafruit interfaces.  They seemed to work fine but my connection would drop constantly and I can find no log that explains why.

[KurtE]

Thanks,
I looked at the Adafruit instructions and trying to figure out some of it.  Things like: opkg -t /home/root/tmp upgrade 
Why do the upgrade using a temporary directory...

Also with the stuff currently on the machine, when I do an opkg list | grep linux-firmware...
Nothing is found.  I did an opgk list > foo
And when I look into the foo file I see an entry for: kernel-module-rtl8192cu
Is that what I am looking for?

Kurt

[Ben Loftin]

Yeah i ignored the tmp dir and yeah the 8192 module looks right

[KurtE]

Thanks,
After I did the upgrade, did find the file: linux-firmware-rtl8192cu
Installed it and the like, did the enable... Getting farther I think.  The driver is loading:

[   18.085189] rtl8192cu 1-1.4:1.0: usb_probe_interface
[   18.085216] rtl8192cu 1-1.4:1.0: usb_probe_interface - got id
[   18.129947] rtl8192cu: Chip version 0x10
[   19.423228] rtl8192cu: MAC address: 80:1f:02:9a:9b:e6
[   19.423262] rtl8192cu: Board Type 0
[   19.423387] rtlwifi: rx_max_size 15360, rx_urb_num 8, in_ep 1
[   19.433022] rtl8192cu: Loading firmware rtlwifi/rtl8192cufw.bin
[   19.442419] usbcore: registered new interface driver rtl8192cu
[   19.483107] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'rtl_rc'
[   19.484813] rtlwifi: wireless switch is on
[   19.512726] rtl8192cu: MAC auto ON okay!
[   19.586345] rtl8192cu: Tx queue select: 0x05
[   20.010810] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[   31.903955] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p2): re-mounted. Opts: commit=0

But I think it is failing with IPv6...
I have verified that settings in /var/lib/connman/settings:

[global]
OfflineMode=false

[Wired]
Enable=true

[WiFi]
Enable=true

Not 100% sure where to define the networks stuff.  Following the Adafruit, I have:

root@beaglebone ~ # cat /var/lib/connman/wifi.config
[service_home]
type = wifi
Name = TheName
Security = wpa-psk
Passphrase  = ThePassword

Note for Security I have tried: wpa, wap2 and now wpa-psk.  WPA-PSK is what the RPI is configured to use for same network.
But if I look at:

root@beaglebone ~ # cat /etc/network/interfaces
# /etc/network/interfaces -- configuration file for ifup(8), ifdown(8)

# The loopback interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# Wireless interfaces
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
        wireless_mode managed
        wireless_essid any
        wpa-driver wext
        wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

iface atml0 inet dhcp

# Wired or wireless interfaces
...

It looks like maybe the WPA stuff is supposed to be in a different file.  So I edited that file to look like that file for the RPI.  Something like:

root@beaglebone ~ # cat /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=0
update_config=1
network={
        ssid="TheName"
        psk="ThePassword"
        proto=RSN
        key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
        pairwise=TKIP
        auth_alg=OPEN
}

I changed the ssid and psk as to not give that away...

Not sure what to try next.

Thanks
Kurt
 

[KurtE]

On Saturday, May 18, 2013 7:50:23 PM UTC-7, Casey Brittain wrote:

 

I really am wasting more hours than I'm worth. I'm tired and disheartened.  Anyone have an idea?

