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  • install/compile wifi dongle driver on bela board to connect bela to wifi

Hey all,
i followed the tutorial https://learn.bela.io/using-bela/bela-techniques/connecting-to-wifi/
But not with the recommended dongle. i am using a Tp Link TL-WN725N https://www.tp-link.com/de/support/download/tl-wn725n/v3/

I had no problems following the tutorial, but at the end where one is supposed to test the hotspot it printed out the following:
ifup: configuring interface wlan0=wlan0 (inet)
/bin/run-parts --exit-on-error --verbose /etc/network/if-pre-up.d
run-parts: executing /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/hostapd
hostapd: /usr/sbin/hostapd -B -P /run/hostapd.wlan0.pid /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
Configuration file: /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
nl80211: Driver does not support authentication/association or connect commands
nl80211: deinit ifname=wlan0 disabled_11b_rates=0
nl80211 driver initialization failed.
wlan0: interface state UNINITIALIZED->DISABLED
wlan0: AP-DISABLED
hostapd_free_hapd_data: Interface wlan0 wasn't started
run-parts: executing /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wireless-tools
run-parts: executing /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant
/bin/ip addr add 192.168.30.1/255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.30.255 dev wlan0 label wlan0
/bin/ip link set dev wlan0 up

/bin/run-parts --exit-on-error --verbose /etc/network/if-up.d
run-parts: executing /etc/network/if-up.d/avahi-daemon
run-parts: executing /etc/network/if-up.d/openssh-server
run-parts: executing /etc/network/if-up.d/upstart
run-parts: executing /etc/network/if-up.d/wpasupplicant

so i guess i need to install the driver for the wifi dongle? and since i am new to bela board i dont know how to do that. I also dont find any other tutorials on this topic. Can someone give me any advise on that?

    wehai ifup: configuring interface wlan0=wlan0 (inet)

    The device shows up as wlan0, which means that at least some driver that supports it is installed. Now, do I assume correctly that you can use your device to connect to a local wifi network but it doesn't work when you are trying to start a connection as an Access Point?

    wehai nl80211: Driver does not support authentication/association or connect commands
    nl80211: deinit ifname=wlan0 disabled_11b_rates=0
    nl80211 driver initialization failed.

    I think this means that the driver that is currently being used does not support access point functionality. What driver are you using? Did you install one or is this one that came with the OS? Can you show the result of

    dmesg

    and

    lsmod | grep 88

    ?

        a year later

        I am having the same issue as the original poster, using the same dongle and driver. I do not know how to compile the externally provided driver, but there is some driver preinstalled in the OS.

        root@bela:~# ifdown wlan0; ifup wlan0 --verbose

        ifup: configuring interface wlan0=wlan0 (inet)
        /bin/run-parts --exit-on-error --verbose /etc/network/if-pre-up.d
        run-parts: executing /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/hostapd
        hostapd: /usr/sbin/hostapd -B -P /run/hostapd.wlan0.pid /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
        Configuration file: /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
        nl80211: Driver does not support authentication/association or connect commands
        nl80211: deinit ifname=wlan0 disabled_11b_rates=0
        nl80211 driver initialization failed.
        wlan0: interface state UNINITIALIZED->DISABLED
        wlan0: AP-DISABLED
        hostapd_free_hapd_data: Interface wlan0 wasn't started
        run-parts: executing /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wireless-tools
        run-parts: executing /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant
        /bin/ip addr add 192.168.30.1/255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.30.255 dev wlan0 label wlan0
        /bin/ip link set dev wlan0 up

