rtl8188cus Network Drivers on Arch

[SimonBelmond]

Dear Pi Friends

I am having a really hard time getting my EDUP EP-N8508GS (rtl8188cus chipset) WiFi Dongle to work together with MinePeon Image which I believe is an Arch-Linux based image.

I have invested hours searching an trying different things I have found in the internet. However, some people state that they managed to get it to work somehow but there does not seem to be a real set of instructions. There are plenty of scripts for debian and wheezy but information for Arch seems very inconclusive.

The dongle is recognized correctly as usb device but I can not make it work. I have tried so many thing, I can not even tell you all the things I did any more. Unfortunatley the manufacturers install.sh returns some errors as well.

Any hints very much appreciated. Has anyone managed to make it work on Arch and is willing to share how.

[sdjf]

IT would help if you posted the lsusb output showing the product and manufacturer IDs. Those have to match up with a driver in the modules alias file. BUt if this is not a regular arch image, your files won't necessarily be the same as ours.

I am running an older version because of some apps that are no longer supported, but on my pi, the file is the following:

/usr/lib/modules/3.6.11-18-ARCH+/modules.alias

That assigns drivers to devices. There are some global globbing patterns used, but some devices also get listed individually there.

I have no experience with wifi dongles, though. I think there are a lot of posts around the Pi forums in general, by folks saying what they did to get theirs working. But the first step is to make sure you have the right driver. you cannot install one compiled for an i686 machine or other arm devices, it has to have been compiled for armv6h to work on what we are running. But again, that may be different with you running a different kernel. is there a forum where people using that kernel ask questions?

[fruitoftheloom]

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/MinePeon

On a standard Arch Distro this is the driver:

armv6 alarm dkms-8192cu v4.0.2_9000.20130911-1 Driver for Realtek RTL8188CUS (8188C, 8192C) chipset wireless cards

[SimonBelmond]

OK thanks for trying to help. I will post the output of the lsusb tonight. I might cross post to the MinePeon forum and try to find out what Kernel exactly it is. Oh and sorry for the typo in the title.

I am a real linx noob and only started to use it here an there a while ago.

[sdjf]

What that means is you need to install the driver using pacman, it is available.

pacman -Syu dkms-8192cu

if that one does not work, you could certainly try the others you can find with pacman using the following command. but it looks like the right one

pacman -Ss dkms

there is one output with 8188 in the name, but it is not CU, and the above is for both 8188 and 8192

oh, and you might need to sync and then reboot after installing the package.

[SimonBelmond]

OK. Here is some more info:

lsusb
bus 001 Device 009: ID 0bda:8176 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188CUS 802.11n WLAN Adapter

lsmod
8192cu 545733 0

So this seems all correct and the way it is expected.

Arch Linux Used for MinePeon:
Arch Linux 3.10.33-1-ARCH (tty1)


Now after trying the hints below I finally reached a point I haven't reached before.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic ... msg2621889

When following that guide you get to

Code: Select all

sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

This is where it gets complicated. I just entered the ssid and pw for the very first network={} there is.

After reboot i do

Code: Select all

sudo wicd-curses

This then acctualy showed me my network. I so far did not manage to connect but it shows the ssid and that it is WPA2 encryption.

I have also realized that the light on the USB hub often goes off at the position where I put the dongle and when that happens lsusb does also no longer show the stick.

I thoght the whole process was as easy as this:
http://minepeon.com/index.php/WiFi

Good news is that the driver seems to be present in image already. I think that I am on the right track but still cant make it work


Edit: I just got one step further. in wicd-curses I configured the network shown with the key for the network. Now when trying to connect it gets to "validating authentication..." stays there for 30 sec and then returns "bad password". The password is correct however. I am not sure if the encryption type is set the right way. Late have to hit the bed.
Any further ideas?

THX for your time

[fruitoftheloom]

If you have a model A or B the WiFi Adaptor may have lack of current, it may be better to use a Mains Powered USB Hub for peripherals.

[SimonBelmond]

If you have a model A or B the WiFi Adaptor may have lack of current, it may be better to use a Mains Powered USB Hub for peripherals.

