pipaOS and Raspberry Pi Zero-W

[Chris Scullion]

I'm sorry if this has already been covered elsewhere... I did do a search, but "w" is tough to search for. I'm trying to get the pipaOS version to run on a Pi Zero-W. It appears that pipaOS is not recognizing the Pi Zero-W's wireless device. Has anybody already addressed this issue? If not I'll dig in further, but I'd hate to spend time trying to fix an already-solved problem.

[James Zeun]

Hi Chris

I'm coming at this from the side, so I apologise if what I say next isn't much help.

Have you considered looking at this from the perspective of re-installing the wireless drivers? I imagine this must have been covered by now on the RPI forum, as people upgrade from a Zero to a Zero-W. I've not used pipaOS, so i really can't comment but judging from the website it has generous support for wireless devices. Also perhaps the pipaOS kernel hasn't been updated to work with the Zero-W's hardware? hence why the wifi isn't working. If I recall, when i took the SD card from my Pi2b and stuck it inside my new Pi3, I had to update the distro so that everything worked properly. For one, the LEDs stopped working as the Pi3 has then assigned to different pins to that of the Pi2.

As I said all of this could be verbal drivel, so feel free to ignore me :-)

Regards

J

[Chris Smith]

Try suggestions here ...

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/pidp-8/WLAN1%7Csort:relevance/pidp-8/VVoukCFiPZI/PvoWbQOVEwAJ

Switching to a device with a new wireless interface sounds a lot like the same problems encountered when "plugging in a new dongle".

[Neil Higgins]

Only advice I can offer is that command line/config file setup of wireless on RPi comes with a minefield of non-documentation and conflicting blog posts. If you can, get a GUI setup tool and use that.

[Chris Scullion]

OK, well I gave up on the pipaOS version for the Pi-Zero-W.  Instead, I installed Raspbian Jessie Lite and the PiDP8 stuff manually.  There are a few problems with the install script, but I was able to get it to work, including the WiFi.  Now just waiting for my actual PiPD8 kit to arrive to verify the clicking and the blinking.

[Warren Young]

On Mon, Apr 17, 2017 at 11:13 AM, Chris Scullion <ckscu...@gmail.com> wrote:

There are a few problems with the install script

The developers of that script are here. :) Replicable bugs are dead bugs, time-willing.

Do you mean the *.sh file that came with Oscar's distribution or its newer form as the actions taken by "make install" in my software distribution? 

[Chris Scullion]

I hadn't tried your distribution... until tonight. That seems to work fine. I was up and running easily. I did notice that the Naked PiDP8/I instructions didn't work for me, though. The usermod command results in "usermod: user pidp8i is currently used by process 525". I decided I didn't want to run that way anyway. I'm guessing the instructions need to say to exit the simh and screen session before trying the change.

Thanks for pointing me at this distribution. It was nice and clean and easy to get running.

[Warren Young]

On Tuesday, April 18, 2017 at 5:39:59 PM UTC-6, Chris Scullion wrote:

The usermod command results in "usermod: user pidp8i is currently used by process 525".

[snip]

I decided I didn't want to run that way anyway.

If your Pi is networked, that is wise, unless you've got it on an isolated LAN.

I'm guessing the instructions need to say to exit the simh and screen session before trying the change.

Sounds likely.  The other likely cause is second-guessing the "exec sudo -i" step, leaving off the "exec" bit.

I've adjusted the instructions in case your guess was correct.

 

Thanks for pointing me at this distribution.  It was nice and clean and easy to get running.

Glad to hear it. 

[jo...@elsbree.org]

I also have a Zero-W, and am trying to use the pipaOS version. I've tried following the wlan setup instructions, but it just doesn't seem to recognize that the wlan device exists. Should I just give up and go with Warren's distribution instead?

[higgins...@gmail.com]

Congratulations to anyone who actually understands WiFi setup under Linux. I find there's a minefield of conflicting and (mostly) non-existent documentation. The only way I have ever been able to get it to work is to use the GUI tool under full Raspbian.

[Oscar Vermeulen]

John,

With the Zero W (as opposed to the Zero), yes - use Warren's. The old pipaOS I am using predates the W and does not know about the onboard Wifi.

Let me know if that also resolve your front panel misbehaving? It might be related, otherwise it is fixable too.

Kind regard,

Oscar.

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[Oscar Vermeulen]

Higgins,

On 22 October 2017 at 07:23, <higgins...@gmail.com> wrote:

Congratulations to anyone who actually understands WiFi setup under Linux. I find there's a minefield of conflicting and (mostly) non-existent documentation. The only way I have ever been able to get it to work is to use the GUI tool under full Raspbian.

Linux Config Hell ;)

Configuring is simple if you know how. But that is just an alternative description for the same thing.

Actually, on the old pipaOS it' a matter of editing a config file, see the top post on the forum.

But- my old version does not support the W. That may have been the source of your sorrows. Warren's newer 'official' version does, however. 

Kind regards,

Oscar.

[higgins...@gmail.com]

Ah yes. I see from previous posts that I have re-repeated myself, again. I'll stop whinging now and just suck it up.

[Cristian Arezzini]

It's very possible to use pipaOS with the Zero W, I've done it for some time. Of course, as you noticed, the main problem is that the OS on the SD image does not recognize the internal wifi module.

Turns out that the newer versions of pipaOS now include the correct drivers, so an update is all that is needed. But how to update the system if there's no wifi? Here's what I did: I found an old, small USB wifi dongle. I rebooted with that dongle attached, and it was recognized by the OS. Then I was able to configure the config file to connect to my wifi network.

I could also have just left the dongle there and used that, but I didn't like that solution. So I just updated the system using the dongle, then rebooted. Now the internal wifi module was recognized, too. So I could just remove the USB dongle. With one caveat: on the config file, the reference to wlan0 must be changed to wlan1 (the system still refers to the first wifi module it knew of - the USB dongle - as wlan0).

After a final reboot, everything worked as intended.

Cristian