--Thomas

I know the feeling.  I am willing to try different things if it will help.  Doing some more searching on the web, I ran across this web site: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wireless_Setup#Manual_setup

If I do the command: iw dev wlan0 scan | less
My terminal shows:

BSS 30:46:9a:02:49:a8 (on wlan0)
        TSF: 2567141895552 usec (29d, 17:05:41)
        freq: 2412
        beacon interval: 100
        capability: ESS Privacy ShortPreamble ShortSlotTime (0x0431)
        signal: -35.00 dBm
        last seen: 607 ms ago
        Information elements from Probe Response frame:
        SSID: MYSSID
        Supported rates: 1.0* 2.0* 5.5* 11.0* 6.0 9.0 12.0 18.0
        DS Parameter set: channel 1
        RSN:     * Version: 1
                 * Group cipher: TKIP
                 * Pairwise ciphers: CCMP TKIP
                 * Authentication suites: PSK
                 * Capabilities: (0x0000)
        WPA:     * Version: 1
                 * Group cipher: TKIP
                 * Pairwise ciphers: CCMP TKIP
                 * Authentication suites: PSK
        ERP: <no flags>
        Extended supported rates: 24.0 36.0 48.0 54.0
        WMM:     * Parameter version 1
                 * u-APSD
                 * BE: CW 15-1023, AIFSN 3
                 * BK: CW 15-1023, AIFSN 7
                 * VI: CW 7-15, AIFSN 2, TXOP 3008 usec
                 * VO: CW 3-7, AIFSN 2, TXOP 1504 usec
        HT capabilities:

So it is showing the drivers can talk to USB wifi... But it is failing to make the connection.
More digging...
Kurt

[Casey Brittain]

Interesting.  And I can verify that my setup works.  I got it to connect again, for about 30 seconds using ifup wlan0.  It's really getting to me, my wife thinks I'm possessed.  It's like the damned board is teasing me; giving me just enough to keep slaving at it.  

Still, some things I've ruled out,

1. It's not the dongle.  Used it on two other systems, Linux Laptop and Wheezy RPi.

2. It's not the power through the microUSB.  I've powered it through the barrel-jack with 5v, 2a wall wart.

My intuitions tells me it's probably either

1.  The nearness of my dongle to the router (my lan cable is only 6 feet).

2.  Service conflicts.

Not going to lie, I've put my BBB in the blender today...I was too chicken to hit the button though.  Not a joke.

--Thomas

[Wilfredo Nieves]

Take it from me, it is a good relief but only for the first hour or so afterward. I have destroyed one and I kicked myself in the ass for it afterward. So I think it is a good thing you didn't push the big red nuke button.

-Wil

[KurtE]

I have not tried a different flavor of Linux yet, but have been tempted. 

Currently I think my issues are more network configuration issues.  That is after experimenting and installing the driver for the wireless adapter and maybe kernel module as well.  That is:
opkg install linux-firmware-8192cu
opkg install kernel-module-rtl8192cu

I reboot and the like, and the blue comes the dongle.  Does not properly connect, but it can talk and it sees my router.  Example if I install the other sets of tools like:
opkg install wireless-tools
opkg install connman-tests connman-tools

If I do the command:

/usr/lib/connman/test/list-services, it does give me lots of information about my wifi connection:

[ wifi_111111111111111_222222222222222222_managed_psk ]
    Strength = 35
    Nameservers = [ ]
    State = idle
    Provider = { }
    Type = wifi
    Security = [ psk wps ]
    AutoConnect = false
    Immutable = false
    Proxy = { }
    IPv4.Configuration = { Method=dhcp }
    IPv6.Configuration = { Method=auto Privacy=disabled }
    Name = TestServer
    Favorite = false
    Timeservers = [ ]
    Domains = [ ]
    Ethernet = { Interface=wlan0 Method=auto Address=xxxxx }
    Nameservers.Configuration = [ ]
    Proxy.Configuration = { }
    Domains.Configuration = [ ]
    Timeservers.Configuration = [ ]
    IPv4 = { }
    IPv6 = { }

I edited out the actual data for obvious reasons.  So there is problem with the configuration files.  Not sure myself on which files do what with WPA-PSK...  First there is /etc/network/interfaces, which includes:

# Wireless interfaces
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
        wireless_mode managed
        wireless_essid any
        wpa-driver wext
        wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

this file and some instructions talk about setting up the information in /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
Mine currently has something like:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=0
update_config=1

network={
        ssid="TestServer"
        scan_ssid=1
        key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
        psk="MyPassword"
}

Not sure if the SSID and PSK should be quoted or not, or should be the hex values...

