Wifi Dongle

Rrobin · May 13, 2018

I'm a complete beginner with command line so please be patient with me.

I'm trying to get NETGEAR A6100-100PES AC600 802.11AC working with Bela following the guidelines here:
https://github.com/BelaPlatform/Bela/wiki/Connecting-Bela-to-wifi

root@bela ~/Bela# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0846:9052 NetGear, Inc. A6100 AC600 DB Wireless Adapter [Realtek RTL8811AU]
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

root@bela ~/Bela# ip a
1: lo: mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1

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: mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state DOWN group default qlen 1000

link/ether XX:a3:XX:b5:XX:XX brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

3: usb0: mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000

link/ether XX:XX:c5:XX:4c:XX brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

inet 192.168.7.2/24 brd 192.168.7.255 scope global usb0

valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

inet6 fXXX::XXXX:c5ff:XXXX:XXXX/64 scope link

valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

Bela is powered via 5V barrel.

So, there is no wlanX device, so I tried to install drivers but get:

root@bela ~/Bela# git clone https://github.com/abperiasamy/rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux
Cloning into 'rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux'...
fatal: unable to access 'https://github.com/abperiasamy/rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux/': Could not resolve host: github.com

Any ideas at this point? Thanks.

giuliomoro · May 14, 2018

robin fatal: unable to access 'https://github.com/abperiasamy/rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux/': Could not resolve host: github.com

in order to be able to clone from the board you need to have it connected to the internet!
Otherwise you can download a zip archive of the repo on your computer from https://github.com/abperiasamy/rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux/archive/master.zip then unzip it, use scp to copy it to the board, e.g.:

scp -r rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux.zip root@192.168.7.2:
then run the command:
ssh root@192.168.7.2 "cd rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux && make ARCH=arm && make ARCH=arm install"
this will take a few minutes but should eventually succeed. At that point, reboot the board and you should be good to go.

Rrobin · May 14, 2018

Ah! Thank you, I will try that now.

As a novice, I had to guess/google what "Clone this repo on the board" meant.

I have also been searching for how to find the file required:
"Edit the /etc/network/interfaces file"

Given that the previous command "ip a" I did in the Bela IDE, could you please elaborate on how I find that file there? Or is this something I should do in Terminal?

Rrobin · May 14, 2018

Hello.

That all worked. Next issue is:

root@bela ~/Bela# /etc/network/interfaces
bash: line 36: /etc/network/interfaces: Permission denied
root@bela ~/Bela# ls -lhd /etc
drwxr-xr-x 72 root root 4.0K Nov  3  2016 /etc
root@bela ~/Bela# ls -lhd /etc/network
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4.0K Oct 25  2017 /etc/network
root@bela ~/Bela# ls -lhd /etc/network/interfaces
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 908 Nov  8  2017 /etc/network/interfaces

So how do I actually edit that file if I cannot access it, or is this something I can also do via terminal?

giuliomoro · May 14, 2018

robin As a novice, I had to guess/google what "Clone this repo on the board" meant.

Sorry, I assumed by your previous post that you had some familiarity with the terminal already! Wrong guess ...

robin That all worked.

... however, it seems that Google is getting better every day Good news!

robin root@bela ~/Bela# /etc/network/interfaces
bash: line 36: /etc/network/interfaces: Permission denied

By running that command you are trying to execute the file /etc/network/interfaces. But this is not an executable file, that is why you are getting Permission denied: you do not have the permission to execute it.

robin So how do I actually edit that file if I cannot access it, or is this something I can also do via terminal?

You can only do it via the terminal, type something like nano /etc/network/interfaces and off you go. Use the commands listed at the bottom of the window to save/quit etc (e.g.: ctrl-x for save and quit).

Rrobin · May 14, 2018

thank you. that all worked! now to see if i can send from Pd on laptop...

Rrobin · May 14, 2018

Perhaps solved

I was able to send using netsend in Pd on my desktop to BELA using the IDE. I am still unsure whether this is actually using the wifi dongle or just the USB.

I am now trying to do this powering the BELA without the USB connection.
I have in the User Command Line Arguments:
ifdown wlan0; ifup wlan0

and am running a simple netsend patch with [connect 192.168.7.2 3000( message.

getting Pd error
connecting to port 3000
connecting stream socket: Operation timed out (60)

1) I'm guessing that when it worked previously I was still doing it via the USB?

2) How do I find out the IP address of the Bela? I'm hoping to be able to send to 3 separate ones at a time.

3) Is there something else that I'm missing here?

