wifi dongle

[forumisto]

Hello

Do you use a wifi dongle with your RPi?
What adaptors do you use?
Is it recommended any one? (because the chip, for example=

Thanks


(Excuse my English)

[exartemarte]

Hello

Do you use a wifi dongle with your RPi?
What adaptors do you use?
Is it recommended any one? (because the chip, for example=

Thanks


(Excuse my English)

I'm using one of these, following a recommendation from someone else on the forums, and it's fine. I've had it about six weeks and it's used most days. Raspbian already has the drivers; raspi-config detected it and set it up - all I had to do was supply the access code for my router.

It works plugged straight into the Pi, too - no need for a hub.

Edit: faulty memory syndrome! It wasn't raspi-config that detected and set up the wifi, it was WiFi Config, available on the LXDE desktop (type startx ...).

[pluggy]

Personal Preference is for something with a RTL8188CUS chipset. I believe the previous posters is one as is this : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261166708533? ... 1497.l2649.

The very popular Edimax EW-7811UN is also one, but more expensive.

One of my Pi's with the ebay link above has been up for 18 days non-stop.

[pjc123]

When the pi was first released, I picked up an Airlink101 model AWLL5088 (yet another Edimax EW7811Un clone) with a RTL8188CUS chipset. Since this was the first wifi dongle that I ever bought or used, it seemed to be OK. I didn't realize what horrible range it had until I then bought a TP-Link TL-WN722N. All I can say is WOW, a world of difference; much longer range and more stable signal. It has an external removable antenna which is really nice. The only problem with the TP-Link is that it will not work with the original pi without shorting the USB fuses or using a "Y" cable, because it draws too much power from the pi. I have a Rev 2 board arriving today and will finally be upgrading from the original Wheezy release to Raspbian, so I will have to see if there are any hardware or driver issues with the TP-Link, but I do not expect anything major.

[Jim Manley]

Welcome, Pilgrim, your journey has ended! Visit the Pi eLinux.org wiki page for the list of Verified Working USB Wi-Fi Adapters. Many travelers have already blazed this trail for you, putting up nice hotels and restaurants along the way, printing out AAA TripTik annotated maps, and otherwise stompin' the tarnation out of the vegetation.

Enjoy!

[timmoore46]

I'm using one of these, following a recommendation from someone else on the forums, and it's fine. I've had it about six weeks and it's used most days. Raspbian already has the drivers; raspi-config detected it and set it up - all I had to do was supply the access code for my router.

It works plugged straight into the Pi, too - no need for a hub.

Edit: faulty memory syndrome! It wasn't raspi-config that detected and set up the wifi, it was WiFi Config, available on the LXDE desktop (type startx ...).

I just followed some tips on how to do this and worked first time !

1_ get the 9th Feb 2013 raspbian any way you can.

2_ sudo apt-get update

3_ sudo apt-get upgrade ignoring any error messages

4_ startx

5_ Find WiFi Config ikon and click on it

6_ make sure the USB adapter is plugged in (the one recommended in the quote.

7_ bottom right of the wpa_gui window is scan, click on that

8_ the available wifi networks should show up

9_ after that I found a configuration screen and enter my password thing and clicked on connect !

10_ it got hazy now as I was so exited ! All I had was the password to enter and put it in a box marked PSK and that was that !

11_ I could ssh to it from another computer on the same WiFi network with ssh -l (lowercase L) pi 192.168.1.106 (found this out from ifconfig )

all done and dusted thanks to exartemarte !

What a wonderful Forum !

A very very very happy,



Tim

[exartemarte]

Congratulations! Now it's up and working, might I suggest a refinement or two?

If you're using ssh, you might also want to install Samba. This gives you access to files on the Pi from your (Windows) PC/laptop:



When I'm programming on the Pi I use my preferred programming editor in Windows: it accesses the files via Samba just as though they were stored on the local hard drive. I run the programs on the Pi from a terminal window (PuTTY) using ssh. Running the two windows side by side on the PC/laptop screen makes life very convenient:



During the Samba installation you give the Samba server a name - if you have more than one Pi they will need different names. If you also change the Pi's hostname to match, you should find that you can use the name in PuTTY rather than the IP address, which is convenient. If you save each server by name in PuTTY then, thereafter, all you do is open PuTTY, double-click on the server name, and you go straight into the terminal window ready to log in:



Incidentally, I'm running a Model A with wifi, and an attached Arduino powered from the Pi, all from a usb port on my laptop without any trouble.

I'm sure all of this will be old hat to the Pi aficionados, but hopefully it will useful to somebody.

[timmoore46]

wow !

I use Ubuntu Linux, anyone know how to get samba running on that version of Linux.

Very neat !

Of course, Model A makes a lot of sense with WiFi !

Mega Tip !



Tim

[exartemarte]

Can't help with Ubuntu, I'm afraid, but no doubt someone will.

The Model A/wifi/Arduino combo is intended eventually for a mobile robot, where it will have to be battery powered.

Oh, and belated thanks to simplesi and to Simon the Pi Man, whose tutorials I have linked in a post above, and whose work saved me much head banging.