But then there is connman... we have the file: /var/lib/connman/settings which looks like:

[global]
OfflineMode=false

[Wired]
Enable=true

[WiFi]
Enable=true

And then there is talk about seeing up a config file there as well, like: /var/lib.connman/wifi.config which mine looks like:

[global]
Name = Wifi
Description = Home WLAN

[service_wifi]
Type=wifi
SSID="TestServer"
Passphrase="ThePassword"
AutoConnect=true
Favorite=true

Not sure if there is some place where we are supposed to tell the system to look at this file, or the system simply looks at all files who name ends with .config

That is all for now
Kurt

 

[Ben Loftin]

so since this seems to be happening to a few people, has anyone tried it without any encryption.... I might try that next

Kurt

 

--

[KurtE]

On Tuesday, May 21, 2013 5:12:16 PM UTC-7, Ben Loftin wrote:

so since this seems to be happening to a few people, has anyone tried it without any encryption.... I might try that next

Today I thought I would try and find out, So I got out a spare access point and reconfigured it to use wep.  I first tested it by connecting up to it by an RPI.  Then made some edit to configuration files.  /etc/network/interfaces contains the information:

# Wireless interfaces
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
        wpa-driver wext
        wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

the /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file I added a new network section:

network={
        ssid="TEST"
        key_mgmt=NONE
        auth_alg=OPEN
        wep_key0=abcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcd12
}

I then shutdown and unplugged and then replugged in the power to the BBBk and the network connected :)
DHCP gave me a new ID and the like.  What is interesting is that the wired network was not plugged in.  Will have to retry with the wired network plugged in and different combinations to see if I can get it up the way I want it. 

Still more testing to go!
Kurt

[KurtE]

Actually,

I wish to kick myself in the shins :) It appears that the issue is that it will not start up wlan0 when eth0 makes a connection. 
It now appears to properly connect through my WPA-PSK AP :)

Kurt

[Dale Schaafsma]

In lieu of creating a new thread, I figured I'd post my limited success with the latest 05.27 image (did not work when using 05.08)

Basically these are steps at http://learn.adafruit.com/beaglebone/wifi 
- adaFruit dongle (uses RTL8188CUS chip)

- connect wired ethernet (opkg steps require internet access)

- opkg update

- opkg install linux-firmware-rtl8192cu

- edit /var/lib/connman/wifi.confg to contain

[service_home]

Type = wifi

Name = yourSSID

Security = wpa2-psk

Passphrase = yourPassPhrase

- disconnect wired ethernet

- reboot

- dmesg should show rtl8192cu loading firmware and registering wlan0

- ifconfig wlan0 should show a DHCP'd IP after a bit

- /usr/lib/connman/test/test-connman services should show available wireless AP's (affiliated/selected should be indicated also)

I haven't determined how reliable the connection is, there is a fair bit of packet delay/loss, but connection is ok for slow ssh.

Also note that even with the 05.27 image, I'm not seeing USB hot insert/remove work reliably so rebooting was required for me.

-Dale

[cmicali]

I was also able to get the stock rtl8192cu driver to work, but it was painful and was not always stable.  I found that if ethernet is plugged in at all it will bascially disable wifi until you reboot - this is i think due to connman preferring the ethernet conncetion and then bugs in the rtl drivers.  It looks like there have been patches to rtl driver in mainline but i think it was in 3.9+

That said, i got the realtek vendor drivers (available on their site) built and the completely fixed my problems.  Connection is made almost instantly and it's rock-solid.  I had to patch the source to build against the 3.8 kernel (i found the patch somewhere on the ubuntu forums.) 