        /bin/run-parts --exit-on-error --verbose /etc/network/if-up.d
        run-parts: executing /etc/network/if-up.d/avahi-daemon
        run-parts: executing /etc/network/if-up.d/openssh-server
        run-parts: executing /etc/network/if-up.d/upstart
        run-parts: executing /etc/network/if-up.d/wpasupplicant
        root@bela:~# dmesg
        [ 0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0
        [ 0.000000] Linux version 4.14.108-ti-xenomai-r143 (giulio@builder) (gcc version 7.5.0 (GCC)) #1xross PREEMPT Thu Nov 4 22:48:35 UTC 2021
        [ 0.000000] CPU: ARMv7 Processor [413fc082] revision 2 (ARMv7), cr=10c5387d
        [ 0.000000] CPU: PIPT / VIPT nonaliasing data cache, VIPT aliasing instruction cache
        [ 0.000000] OF: fdt: Machine model: TI AM335x BeagleBone Black
        [ 0.000000] Memory policy: Data cache writeback
        [ 0.000000] On node 0 totalpages: 131072
        [ 0.000000] free_area_init_node: node 0, pgdat c13d4ac8, node_mem_map dfb79000
        [ 0.000000] Normal zone: 1152 pages used for memmap
        [ 0.000000] Normal zone: 0 pages reserved
        [ 0.000000] Normal zone: 131072 pages, LIFO batch:31
        [ 0.000000] CPU: All CPU(s) started in SVC mode.
        [ 0.000000] AM335X ES2.1 (sgx neon)
        [ 0.000000] random: get_random_bytes called from start_kernel+0xac/0x3c8 with crng_init=0
        [ 0.000000] pcpu-alloc: s0 r0 d32768 u32768 alloc=1*32768
        [ 0.000000] pcpu-alloc: [0] 0
        [ 0.000000] Built 1 zonelists, mobility grouping on. Total pages: 129920
        [ 0.000000] Kernel command line: console=ttyS0,115200n8 root=/dev/mmcblk1p2 ro rootfstype=ext4 rootwait coherent_pool=1M net.ifnames=0 quiet
        [ 0.000000] PID hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
        [ 0.000000] Dentry cache hash table entries: 65536 (order: 6, 262144 bytes)
        [ 0.000000] Inode-cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
        [ 0.000000] Memory: 498260K/524288K available (12288K kernel code, 962K rwdata, 3608K rodata, 1024K init, 843K bss, 26028K reserved, 0K cma-reserved, 0K highmem)
        [ 0.000000] Virtual kernel memory layout:
        vector : 0xffff0000 - 0xffff1000 ( 4 kB)
        fixmap : 0xffc00000 - 0xfff00000 (3072 kB)
        vmalloc : 0xe0800000 - 0xff800000 ( 496 MB)
        lowmem : 0xc0000000 - 0xe0000000 ( 512 MB)
        pkmap : 0xbfe00000 - 0xc0000000 ( 2 MB)
        modules : 0xbf000000 - 0xbfe00000 ( 14 MB)
        .text : 0xc0008000 - 0xc0d00000 (13280 kB)
        .init : 0xc1200000 - 0xc1300000 (1024 kB)
        .data : 0xc1300000 - 0xc13f0af4 ( 963 kB)
        .bss : 0xc13f2000 - 0xc14c4e54 ( 844 kB)
        [ 0.000000] SLUB: HWalign=64, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=1, Nodes=1
        [ 0.000000] Preemptible hierarchical RCU implementation.
        [ 0.000000] Tasks RCU enabled.
        [ 0.000000] NR_IRQS: 16, nr_irqs: 16, preallocated irqs: 16
        [ 0.000000] IRQ: Found an INTC at 0xfa200000 (revision 5.0) with 128 interrupts
        [ 0.000000] OMAP clockevent source: timer2 at 24000000 Hz
        [ 0.000019] sched_clock: 32 bits at 24MHz, resolution 41ns, wraps every 89478484971ns
        [ 0.000039] I-pipe, 24.000 MHz clocksource, wrap in 178956 ms
        [ 0.000058] clocksource: ipipe_tsc: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0x588fe9dc0, max_idle_ns: 440795202592 ns
        [ 0.000081] clocksource: timer1: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 79635851949 ns
        [ 0.000090] OMAP clocksource: timer1 at 24000000 Hz
        [ 0.002197] timer_probe: no matching timers found
        [ 0.002575] Interrupt pipeline (release #7)
        [ 0.002912] Console: colour dummy device 80x30
        [ 0.002964] Calibrating delay loop... 995.32 BogoMIPS (lpj=1990656)