I have a powered hub which can give 3.5 A. I think that should do. Still the light goes off after 5-10min. I think I might just return the dongle and get another one. However, I fear I'll have the same problems

[fruitoftheloom]

This is an issue for the minepeon developers, they have compiled the software, have you contacted them ??

[pepedog]

As sdjf said, fully update, sync and reboot, then

Code: Select all

pacman -S dkms-8192cu

This will add driver, you will see it build
Use wifi-menu, it scans, connects, and creates a netctl profile
You might have to remove eth0 profile to avoid routing problems

[SimonBelmond]

As sdjf said, fully update, sync and reboot, then

Code: Select all

pacman -S dkms-8192cu

This will add driver, you will see it build
Use wifi-menu, it scans, connects, and creates a netctl profile
You might have to remove eth0 profile to avoid routing problems

So are you saying it should work like this?

1. Fresh Image
2. pacman -S dkms-8192cu
3. pacman Syu
4. reboot
5. sudo wicd-curses and the rest of the instructions here http://minepeon.com/index.php/WiFi

Where do I remove the eth0 profile and what is it anyway?

Sorry n00b here who prefers ELI5

Again, thanks for all the help

[pepedog]

1. Fresh Image
2. pacman Syu
3. sync
4. reboot
5. pacman -S dkms-8192cu
6. sync
7. reboot
8. wifi-menu
9. systemctl disable netctl-ifplugd@eth0
10. systemctl enable netctl-auto@wlan0
6 and 7 might not be necessary

[SimonBelmond]

1. Fresh Image
2. pacman Syu
3. sync
4. reboot
5. pacman -S dkms-8192cu
6. sync
7. reboot
8. wifi-menu
9. systemctl disable netctl-ifplugd@eth0
10. systemctl enable netctl-auto@wlan0
6 and 7 might not be necessary

No luck. Step 8 returns:
Scanning for networks... failed
No networks found

I did some more reading on the net. It seems some people use the dongle with thismchipset and it works like a charm and for others it just never really does. If I only knew which dongle works out of the box for sure...

Edit: I will definitely return this dongle as it seems fishy anyway. When I plug it in it is only recognized ever 3rd time and even when it is it sometimes vanishes after several minutes. And this is on a powered hub. I need to be able to set this up so it will wom 99% of the times when the power is turned on without replugging. Maybe the HW is jsut boarderline on top of some compatibility issues.

[sdjf]

Not all hubs deliver the power they claim to deliver. You will know if your hub is delivering enough power if you test the actual power on the Pi with a multimeter between TP1 and TP2. It has to be between 4.75 and 5.25.

Another possibility is a bad cable, or loose USB socket. My Pi had lots of trouble if I touched my USB connections at all, sometimes rebooting, sometimes just forgetting USB was there, as one of the sockets is a bit too loose. Rather than return it, I stuffed something in to tighen the fit and never mess with the cables. If I do accidentally, lots of USB disconnects.

All those disconnects sound fishy, though, indeed. Did you do an lsusb -V to see how much power the dongle claims it needs? Is it USB2 or USB3? I recall some people have trouble with USB3 devices.

[SimonBelmond]

Not all hubs deliver the power they claim to deliver. You will know if your hub is delivering enough power if you test the actual power on the Pi with a multimeter between TP1 and TP2. It has to be between 4.75 and 5.25.

Another possibility is a bad cable, or loose USB socket. My Pi had lots of trouble if I touched my USB connections at all, sometimes rebooting, sometimes just forgetting USB was there, as one of the sockets is a bit too loose. Rather than return it, I stuffed something in to tighen the fit and never mess with the cables. If I do accidentally, lots of USB disconnects.

All those disconnects sound fishy, though, indeed. Did you do an lsusb -V to see how much power the dongle claims it needs? Is it USB2 or USB3? I recall some people have trouble with USB3 devices.

It's USB 2. It's a Loglink 10 port hub. So far no problems with this hub and I have another one which works fine and poweres several USB Bitcoin miners. Will try lsusb -V to check. I think I'll return the dongle. The question remains, which one to get. Or I will invest some more money for a wireless ethernet bridge, which is recommended by a lot of people.