[KurtE]

I was curious about this as I did not find the wifi to be as reliable as on other boards, so I searched around for the steps to build the driver.  Found details up at: http://wind.cs.purdue.edu/doc/wifi.html

As you mentioned, it did not compile,  So I found this:
https://github.com/OpenELEC/OpenELEC.tv/blob/master/packages/linux-drivers/RTL8192CU/patches/RTL8192CU-use_kthread_run_v2.patch#L114

I did the changes and it now compiles.  Next up try it out.

Were these the changes you needed to make?

Thanks
Kurt

[KurtE]

Quick update: So far I am running it and it is making connections :)

Not sure the best way to replace drivers.  That is it was using:
rtl8192cu.ko

Did a copy over of the new generated: 8192cu.ko

mkdir /lib/modules/$(uname –r)/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtlwifi/8192cu
cp 8192cu.ko /lib/modules/$(uname –r)/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtlwifi/8192cu/
depmod –a

But could not do the next step:
modprobe 8192cu
lsmod

Said device was in use.  So I simply rebooted... I think from the lsmod after this that
it is now using the 8192cu driver and not the rtl8192cu 

root@beaglebone ~ # lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
rtlwifi                63810  0
rtl8192c_common        51159  0
mac80211              270414  2 rtlwifi,rtl8192c_common
cfg80211              166418  2 mac80211,rtlwifi
8192cu                445685  0
snd_usb_audio          94907  0
snd_usbmidi_lib        14325  1 snd_usb_audio
snd_hwdep               4793  1 snd_usb_audio
snd_rawmidi            16831  1 snd_usbmidi_lib
ip_tables               8294  0
x_tables               15072  1 ip_tables
g_multi                55905  2
libcomposite           15228  1 g_multi
rfcomm                 25106  0
ircomm_tty             14503  0
ircomm                  8846  1 ircomm_tty
irda                   89974  2 ircomm_tty,ircomm
ipv6                  229989  14
hidp                   10112  0
bluetooth             146100  4 hidp,rfcomm
rfkill                 16510  4 cfg80211,bluetooth
autofs4                17432  2

But so far I know I can SSH and RCP into this.

Kurt

[Weboide]

cmicali and KurtE,

Can you guys post a summary of what you did (with links) here or in a wiki somewhere? I know that quite a few users in other threads are still having issues with setting up a rtl8192cu on angstrom and would love to have a step-by-step howto. That would be greatly appreciated!

[cmicali]

KurtE,

    I took a first stab at some instructions here:  http://bonenotes.tumblr.com/

    Would really appreciate some feedback - any problems, type-os, or issues.

-chris

[William Hermans]

I can not say for Angstrom, but in Debian there are many wifi modules that are not even compiled in as per standard. So . . . maybe run menuconfig, and take notes on what is available for your distro.

--

[KurtE]

So far looks good.  I will take a complete look through tomorrow and fix all of the stuff I did (or did not do).

Also learned some stuff, like the patch program.  I did not know about that and did the patching myself...

Also wondered about blacklisting the old driver, but was not sure how or if, so I think I have parts of both system running on mine.  Will fix. on Mine. 

As for building the kernel, I was confused on the best way to do this, so I think I have at least two full setups on my main machine. (Neither was from the approach you showed, but that one looks easier...)

Got to run.  Tomorrow I was hoping to see if I could try to build something for a different USB adapter, that has the RTL8191SU chip set.  This has a larger external antenna, for larger range.  Currently it is running on one of my RPIs.

Kurt

[Arnaud Soyez]

I managed to get my rtl8192cu working using Chris' tutorial, but
instead of cross-compiling, I compiled the module directly on my
beaglebone black. I'll post a howto on my blog either today or
tomorrow and share it here.

2013/6/10 KurtE <ku...@rockisland.com>:

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[KurtE]

Thanks, for documenting all of this up!