        [ 0.021589] pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
        [ 0.021794] Security Framework initialized
        [ 0.021811] Yama: becoming mindful.
        [ 0.021855] AppArmor: AppArmor disabled by boot time parameter
        [ 0.021926] Mount-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
        [ 0.021940] Mountpoint-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
        [ 0.022953] CPU: Testing write buffer coherency: ok
        [ 0.023023] CPU0: Spectre v2: using BPIALL workaround
        [ 0.023998] Setting up static identity map for 0x80100000 - 0x80100060
        [ 0.024203] Hierarchical SRCU implementation.
        [ 0.028632] devtmpfs: initialized
        [ 0.048084] VFP support v0.3: implementor 41 architecture 3 part 30 variant c rev 3
        [ 0.048549] clocksource: jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 7645041785100000 ns
        [ 0.048573] futex hash table entries: 256 (order: -1, 3072 bytes)
        [ 0.048922] xor: automatically using best checksumming function neon
        [ 0.048936] pinctrl core: initialized pinctrl subsystem
        [ 0.051112] NET: Registered protocol family 16
        [ 0.052726] DMA: preallocated 1024 KiB pool for atomic coherent allocations
        [ 0.103158] omap_hwmod: debugss: _wait_target_disable failed
        [ 0.153292] OMAP GPIO hardware version 0.1
        [ 0.170985] No ATAGs?
        [ 0.171008] hw-breakpoint: debug architecture 0x4 unsupported.
        [ 0.182951] raid6: using algorithm neonx8 gen() 0 MB/s
        [ 0.182966] raid6: .... xor() 0 MB/s, rmw enabled
        [ 0.182974] raid6: using neon recovery algorithm
        [ 0.192286] edma 49000000.edma: TI EDMA DMA engine driver
        [ 0.199053] SCSI subsystem initialized
        [ 0.199364] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
        [ 0.199428] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
        [ 0.199595] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
        [ 0.200343] omap_i2c 44e0b000.i2c: could not find pctldev for node /ocp/l4_wkup@44c00000/scm@210000/pinmux@800/pinmux_i2c0_pins, deferring probe
        [ 0.200411] omap_i2c 4802a000.i2c: could not find pctldev for node /ocp/l4_wkup@44c00000/scm@210000/pinmux@800/pinmux_i2c1_pins, deferring probe
        [ 0.200459] omap_i2c 4819c000.i2c: could not find pctldev for node /ocp/l4_wkup@44c00000/scm@210000/pinmux@800/pinmux_i2c2_pins, deferring probe
        [ 0.200680] pps_core: LinuxPPS API ver. 1 registered
        [ 0.200688] pps_core: Software ver. 5.3.6 - Copyright 2005-2007 Rodolfo Giometti giometti@linux.it
        [ 0.200713] PTP clock support registered
        [ 0.201764] omap-mailbox 480c8000.mailbox: omap mailbox rev 0x400
        [ 0.202544] Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Initialized.
        [ 0.203261] NetLabel: Initializing
        [ 0.203276] NetLabel: domain hash size = 128
        [ 0.203283] NetLabel: protocols = UNLABELED CIPSOv4 CALIPSO
        [ 0.203384] NetLabel: unlabeled traffic allowed by default
        [ 0.203978] clocksource: Switched to clocksource ipipe_tsc
        [ 0.372449] VFS: Disk quotas dquot_6.6.0
        [ 0.372540] VFS: Dquot-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order 0, 4096 bytes)
        [ 0.386096] NET: Registered protocol family 2
        [ 0.387031] TCP established hash table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
        [ 0.387078] TCP bind hash table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
        [ 0.387117] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 4096 bind 4096)
        [ 0.387245] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
        [ 0.387265] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
        [ 0.387498] NET: Registered protocol family 1
        [ 0.388365] RPC: Registered named UNIX socket transport module.
