Recommendation on (cheap nano/mini) usb wireless adapter

[mlitke]

Just to clarify, the patch should be in the linux-kirkwood 3.8.6-1 package (what is in the Arch Linux ARM core repository as of 2013.04.12)? Version 3.8.7 is listed as the current stable at kernel.org.

If so, I will update one of my systems and test my adapter again.

Thanks.

[mlitke]

After looking through the linux kernel code, it appears the patch was applied at least as far back as 3.8.6. I updated one of my systems with the 3.8.6 kernel and tried the adapter again. It works better, but I still cannot get it to connect when WPA is enabled on the router. I am now getting the following error message:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
wlan0: Authentication with xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx timed out.
wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED bssid=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx reason=3 locally_generated=1
wlan0: WPA: 4-Way Handshake failed - pre-shared key may be incorrect
wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-SSID-TEMP-DISABLED id=0 ssid="XXXXX" auth_failures=1 duration=10
')
I double and triple checked that I was using the same pre-shared key on both the router and the device, but I was not able to get the device to connect.

[moonman]

There seems to be a couple more files that need to be patched, specifically the one of interest is base.h. Ill try to compile the kernel with it when i get home if you are interested to test.

[mlitke]

I notice from your previous post that running the patch updated base.h and pci.c , but not hw.c. I thought it was a little odd, so I checked what was in the kernel git repository (at kernel.org) and the patches to base.h and pci.c were not applied there either. I am not sure why, or if it will fix it, but if you can apply the patch and build a new kernel I would be happy to test it.

[moonman]

Alright building it now. Will post back in a couple of hours

[moonman]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'pacman -U https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15043728/ArchLinuxArm/kernels/linux-kirkwood-3.8.7-1-arm.pkg.tar.xz https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15043728/ArchLinuxArm/kernels/linux-headers-kirkwood-3.8.7-1-arm.pkg.tar.xz')

[mlitke]

I assume you meant:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
pacman -U https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15043728/ArchLinuxArm/kernels/linux-kirkwood-3.8.7-1-arm.pkg.tar.xz https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15043728/ArchLinuxArm/kernels/linux-headers-kirkwood-3.8.7-1-arm.pkg.tar.xz
')
You listed the header package twice, and no kernel package.

I installed both packages and ran some tests with the wifi adapter. I see the same behavior as I did with the 3.8.6 kernel. So, it looks like the patch may have fixed the issues some people were seeing, but still does not fix all the issues I am seeing. Thanks for making the kernel so I could test it.

[moonman]

fixed the links not that it matters anymore.

Yeah, I kinda expected this. Oh well...

[moonman]

Since there are many posts regarding this issue, here's the easy way to install. Thank mltike for figuring this out. I just built the package.

Make sure you have linux-kirkwood kernel (> 3.8.x, NOT 3.1.X). If you don't make sure you can run it and have the U-Boot that supports it.

Install all the needed components:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'pacman -Sy dkms base-devel linux-kirkwood-headers')

Enable dkms service so that the module will get rebuilt when you upgrade the kernel:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'systemctl enable dkms
systemctl start dkms')

Install the driver:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'pacman -U https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15043728/ArchLinuxArm/kernels/dkms-8192cu-v3.4.4_4749-6-arm.pkg.tar.xz')

[mlitke]

moonman, thanks so much for making an ARM specific package!

I saw in the other thread, pepedog asked about putting it in the repo. Do you think you will submit it?

I haven't had time to look into why it works for the Raspberry Pi. Do you know if the Pi kernel includes the RealTek code, or if some other patch/fix was implemented? If not, I will try to set aside some time and fire up my Pi and do some testing/investigating.