Fixed my install to blacklist the other driver and my wifi stopped working. Then updated the wifi.config and it is now working :)

Some typos or my misunderstandings along the way.
Installing the driver, this line looked wrong to me:

    mv 8192cu.ko  /lib/modules/`uname -r`

So I changed it to:

    mv 8192cu.ko  /lib/modules/$(uname -r)
(Maybe the other syntax works as well)

Again the not 100% sure on this command:
    wpa_passphrase YourPassphrase YourPassword
But I did it like:
    wpa_passphrase YourSSID YourPassPhrase

Again great work!
Thanks
Kurt

[Chris Micali]

Kurt,

Awesome thanks - the back ticks work, but it's not always clear depending on the font.  It has to be ` instead of '!  I like your syntax better, i'll change it, and the passphrase thing was a type-o.  I'll change that too!

-c

[Arnaud Soyez]

Great work guys, with all this, we should have a good step-by-step on
how to set up rtl8192cu's on the BBB :)
Thanks!

2013/6/11 Chris Micali <chris....@sagedevices.com>:

[Weboide]

Here's how I make mine work, (based on cmicali's howto):

http://www.codealpha.net/864/how-to-set-up-a-rtl8192cu-on-the-beaglebone-black-bbb/

Sorry that's really barebone but I wanted to put something quickly together so I can post it out there asap.

[Chris Micali]

Looks great - ill link to it from my post

[Casey Brittain]

I don't suppose anyone could verify these instructions work on other distros? (I'm trying on Arch Linux)

If not, can someone give me some general direction?

I have already attempted following these instructions, respective to Angrstro / Arch differences. I was able to compile and load the module; even associate, connect, and authenticate. But, it was unusablly unstable. It'd drop soon after connected and the reconnect time was long (5-10 mins). I used wpa_supplicant alone. Maybe my confit was off?

[cmicali]

Casey - not sure what would be different from arch.. maybe i'd suggest upgrading your versions of connman and wpa_supplicant?  1.15 and 1.1 respectively are what I am using...

when you say you were using wpa_supplicant alone you mean you were not using connman?  any dmesg/log messages that indicate why the interface disconnected?

[Casey Brittain]

Sorry, got frustrated and started working towards building the module through Arch's tools.  I've built it correctly (I believe). I'll try it out tonight after work and after I've read how to properly create a wifi connection.  

As was pointed out to me, I'm too new to Linux for Arch Linux; to which I say: I know my role, I'm one of the ten-thousand monkeys, on one of ten-thousand type writers, maybe some Shakespeare's to ensue?

Thank's again for the walk-through; when I saw it, I felt the sense of my team winning, even if I wasn't a key player

 :)

--Thomas

[Chris Micali]

haha yeah same here really, just another monkey on a typewriter but we're making good progress towards hamlet v1

let me know how it goes, would really be good to figure out what the root cause of some of these problems is

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[Casey Brittain]

Well, I got the 8192cu up in Arch Linux.  But, it's not nearly as stable as I'd like.  I don't suppose someone could examine my workflow?  I'm too fresh to Linux to know better.

http://cthomasbrittain.wordpress.com/2013/07/03/installing-8192cu-module-on-the-b3-running-arch-linux/

--Thomas

[Arnaud Soyez]

How do you power the beaglebone and the 8192cu?

2013/7/3 Casey Brittain <ourimmo...@gmail.com>:

[Casey Brittain]

2.5 A barrel-jack.

[Arnaud Soyez]

I'd suggest trying a usb hub if you happen to have one.

2013/7/3 Casey Brittain <ourimmo...@gmail.com>:

[able...@gmail.com]

Thomas,

I have had success running this wifi adapter on the black under Arch Linux.  Please see lemoneer labs  The issue I am still working on concerns the real time clock.  It is not battery backed and does not maintain the time after you power off.  This causes the black to fail to connect automatically on the first boot after power off.  I am currently documenting using an external real time clock with battery backup to address this issue.  I hope this helps.

[Casey Brittain]

Witherwax,

 

Thank you for the write-up. 