        [ 0.388378] RPC: Registered udp transport module.
        [ 0.388385] RPC: Registered tcp transport module.
        [ 0.388391] RPC: Registered tcp NFSv4.1 backchannel transport module.
        [ 0.389387] hw perfevents: no interrupt-affinity property for /pmu, guessing.
        [ 0.389538] hw perfevents: enabled with armv7_cortex_a8 PMU driver, 5 counters available
        [ 0.391358] audit: initializing netlink subsys (disabled)
        [ 0.392612] [Xenomai] scheduling class idle registered.
        [ 0.392623] [Xenomai] scheduling class rt registered.
        [ 0.392769] I-pipe: head domain Xenomai registered.
        [ 0.394254] audit: type=2000 audit(0.388:1): state=initialized audit_enabled=0 res=1
        [ 0.400652] [Xenomai] Cobalt v3.0.11 [DEBUG]
        [ 0.400824] workingset: timestamp_bits=14 max_order=17 bucket_order=3
        [ 0.408247] zbud: loaded
        [ 0.411367] NFS: Registering the id_resolver key type
        [ 0.411414] Key type id_resolver registered
        [ 0.411422] Key type id_legacy registered
        [ 0.411443] nfs4filelayout_init: NFSv4 File Layout Driver Registering...
        [ 0.411830] fuse init (API version 7.26)
        [ 0.412753] SGI XFS with ACLs, security attributes, realtime, no debug enabled
        [ 0.423480] Block layer SCSI generic (bsg) driver version 0.4 loaded (major 247)
        [ 0.423776] io scheduler noop registered
        [ 0.423788] io scheduler deadline registered
        [ 0.424345] io scheduler cfq registered (default)
        [ 0.424357] io scheduler mq-deadline registered
        [ 0.424366] io scheduler kyber registered
        [ 0.426376] pinctrl-single 44e10800.pinmux: 142 pins at pa f9e10800 size 568
        [ 0.427404] ------------[ cut here ]------------
        [ 0.427444] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 1 at kernel/irq/chip.c:57 irq_set_chip+0xcc/0xdc
        [ 0.427452] irqchip 44e07000.gpio is not pipeline-safe!
        [ 0.427459] Modules linked in:
        [ 0.427480] CPU: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper Not tainted 4.14.108-ti-xenomai-r143 #1xross
        [ 0.427487] Hardware name: Generic AM33XX (Flattened Device Tree)
        [ 0.427493] I-pipe domain: Linux
        [ 0.427535] [<c0110ad4>] (unwind_backtrace) from [<c010e098>] (show_stack+0x20/0x24)
        [ 0.427552] [<c010e098>] (show_stack) from [<c0c3e7e4>] (dump_stack+0x24/0x28)
        [ 0.427568] [<c0c3e7e4>] (dump_stack) from [<c013a780>] (warn+0xf4/0x10c)
        [ 0.427582] [<c013a780>] (        warn) from [<c013a7f0>] (warn_slowpath_fmt+0x58/0x74)
        [ 0.427598] [<c013a7f0>] (warn_slowpath_fmt) from [<c0196554>] (irq_set_chip+0xcc/0xdc)
        [ 0.427616] [<c0196554>] (irq_set_chip) from [<c0197870>] (irq_set_chip_and_handler_name+0x24/0x3c)
        [ 0.427640] [<c0197870>] (irq_set_chip_and_handler_name) from [<c080a9e4>] (gpiochip_irq_map+0x50/0xc8)
        [ 0.427657] [<c080a9e4>] (gpiochip_irq_map) from [<c019a380>] (irq_domain_associate+0x84/0x1f8)
        [ 0.427671] [<c019a380>] (irq_domain_associate) from [<c019ad48>] (irq_create_mapping+0x144/0x1fc)
        [ 0.427684] [<c019ad48>] (irq_create_mapping) from [<c080aa84>] (gpiochip_to_irq+0x28/0x58)
        [ 0.427698] [<c080aa84>] (gpiochip_to_irq) from [<c0809e14>] (gpiod_to_irq+0x58/0x70)
        [ 0.427717] [<c0809e14>] (gpiod_to_irq) from [<c0810af4>] (gpio_is_visible+0x8c/0xac)
        [ 0.427741] [<c0810af4>] (gpio_is_visible) from [<c0392d10>] (internal_create_group+0xdc/0x30c)
        [ 0.427758] [<c0392d10>] (internal_create_group) from [<c03933a0>] (sysfs_create_groups+0x54/0x90)
        [ 0.427784] [<c03933a0>] (sysfs_create_groups) from [<c08c7630>] (device_add+0x4cc/0x614)
        [ 0.427801] [<c08c7630>] (device_add) from [<c08c7948>] (device_create_groups_vargs+0xc4/0xd0)
