On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 01:36:03PM +1000, Daniel X wrote:

I bought a bunch of these to run wireless access points on from ARM devices running Debian:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GTI-Mini-USB-802-11b-g-n-WiFi-Wireless-Adapter-Do...

Work really well with hostapd.

looks OK, and cheap too at $7.59 with free postage. unfortunately, probably won't arrive until late next week. i'll probably order one if i can't find anything in stock at MSY that works but i'd prefer something i can get today if i can. i've also seen several pci-e and usb adaptors at MSY for $15-$50 that are listed on linux-hardware-guide.com....but most of them mention new version as of Feb 2015 that have no driver support or you have to stuff around with compiling manufacturer-supplied drivers (no thanks). the pci-e cards that work look like they're mostly ath9k and work without problems.

IIRC it does require a binary firmware: git clone http://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git sudo cp linux-firmware/rt28* /mnt/lib/firmware/

is there any reason why the firmware files in the firmware-realtek package don't work with this adaptor? that package includes firmware for the following wifi devices: $ dlocate -L firmware-realtek | grep rtlwifi /lib/firmware/rtlwifi /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8192cufw_TMSC.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8192cufw.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8192cufw_B.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8723aufw_B.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8192cfwU_B.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8821aefw.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8192cfwU.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8192cufw_A.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8723fw.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8723befw.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8192sefw.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8192cfw.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8192defw.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8723aufw_B_NoBT.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8723fw_B.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8188efw.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin

'driver=nl80211' in hostapd.conf

yep, pretty much everything uses that now. craig -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au>

On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 02:03:49PM +1000, Daniel X wrote:

They probably do work from the firmware-realtek package, and I say driver=nl80211 as both of those note snippets are from some notes I have for building minimal ARM Debian systems, with two cards (one of which doesn't use nl80211).

Good luck with your hunt. I'd be interested in what you find.

i ended up getting a TP-Link TL-WN821N from MSY for $16. http://www.linux-hardware-guide.com/2012-10-20-tp-link-tl-wn821n-wlan-usb-30... it worked pretty much out of the box (after i remembered to make dhcpd listen on wlan0). the kernel driver & firmware worked wihout drama, hostapd also worked once i undid the changes i made stuffing around trying to get the netcomm np902n working. dhcpd worked when i made it listen to wlan0 as well as br0 so, it's working fine. BTW, this is v3 of the device and uses the rtl8192cu driver. Bus 003 Device 008: ID 0bda:8178 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8192CU 802.11n WLAN Adapter i would have been happier with the earlier versions of the adaptor, because they have either Atheros AR-9170 or Atheros HTC chipsets and use the ath9k driver...but this is working fine. but that's the main reason i bought the TL-WN821N - linux-hardware-guide.com said that all three known versions are supported by the mainline linux kernel. craig -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au>

On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 05:12:33PM +1000, Craig Sanders wrote:

i ended up getting a TP-Link TL-WN821N from MSY for $16.

http://www.linux-hardware-guide.com/2012-10-20-tp-link-tl-wn821n-wlan-usb-30... [...]

so, it's working fine.

i spoke too soon. everything seems to work OK, but client devices that connect to it keep on disconnecting and reconnecting. it works, but it's pretty annoying when viewing web pages or running an update, and makes CSIP (voip client) unusable. i should have broken the rule and read the comments on that page. i really hate it when manufacturers completely change the design and parts of a device but still give it the same product name. it's NOT the same fucking product, it's a completely new and different product. they can hide what they're doing in windows with their branded drivers but that doesn't work on linux which (mostly) uses generic chipset-based drivers. i don't want to have to maintain an out-of-mainline driver module or, worse, an ancient hacked up manufacturer-supplied version of hostapd. just to see if it helped, i compiled the module from https://github.com/pvaret/rtl8192cu-fixes.git and then downloaded the realtek version of hostapd and compiled it. the driver worked ok, or seemed to. it loaded and found the card, anyway. but the iw tools don't work with it (because it's not based on the standard mac80211 and cfg80211 stuff) but the hostapd kept on barfing on my hostapd.conf, probably because it's an ancient version. even if i could get it working, it's just not worth it - better to use the mainline kernel driver and hope it eventually gets fixed, putting up with the frequent disconnects. or, better yet, try a completely different adaptor which uses a different driver. so far i've had problems with realtek and ralink wifi, so i'll try atheros....the ath7k in my eeepc 701 worked perfectly for years before it died, hopefully the more recent atheros chips & drivers are as good. AFAICT, the only USB wifi adaptor that still uses an atheros chipset AND is in stock at MSY is the TP-Link TL-WN721N which they have for $12. I think I'll go back there today and get one. with any luck, it'll work without any hassle. https://wikidevi.com/wiki/TP-LINK_TL-WN721N

BTW, this is v3 of the device and uses the rtl8192cu driver.

Bus 003 Device 008: ID 0bda:8178 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8192CU 802.11n WLAN Adapter

interestingly, linux-hardware-guide.com says this is v3 of the device while wikidevi.com says it's v4: https://wikidevi.com/wiki/TP-LINK_TL-WN821N_v4 craig -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au>