Linux compatible USB wifi
Hello, What is a good USB wifi adaptor - preferably dual band although not 100% required that will work out of the box with recent Linux kernels on Raspberry Pi 2? I currently have an adaptor based on the RTL8188CUS, but ever since upgrading from Debian Jessie (not Raspbian) to Debian Stretch, I get high packet loss. Especially ARP packets - which are somewhat important. Curiously this means IPv6 is more reliable than IPv4, although even IPv6 was its ups and downs. It is possible to access the box via IPv6 or from IPV4 that still has the MAC address cached while IPv4 ping requests fail from another box (I think this rules out wifi signal issues). Doing Google research I found that: (a) I should disable power management mode (I have), and (b) use an alternate kernel driver. However, for (b) I am still trying to find the kernel headers, which are apparently installed by default by my imaging tool https://github.com/drtyhlpr/rpi23-gen-image, but not correctly referenced by the symlinks under /lib/modules/4.9.33-v7+/ https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2259143 https://github.com/pvaret/rtl8192cu-fixes So wondering if picking another wifi adapter might be a better choice? Regards
On Thursday, 29 June 2017 10:03:01 AM AEST Brian May via luv-main wrote:
I currently have an adaptor based on the RTL8188CUS, but ever since upgrading from Debian Jessie (not Raspbian) to Debian Stretch, I get high packet loss. Especially ARP packets - which are somewhat important.
Have you tried running the Jessie kernel with Stretch? The general aim (at least unofficially) is that you should be able to run a Debian system with a kernel from the previous or the next release. The Stretch kernel has many new security features. But the benefits of those features to a desktop PC (which you are presumably using as that's the main use case for a USB Wifi device) is smaller than for other situations. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
Russell Coker <russell@coker.com.au> writes:
Have you tried running the Jessie kernel with Stretch? The general aim (at least unofficially) is that you should be able to run a Debian system with a kernel from the previous or the next release.
The Stretch kernel has many new security features. But the benefits of those features to a desktop PC (which you are presumably using as that's the main use case for a USB Wifi device) is smaller than for other situations.
I belive the kernel has to be custom built to work on Raspberry Pi - not sure why. At the moment the effort for me to rebuild a Jessie kernel requires exceeds the effort to plug into and configure the wired network. However thanks for your suggestion. -- Brian May <brian@linuxpenguins.xyz> https://linuxpenguins.xyz/brian/
On Thursday, 29 June 2017 8:33:35 PM AEST Brian May via luv-main wrote:
I belive the kernel has to be custom built to work on Raspberry Pi - not sure why. At the moment the effort for me to rebuild a Jessie kernel requires exceeds the effort to plug into and configure the wired network.
If you don't have a backup from before the upgrade then maybe trying the kernel from Raspbian/Jessie would be worthwhile. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
Hello Russell, On 6/29/17, Russell Coker via luv-main <luv-main@luv.asn.au> wrote:
On Thursday, 29 June 2017 10:03:01 AM AEST Brian May via luv-main wrote:
I currently have an adaptor based on the RTL8188CUS, but ever since upgrading from Debian Jessie (not Raspbian) to Debian Stretch, I get high packet loss. Especially ARP packets - which are somewhat important.
Have you tried running the Jessie kernel with Stretch? The general aim (at least unofficially) is that you should be able to run a Debian system with a kernel from the previous or the next release.
Reminder, as did Brian, that it is on a Raspberry Pi. That requires different headers for that architecture, and not certain of quite what is available in that regard, nor of quite the functions and the like that are supported. It may be that the modules are not supported on that architecture. I suspect that it may involve a certain amount of "detective" effort to sort out what is called and what is not, and what has been dropped between the different releases. There are reasons for using Wi-Fi with the Raspberry Pi, as well as wired.
The Stretch kernel has many new security features. But the benefits of those features to a desktop PC (which you are presumably using as that's the main use case for a USB Wifi device) is smaller than for other situations.
The Raspberry Pi can be used as a desktop, but mostly not the original and version 2. The V3 is better suited to use as a desktop PC, it has a full gigabyte of RAM. Regards, Mark Trickett
On Thu, 29 Jun 2017, at 10:03 AM, Brian May via luv-main wrote:
Hello,
What is a good USB wifi adaptor - preferably dual band although not 100% required that will work out of the box with recent Linux kernels on Raspberry Pi 2?> I currently have an adaptor based on the RTL8188CUS, but ever since upgrading from Debian Jessie (not Raspbian) to Debian Stretch, I get high packet loss. Especially ARP packets - which are somewhat important. Curiously this means IPv6 is more reliable than IPv4, although even IPv6 was its ups and downs. It is possible to access the box via IPv6 or from IPV4 that still has the MAC address cached while IPv4 ping requests fail from another box (I think this rules out wifi signal issues).> Doing Google research I found that: (a) I should disable power management mode (I have), and (b) use an alternate kernel driver. However, for (b) I am still trying to find the kernel headers, which are apparently installed by default by my imaging tool https://github.com/drtyhlpr/rpi23-gen-image, but not correctly referenced by the symlinks under /lib/modules/4.9.33-v7+/> https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2259143
So wondering if picking another wifi adapter might be a better choice? Brian,
I've used the Wi-Pi USB wifi adapter on a few different RPi models and it has worked well but I've only used it on Raspbian. https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-69361/l/wifi-usb-dongle-for-ras... If you want to test one, let me know and I can lend you one. There is also the "official" wifi adapter from the Raspberry Pi Foundation: https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-usb-wifi-dongle/ Regards Graeme
participants (4)
-
Brian May -
Graeme Cross -
Mark Trickett -
Russell Coker