        [ 0.427816] [<c08c7948>] (device_create_groups_vargs) from [<c08c7a30>] (device_create_with_groups+0x44/0x60)
        [ 0.427831] [<c08c7a30>] (device_create_with_groups) from [<c0811468>] (gpiod_export+0x178/0x39c)
        [ 0.427845] [<c0811468>] (gpiod_export) from [<c080fce0>] (gpio_request_one+0x114/0x12c)
        [ 0.427860] [<c080fce0>] (gpio_request_one) from [<c0809704>] (devm_gpio_request_one+0x58/0x90)
        [ 0.427874] [<c0809704>] (devm_gpio_request_one) from [<c0811e28>] (gpio_of_helper_probe+0x19c/0x650)
        [ 0.427895] [<c0811e28>] (gpio_of_helper_probe) from [<c08cd1b4>] (platform_drv_probe+0x60/0xbc)
        [ 0.427909] [<c08cd1b4>] (platform_drv_probe) from [<c08cac14>] (driver_probe_device+0x298/0x47c)
        [ 0.427923] [<c08cac14>] (driver_probe_device) from [<c08caf08>] (driver_attach+0x110/0x12c)
        [ 0.427937] [<c08caf08>] (        driver_attach) from [<c08c8634>] (bus_for_each_dev+0x70/0xd0)
        [ 0.427952] [<c08c8634>] (bus_for_each_dev) from [<c08ca3b4>] (driver_attach+0x2c/0x30)
        [ 0.427995] [<c08ca3b4>] (driver_attach) from [<c08c9d1c>] (bus_add_driver+0x1d0/0x274)
        [ 0.428009] [<c08c9d1c>] (bus_add_driver) from [<c08cbcd4>] (driver_register+0x88/0x104)
        [ 0.428023] [<c08cbcd4>] (driver_register) from [<c08cd0fc>] (platform_driver_register+0x50/0x58)
        [ 0.428049] [<c08cd0fc>] (        platform_driver_register) from [<c1245284>] (gpio_of_helper_driver_init+0x20/0x28)
        [ 0.428067] [<c1245284>] (gpio_of_helper_driver_init) from [<c0101d70>] (do_one_initcall+0x64/0x19c)
        [ 0.428087] [<c0101d70>] (do_one_initcall) from [<c1200f94>] (kernel_init_freeable+0x150/0x1ec)
        [ 0.428106] [<c1200f94>] (kernel_init_freeable) from [<c0c55148>] (kernel_init+0x18/0x124)
        [ 0.428126] [<c0c55148>] (kernel_init) from [<c0109918>] (ret_from_fork+0x18/0x24)
        [ 0.428146] ---[ end trace a9189f1e9248918a ]---
        [ 0.428752] gpio-of-helper ocp:cape-universal: ready
        [ 0.432575] wkup_m3_ipc 44e11324.wkup_m3_ipc: could not get rproc handle
        [ 0.434220] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 6 ports, IRQ sharing disabled
        [ 0.437719] console [ttyS0] disabled
        [ 0.437822] 44e09000.serial: ttyS0 at MMIO 0x44e09000 (irq = 38, base_baud = 3000000) is a 8250
        [ 0.449726] console [ttyS0] enabled
        [ 0.453103] omap_hsmmc 48060000.mmc: Got CD GPIO
        [ 0.537710] libphy: Fixed MDIO Bus: probed
        [ 0.596049] davinci_mdio 4a101000.mdio: davinci mdio revision 1.6, bus freq 1000000
        [ 0.596081] davinci_mdio 4a101000.mdio: detected phy mask fffffffe
        [ 0.596726] MDIO: davinci_mdio: dt: updated phy_id[0] from phy_mask[fffffffe]
        [ 0.598510] libphy: 4a101000.mdio: probed
        [ 0.598535] davinci_mdio 4a101000.mdio: phy[0]: device 4a101000.mdio:00, driver SMSC LAN8710/LAN8720
        [ 0.599714] cpsw 4a100000.ethernet: Detected MACID = b4:ac:9d:fa:a1:de
        [ 0.599859] cpsw 4a100000.ethernet: initialized cpsw ale version 1.4
        [ 0.599871] cpsw 4a100000.ethernet: ALE Table size 1024
        [ 0.599921] cpsw 4a100000.ethernet: cpts: overflow check period 1250 (jiffies)
        [ 0.601115] mmc1: new high speed MMC card at address 0001
        [ 0.604397] mmcblk1: mmc1:0001 MK2704 3.53 GiB
        [ 0.608303] mmcblk1boot0: mmc1:0001 MK2704 partition 1 2.00 MiB
        [ 0.608697] mmcblk1boot1: mmc1:0001 MK2704 partition 2 2.00 MiB
        [ 0.609086] ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver
        [ 0.609137] ehci-platform: EHCI generic platform driver
        [ 0.609527] ehci-omap: OMAP-EHCI Host Controller driver
        [ 0.610398] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
        [ 0.612274] mmcblk1rpmb: mmc1:0001 MK2704 partition 3 512 KiB