Thanks for your help so far!!

giuliomoro · May 14, 2018

robin [connect 192.168.7.2 3000(

The 192.168.7.2 is definitely the IP address of the board when connected over USB.

When on the wi-fi network, your board will have a different IP address. If you have access to the router for the wi-fi network, you can check what the IPs are of each of the devices connected. Any half-decent router will allow you to assign a static address to each wi-fi dongle, so that the IP is guaranteed not to change when you reconnect.

Alternatively, you can find the IP from Bela itself: connect over USB and run ip a. Next to wlan0, you will see the IP address that the board has on the wi-fi network. While it is likely that the router will re-use the same address next time the same wifi dongle connects to it, there is no guarantee (unless you do as explained above) that it will persist.

You could also try to send messages to the broadcast address of the wifi network (typically xxx.xxx.xxx.255) to attempt automatic discovery, but hopefully the static IP method above will work and it is much easier!

Rrobin · May 15, 2018

Thank you so much for your help. That all works.

I will now try to get the static IP working but all is good so far!

giuliomoro · May 15, 2018

Told you it was "Solved"!

Rrobin · May 15, 2018

Everything is very stable. I'm sending to several Belas using Udpsend in MaxMSP directly to Pd on Bela. Super cool.

I think I will buy a small USB TP-LINK TL-WR902AC Wireless Router because I understand that this will work in any venue (when I set up my own network) regardless of the WiFi there. This means that for public work, I could, for example, run this outdoors, or somewhere with no WiFi. Is that correct?

I did try to set up my own WLAN (Yosemite) last night but had issues connecting (one issue was that Yosemite does not allow WPA-keys for ad hoc networks). I did try using wpa-key-mgmt=NONE but didn't have much luck.

Regardless, would you say getting a small router is the safer option here, rather than using an ad hoc network via my laptop alone?

giuliomoro · May 15, 2018

robin one issue was that Yosemite does not allow WPA-keys for ad hoc networks)

seems silly hey? tell me about it!

robin Regardless, would you say getting a small router is the safer option here, rather than using an ad hoc network via my laptop alone?

I am no expert, however check out this paper http://cnmat.org/files/attachments/NIME2014-Making-the-Most-of-Wi-Fi.pdf

Aandreasb · Feb 27, 2019

giuliomoro
Hi
I am going through the same steps as Robin, but seem to have a dead end with the
ifup wlan0; ifdown wlan0; command.
It results in No DHCPOFFERS received, and then when I run
ip a
wlan0 shows up as
5: wlan0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN group default qlen 1000
link/ether 8c:3b:ad:2f:39:26 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
No IP address as it should have if working. Any ideas what is wrong?
bEst,
Andreas

giuliomoro · Feb 27, 2019

Did you set the username and password for the wifi as described here ? Sometimes you need to do ifup wlan0, ifdown wlan0, ifup wlan0 a couple of times

giuliomoro · Feb 27, 2019

if you did it, can you post the output of cat /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf?

Aandreasb · Feb 28, 2019

I tried the ifup wlan; ifdown wlan; several times, and then checked the wpa config file:
network={
ssid="VIBRA_network"
#psk="my_p*****rd"
psk=f4ac1785d3c96383b93b26e76c39862d97fecae0ac36b9468ce8eb903f9c00c3
}
I still don't have an IP, but only:
3: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN group default qlen 1000
link/ether 8c:3b:ad:2f:39:26 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

giuliomoro · Feb 28, 2019

right. Try to run

iwlist wlan0 scanning

that should return a list of the available networks.

Aandreasb · Feb 28, 2019

Yes, long list with 32 "Cells". Entries like:

Cell 02 - Address: 00:22:07:4F:AE:16
ESSID:"NextGenTel_AE17"
Protocol:IEEE 802.11bgn
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Encryption key:on
Bit Rates:144 Mb/s
Extra:rsn_ie=30140100000fac040100000fac040100000fac020c00
IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
Group Cipher : CCMP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: Unknown: DD7C0050F204104A0001101044000102103B00010310470010EB49E6C9A8BBE97568B118CC59F10CCC1021000842726F6164636F6D1023000842726F6164636F6D1024000631323334353610420004313233341054000800060050F204000110110006496E74656E6F100800022008103C0001011049000600372A000120
Quality=93/100 Signal level=-65 dBm

Extra:fm=0003

Seems to match the list on available networks on my mac fairly well.
So it seems that it is scanning somehow, but still no IP when I do ip a, only

3: wlan0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN group default qlen 1000
link/ether 8c:3b:ad:2f:39:26 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

giuliomoro · Feb 28, 2019

is the network you are trying to connect to listed among those?

There is also the possibility that you somehow mistyped the path to /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf ?