How to get WiFi working?

[JanKok]

I have a Belkin N300 WiFi USB adapter. If I plug it into my PC running Ubuntu, clicking on the network icon in the "system tray" lets me select a wireless network to connect to and enter my network password. It just works without any hassle.

If I plug the same adapter into a known working USB hub on the Parallella, and then click on the network icon, the menu shows "Ethernet Network disconnected" and "VPN Connections". There is no "Wireless Networks" section of the menu.

What does it take to get a wireless connection working?

[9600]

You'll likely need to with support enabled.

Regards,

Andrew

[JanKok]

I've tried building new kernels several times but am having trouble figuring out what drivers are needed and getting them linked into the kernel.

On the Parallella, with the WiFi USB adapter plugged in, lsusb shows (among other things):

Bus 001 Device 003: ID 050d:845a Belkin Components F7D2101 802.11n Surf & Share Wireless Adapter v1000 [Realtek RTL8192SU]

(Note that the lsusb info is a bit of a red herring because it doesn't give a clue about what driver(s) need to be added to the kernel. I figured that out by plugging the WiFi USB adapter into a PC running Ubuntu and doing "dmesg|tail -20". r8712u seems to be the required driver. I found the r8712u driver using search "/" key in menuconfig. The help for that driver shows that it applies to the RTL8192SU also.) Continuing:

dmesg|grep 8712 shows:

usbcore: registered new interface driver r8712u
r8712u: Staging version
r8712u: register rtl8712_netdev_ops to netdev_ops
usb 1-1.1: r8712u: USB_SPEED_HIGH with 4 endpoints
usb 1-1.1: r8712u: Boot from EFUSE: Autoload OK
usb 1-1.1: r8712u: CustomerID = 0x0000
usb 1-1.1: r8712u: MAC Address from efuse = b4:75:0e:76:57:af
usb 1-1.1: r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"
usb 1-1.1: r8712u: Firmware request failed

dmesg | grep rtl8192
usbcore: registered new interface driver rtl8192cu

lsmod|grep 8712 shows nothing.

grep 8712 .config
CONFIG_R8712U=y

So how do I get the WiFi adapter to work?

[shodruk]

Try this: sudo apt-get install linux-firmware

[JanKok]

After doing that (and rebooting?) some wireless networks showed up in the menu on the network icon in the system tray.

That was a major step forward. Thanks!!

Now, there is still the problem that the user can't access the wireless networks - get permission error if try to activate one of the wireless networks. I tried to follow the directions at http://askubuntu.com/questions/141553/h ... dard-users but when I tried to edit users the system hung and when I reboot, the keyboard and mouse don't work on the login screen. I may have to rebuild my SD card.

Can someone suggest a (safe?!) way to enable users to access wireless networks?

[JanKok]

While typing my previous post, I had the Parallella turned off. When I powered it on again, it booted up normally. There seems to be some occasional flakiness in my system. Once I've logged in, it usually works fine for hours.

Anyway, I installed gnome-system-tools, but I'm not sure how to launch the program "Users and Groups" mentioned at http://askubuntu.com/questions/141553/h ... dard-users . Perhaps that is the same thing as the "User Settings" application which can be started with System->Other->User accounts Admin.

That "User accounts Admin" app doesn't fully work, in particular, if I select a user and then click on Advanced Settings, nothing happens. There is no "User Privleges" tab.

So how do I allow users to access the wireless network?

[shodruk]

Use sudo for now: sudo nm-connection-editor

[JanKok]

Yay, that works! These were the remaining steps:

sudo nm-connection-editor
Select Wi-Fi connection 1, click Edit...
In the new window, select Wi-Fi Security tab
Select your security method
Enter your password
Save...
Close
The system then connects automatically and users can access the wireless network.

There is a message:
(nm-connection-editor:2370): IBUS-WARNING **: The owner of /home/kok/.config/ibus/bus is not root!
...but at least it works. Thanks!

Sent from my Parallella - wirelessly!

[aolofsson]

Very nice! Success of WiFi depends on driver support in kernel so please post the product model and the corresponding chipset model so that others can save time debugging.

Andreas

[psiegl]