        [ 0.613971] mmcblk1: p1 p2
        [ 0.618444] am335x-phy-driver 47401300.usb-phy: 47401300.usb-phy supply vcc not found, using dummy regulator
        [ 0.621857] am335x-phy-driver 47401b00.usb-phy: 47401b00.usb-phy supply vcc not found, using dummy regulator
        [ 0.626296] musb-hdrc musb-hdrc.1: MUSB HDRC host driver
        [ 0.626341] musb-hdrc musb-hdrc.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
        [ 0.626710] usb usb1: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002
        [ 0.626724] usb usb1: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
        [ 0.626733] usb usb1: Product: MUSB HDRC host driver
        [ 0.626742] usb usb1: Manufacturer: Linux 4.14.108-ti-xenomai-r143 musb-hcd
        [ 0.626751] usb usb1: SerialNumber: musb-hdrc.1
        [ 0.627625] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
        [ 0.627695] hub 1-0:1.0: 1 port detected
        [ 0.637032] mousedev: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
        [ 0.639676] omap_rtc 44e3e000.rtc: registered as rtc0
        [ 0.640855] i2c /dev entries driver
        [ 0.642590] omap_wdt: OMAP Watchdog Timer Rev 0x01: initial timeout 60 sec
        [ 0.646164] hidraw: raw HID events driver (C) Jiri Kosina
        [ 0.646955] ashmem: initialized
        [ 0.647392] remoteproc remoteproc0: wkup_m3 is available
        [ 0.654632] NET: Registered protocol family 10
        [ 0.656400] Segment Routing with IPv6
        [ 0.656488] mip6: Mobile IPv6
        [ 0.656509] NET: Registered protocol family 17
        [ 0.656631] Key type dns_resolver registered
        [ 0.656641] mpls_gso: MPLS GSO support
        [ 0.656901] omap_voltage_late_init: Voltage driver support not added
        [ 0.663809] PM: Cannot get wkup_m3_ipc handle
        [ 0.668412] ThumbEE CPU extension supported.
        [ 0.669433] registered taskstats version 1
        [ 0.669565] zswap: loaded using pool lzo/zbud
        [ 0.672260] Btrfs loaded, crc32c=crc32c-generic
        [ 0.673554] Key type encrypted registered
        [ 0.708037] random: fast init done
        [ 0.718942] input: tps65217_pwr_but as /devices/platform/ocp/44e0b000.i2c/i2c-0/0-0024/tps65217-pwrbutton/input/input0
        [ 0.719529] tps65217 0-0024: TPS65217 ID 0xe version 1.2
        [ 0.720237] at24 0-0050: 32768 byte 24c256 EEPROM, writable, 1 bytes/write
        [ 0.720323] omap_i2c 44e0b000.i2c: bus 0 rev0.11 at 400 kHz
        [ 0.721944] omap_i2c 4802a000.i2c: bus 1 rev0.11 at 400 kHz
        [ 0.723787] at24 2-0054: 32768 byte 24c256 EEPROM, writable, 1 bytes/write
        [ 0.724379] at24 2-0055: 32768 byte 24c256 EEPROM, writable, 1 bytes/write
        [ 0.724796] at24 2-0056: 32768 byte 24c256 EEPROM, writable, 1 bytes/write
        [ 0.725180] at24 2-0057: 32768 byte 24c256 EEPROM, writable, 1 bytes/write
        [ 0.725244] omap_i2c 4819c000.i2c: bus 2 rev0.11 at 400 kHz
        [ 0.727074] remoteproc remoteproc0: powering up wkup_m3
        [ 0.727206] remoteproc remoteproc0: Booting fw image am335x-pm-firmware.elf, size 217148
        [ 0.730670] PM: Cannot get wkup_m3_ipc handle
        [ 0.735433] wkup_m3_ipc 44e11324.wkup_m3_ipc: CM3 Firmware Version = 0x192
        [ 0.735458] remoteproc remoteproc0: remote processor wkup_m3 is now up
        [ 0.736401] omap_rtc 44e3e000.rtc: setting system clock to 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (946684800)
        [ 0.736416] of_cfs_init
        [ 0.736548] of_cfs_init: OK
        [ 0.737346] ALSA device list:
        [ 0.737355] No soundcards found.
        [ 0.749543] EXT4-fs (mmcblk1p2): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
        [ 0.749649] VFS: Mounted root (ext4 filesystem) readonly on device 179:2.
        [ 0.750603] devtmpfs: mounted
        [ 0.752259] Freeing unused kernel memory: 1024K