 

I've noticed I'm being a little harsh on how "unstable" my connection is.  And you gave me a reason for my next dilemma, why I can't get wifi to start on boot. 

 

So, you've had no problems with the stock 8192cu module on Arch?  I had just assumed I'd needed to use an updated module after the problems I encountered with the rtl8192cu on Angstrom.  Regardless, I'll dig through my i2c RTCs and see if I can get one working.

 

Also, I've noticed that not all my rtl8192cu's work with my current driver.  It seems only one of the three (all different makes with the same chip. 8188 chipset?).

 

Anyways, I'll repeat your steps and see if I can get any of my kinks worked out.

 

Thanks again.

 

--Thomas

[Matthew Witherwax]

Thomas,

I have a Chronodot I plan to use.  chronodot  It is based on the DS323 and uses the same driver as the DS1307.  Arch Linux Arm has support compiled into the kernel according to the config at GitHub.

config file excerpt
#
# I2C RTC drivers
#
CONFIG_RTC_DRV_DS1307=y

source code excerpt from the driver rtc-ds1307.c
enum ds_type {
ds_1307,
ds_1337,
ds_1338,
ds_1339,
ds_1340,
ds_1388,
ds_3231,
m41t00,
mcp7941x,
rx_8025,
last_ds_type /* always last */
/* rs5c372 too? different address... */
};

Having it compiled into the kernel will prevent issues with the module not loading in time to set the clock from the RTC at boot.  Hopefully I will have time to fully test it out this week.  Staying with a chip listed above should prevent some difficulties. :)

The only problem I have had was the mysterious "random" failure to connect to my router that I was able to pin point as being caused by the RTC.  It would appear intermittent because I would connect the ethernet cable to the board and ssh into it to see what was going on.  NTP would then at some point update the system time over the ethernet connection and magically the wifi would work when I manually brought it up or when I rebooted... just not after a power off.

The only module I have based on this chipset is the one from Ada Fruit so I am unable to test others.

Good luck, and I'll let you know how the RTC goes.

[Matthew Witherwax]

Thomas,

As promised, here is the write up on how I got the Chronodot to work  LemoneerLabs RTC

[Casey Brittain]

That is awesome, sir.

I've been too busy with other projects to give the B^3 any love. I'll read the article as soon as I get home. And thanks for doing the work for the rest of us :)

Though, the big question is: Did it solve your start-up on boot issue?

--Thomas

[Matthew Witherwax]

The RTC has solved my wifi on boot issue; however, I have a new issue.  After getting the RTC working, I was checking the packages available for Arch Linux Arm and saw there was a module for the 8192cu in the AUR.  I had been using the support built into the kernel.  I decided to give the module a try.  Wifi still comes up at boot, but it seems to fall apart after a few minutes.  Wlan0 still shows as up but has lost its address.  When I check the attached devices on my router, the router shows the mac address for the beagle bone black with an ip address of -----.  I will be reverting sometime this week when I have more time.

[Matthew Witherwax]

Looking here http://linux-sunxi.org/Wifi

It has this gem

8192cu

Workaround for dropping connection because power save.

[ 1139.170000] rtl8192c_dm_RF_Saving(): RF_Normal
[ 1139.170000] rtl8192c_set_FwPwrMode_cmd(): Mode = 1, SmartPS = 2
[ 1139.850000] rtw_set_ps_mode(): Busy Traffic , Leave 802.11 power save..
[ 1139.850000] rtl8192c_set_FwPwrMode_cmd(): Mode = 0, SmartPS = 0
[ 1141.170000] rtl8192c_dm_RF_Saving(): RF_Save
[ 1145.170000] rtw_set_ps_mode(): Enter 802.11 power save mode...

To fix the problem create a file /etc/modprobe.d/8192cu.conf with the following contents:

options 8192cu rtw_power_mgnt=0 rtw_enusbss=0

Perhaps I will try this or something similar tonight before reverting.