        [ 1.013936] systemd[1]: System time before build time, advancing clock.
        [ 1.044119] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using musb-hdrc
        [ 1.073193] ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
        [ 1.098978] random: systemd: uninitialized urandom read (16 bytes read)
        [ 1.102569] random: systemd: uninitialized urandom read (16 bytes read)
        [ 1.115553] systemd[1]: systemd 232 running in system mode. (+PAM +AUDIT +SELINUX +IMA +APPARMOR +SMACK +SYSVINIT +UTMP +LIBCRYPTSETUP +GCRYPT +GNUTLS +ACL +XZ +LZ4 +SECCOMP +BLKID +ELFUTILS +KMOD +IDN)
        [ 1.116662] systemd[1]: Detected architecture arm.
        [ 1.117914] systemd[1]: Set hostname to <bela>.
        [ 1.192900] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=8179
        [ 1.192919] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
        [ 1.192929] usb 1-1: Product: 802.11n NIC
        [ 1.192938] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: Realtek
        [ 1.192946] usb 1-1: SerialNumber: 00E04C0001
        [ 1.195260] PM: bootloader does not support rtc-only!
        [ 1.318370] random: systemd-cryptse: uninitialized urandom read (16 bytes read)
        [ 1.735869] systemd[1]: Reached target Remote File Systems.
        [ 1.737473] systemd[1]: Listening on udev Control Socket.
        [ 1.739266] systemd[1]: Created slice System Slice.
        [ 1.741204] systemd[1]: Created slice system-getty.slice.
        [ 1.741687] systemd[1]: Listening on fsck to fsckd communication Socket.
        [ 1.742507] systemd[1]: Listening on Journal Audit Socket.
        [ 1.742716] systemd[1]: Reached target Swap.
        [ 2.083059] rtdm_pruss_irq: loading out-of-tree module taints kernel.
        [ 2.083845] rtdm_pruss_irq version 2 loaded
        [ 2.177864] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio
        [ 2.869793] EXT4-fs (mmcblk1p2): re-mounted. Opts: (null)
        [ 3.155014] systemd-journald[96]: Received request to flush runtime journal from PID 1
        [ 5.865920] omap_rng 48310000.rng: Random Number Generator ver. 20
        [ 5.928844] r8188eu: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
        [ 5.990181] Chip Version Info: CHIP_8188E_Normal_Chip_TSMC_D_CUT_1T1R_RomVer(0)
        [ 6.187803] usbcore: registered new interface driver r8188eu
        [ 8.035858] using random self ethernet address
        [ 8.035878] using random host ethernet address
        [ 8.101501] using random self ethernet address
        [ 8.101521] using random host ethernet address
        [ 8.177749] Mass Storage Function, version: 2009/09/11
        [ 8.177772] LUN: removable file: (no medium)
        [ 9.737152] usb0: HOST MAC be:1a:9d:fa:a1:df
        [ 9.737467] usb0: MAC be:1a:9d:fa:a1:e0
        [ 9.742369] usb1: HOST MAC be:1a:9d:fa:a1:e2
        [ 9.742734] usb1: MAC be:1a:9d:fa:a1:e3
        [ 10.109539] configfs-gadget gadget: high-speed config #1: c
        [ 10.719906] random: crng init done
        [ 10.719930] random: 7 urandom warning(s) missed due to ratelimiting
        [ 11.268348] MAC Address = 98:48:27:5a:cd:0d
        [ 11.275491] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
        [ 11.303227] net eth0: initializing cpsw version 1.12 (0)
        [ 11.389614] SMSC LAN8710/LAN8720 4a101000.mdio:00: attached PHY driver [SMSC LAN8710/LAN8720] (mii_bus:phy_addr=4a101000.mdio:00, irq=POLL)
        [ 11.414496] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
        [ 12.305651] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): usb1: link is not ready
        [ 85.686259] R8188EU: indicate disassoc
        [ 85.986205] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
        root@bela:~# lsmod | grep 88
        r8188eu 454656 0
        cfg80211 593920 1 r8188eu
        root@bela:~#

        Here is my output after following your suggested instructions! Any guidance is appreciated, I am very new to Bela and linux as a whole, and I feel very lost. Thank you for reading this far down. 🙂

        are you trying to use the dongle as an access point or to connect to an existing wifi network?

          giuliomoro I am trying to use the dongle as an access point, but I also followed the instructions for setup to connect to an existing network. Do you think this is causing a conflict?

            I have not seen many devices + driver combination that would work well together and successfully set up an access point. Did you manage to successfully connect to an existing network?

            I think so?

            root@bela:~# ip a
            1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
            link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
            inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
            valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
            inet6 ::1/128 scope host
            valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
            2: eth0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN group default qlen 1000
            link/ether b4:ac:9d:fa:a1:de brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
            3: wlan0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN group default qlen 1000
            link/ether 98:48:27:5a:cd:0d brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
            inet 192.168.30.1/24 brd 192.168.30.255 scope global wlan0
            valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
            4: usb0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
            link/ether be:1a:9d:fa:a1:e0 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
            inet 192.168.6.2/24 brd 192.168.6.255 scope global usb0
            valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
            inet6 fe80::bc1a:9dff:fefa:a1e0/64 scope link
            valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
            5: usb1: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state DOWN group default qlen 1000
            link/ether be:1a:9d:fa:a1:e3 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
            inet 192.168.7.2/24 brd 192.168.7.255 scope global usb1
            valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
            root@bela:~#

            This is my output when I run ip a. I'm getting an ip address so I think it is working?

              notFall This is my output when I run ip a. I'm getting an ip address so I think it is working?

              I don't think so. 192.168.30.1 seems very much to be the IP of the board specified in the access point configuration. Undo the access point configuration and verify that you can connect to the pre-existing wifi network and can reach other devices on the network or the internet if it's connected to the internet.

                I have confirmed that I can connect to the pre-existing network and reach other devices.

                then assuming you have followed the instructions for the access point correctly, I'd conclude that the driver you are using doesn't provide working access point support. I tried building some drivers for 8188EU last year and had no success in enabling access point with it.
                As a last attempt to use as a hotspot make sure the wpa-conf line in /etc/network/interfaces is commented out and reboot.

                Thank you so much for your time, it looks like the included driver is incompatible.