[Dale Schaafsma]

FYI I have been doing some testing on my x86 laptop with the built-in driver (rtl8192cu) in Wheezy vs the realtek driver.

A quick summary of my findings (all Wheezy for x86, on an older laptop with only 32bit support and a Netgear WNDR3700v1 with WPA2):

- only 100% (no drops) - realtek driver compiled with power saving off (set "CONFIG_POWER_SAVING = n" in the makefile) passed 1000/1000 pings

- linux default rtl8192cu driver even with "iw wlan1 set power_save off" saw drops (about 20/1000).

- linux default rtl8192cu driver was slightly faster (for ping at least) - 0.8msec for rtl8192cu vs 1.0msec realtek 8192cu.ko driver

Other variables that I've fiddled with and found to be a unlikely:

- heat...put the dongle in between some "ice" and I still saw the "92S thermal meter" in dmesg

- location...put the dongle on a USB extension cable and it didn't seem to matter

- time (clock set on linux host)...Unlike others this didn't seem to make a difference to me on the BBB...further the x86 laptop had substantial difficulties affiliating with the rtl8192cu driver (had to physically remove/re-insert the device many times to get it to join the network)

So I'm wondering if my rtl8188cus dongle (acquired via adafruit) is less than reliable hardware...but I haven't yet decided to buy another dongle.

FYI I plan to run the same tests on the BBB and post a full writeup, but I'm guessing it'll be a little while.

-Dale

ps. The built-in chip on the laptop using b43-legacy is also a bit wonky...it complains about PHY errors frequently.

[Matthew Witherwax]

Update on the RTL8192

I looked into the driver that was installed from the AUR, and it properly blacklists the kernel driver.  It also appears to be compiled with power saving turned off based on the result from

cat /sys/module/8192cu/parameters/rtw_power_mgnt
That's a problem because now I have no reason for why it constantly drops the IP address.  What's more, after restoring my previous image and using the kernel driver, I can no longer connect to my router.  The router logs alternate between showing an address being assigned to my BBB and the router not assigning an address because of bad security.  Another thing I have noticed is the micro adapter has started to run rather hot.  I don't know if the adapter has gone bad or what, but it is no longer useable.

Not wanting to spend any more time on it, I picked up a TP-LINK TL-WN722N.  I plugged it in, rebooted, and without any changes, it works with issue.  I have had it up for 15 hours without a dropped connection, and it has successfully pinged a sample of ip addresses over 30,000 times without issue.  It is not as small as the micro adapter I was using, but it has great reception thanks to the external antenna.  The TL-WN722N lacks an external antenna if you need something more compact.

It is supported by the ath9k_htc driver - more information here wireless.kernel.org
A list of other devices with the same chipset can be found here http://wireless.kernel.org/ Devices

It is time to put the RTL8192 devices away - at least the cheap ones.

[Arnaud Soyez]

Matthew, have you tried with the official driver?

Just to share my experience as well...
I've recently switched my BBB to use ubuntu. The rtl8192cu driver
provided by Ubuntu didn't work (just like the one in Angstrom, it
would associate and then disassociate after a few seconds, and so on),
so I used cmicali's driver from
https://github.com/cmicali/rtl8192cu_beaglebone and compiled it, and
it works quite reliably.

2013/7/19 Matthew Witherwax <able...@gmail.com>:

[Matthew Witherwax]

Weboide,

I originally had the adapter working fine under Arch with the kernel driver as documented here.  I saw the Realtek driver in the AUR and wanted to check it out to make sure I covered all bases.  It is my understanding that the driver in the AUR is the Realtek driver configured for install on Arch Linux Arm devices - no power save and blacklisting of kernel driver.  After installing the driver from the AUR, the adapter became unreliable and began to run hot, and it would drop the ip address after a few minutes of uptime.  After looking around the web, I thought it may have to do with the power save feature being turned on, but I was surprised to find that it wasn't.  I rebuilt my os install from scratch and went back to the kernel driver, but I was still unable to connect to my router.  I don't know if it is a driver issue or an adapter issue.  It is strange that it worked before and doesn't now and makes me think the adapter may not be of the best quality.  The quality issue might also explain why some adapters based on the RTL8192 chipset seem to work while others don't.

I can rule out the actual connection configuration as the TP Link adapter I mentioned above worked flawlessly on reboot without any configuration changes.

In summary it is either a driver or an adapter issue.  The fact that the adapter worked before, began to run hot after I switched drivers, then stopped working and wouldn't work even under the original working setup makes me think it may be the adapter, but I cannot be sure.  The TP Link adapter cost 90% more than the original one I used... this might be a case of you get what you paid for.

[Mikester]

Finally got the Edimax working using WEP and static IP.  Only issue is that you have to log on via wired ethernet and SSH to kill the WPA daemon first

start-stop-daemon -K -n wpa_supplicant

After a hard boot all the settings are lost.  How do I make the network changes permenant?

On Friday, May 17, 2013 8:17:48 PM UTC-4, KurtE wrote:

I would like to hook up a USB wifi adapter to my BBB, that is running with the 5/8 build (Kernel 3.8.11).  I would like to connect to this wirelessly.

Are there any adapters that have drivers that work with the 3.8 kernel.  I currently have at least 3 different adapters.  Two of them I have connected to Raspberry Pis, including:
Edimax - http://www.amazon.com/Edimax-EW-7811Un-Wireless-Adapter-Wizard/
Gymle -  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Y6UNI6/ref=oh_details_o05_s01_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Netgear WNA1100 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0036R9XRU/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The first two were choosen from the RPi verified list.  The last one was from another thread.

Are the drivers for any of the wireless adapters included in the main download, if not are there any that you can currently do an opkg install of?  Or do we need to build the driver(s).  I saw one thread that I believe built the driver for the Netgear adapter, but I believe that it was specific to the 3.2 kernel.    A few days ago I tried following the steps to build this driver, which failed on 3.8.  Unfortunately after that point, I did a opkg update and the upgrade, which failed and the system ran out of space... So I relashed from microsd...

Any suggestions? 

Thanks
Kurt

[analog...@gmail.com]

Dealing with this is absolute shit.

I am tired of buying all in one systems that are a complete bitch to install, recompile, and setup just for damn wifi drivers.

I will pay GOOD MONEY for something that works OUT OF THE BOX or with MINIMAL plug and play configuration.

[Tux Leonard]

In my case a Ausus N10 dongle was easy to install on a BeagleBone Black with the newest Angstrom distribution.

http://www.amazon.de/USB-N10-Ultra-802-11n-Konfiguration-Schwarz/dp/B002VGQQAE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1381180217&sr=8-2&keywords=asus+wifi+usb+dongle+n10 

Needed just to add the following file

/var/lib/connman/wifi.config

[service_home]

Type = wifi

Name = tux-home

Security = wpa2-psk

Passphrase = *********

and reboot the system.

2013/10/6 <analog...@gmail.com>

Dealing with this is absolute shit.

I am tired of buying all in one systems that are a complete bitch to install, recompile, and setup just for damn wifi drivers.

I will pay GOOD MONEY for something that works OUT OF THE BOX or with MINIMAL plug and play configuration.

--

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[Matthew Witherwax]

I am using the TP-LINK TL-WN722N without any issues.  I have it on an unpowered hub with a Logitech C920.  I am able to stream the webcam feed over wifi without problems.  I have documented setting up WIFI under Arch Linux at http://blog.lemoneerlabs.com/post/The-fruits-of-my-labor  At that time, I was using an adapter based on the RTl8192cu chipset.  That adapter eventually stopped working, and I replaced it with the TP-LINK adapter.  It was a simple case of plug and play; no further configuration was needed after having performed the steps on my blog (driver is included in Arch and most likely in your distro as well).  In this case, it was worthwhile to spend a bit more on a better WIFI adapter.