Some hints on WiFi setup
Aug 22, 2014 19:15:03 GMT -7
Post by W6KD on Aug 22, 2014 19:15:03 GMT -7
One of the things that took a great deal of work in DStar Commander was the ability to set up WiFi connections on your Pi. For people that only have secured WiFi as their only networking option, truly headless setup of the Pi was never before possible because they had to access the Pi's terminal window or GUI to set up their internet connection. This image solves that by allowing you to set up the WiFi from the DStarConfig executable on your PC.
That process has introduced some potential for confusion with the terminology used in setting up the WiFi connection.
First, the SSID (Service Set Identifier) is the name of the network connection you want to connect to. Your router, your cell phone or MiFi, the open WiFi at a coffee shop--all of them have an SSID that must be known to connect to the LAN. If you have a router and didn't choose the SSID yourself in the setup menus, then the SSID is probably on a sticker on the router itself, or possibly in the router's configuration menu. The SSID is case-sensitive, and should not have special characters embedded in it--numbers, letters, dashes, underscores and spaces are OK. If you use an Apple device like an iPhone or iPad as your cellular hotspot, they default to an SSID with an apostrophe in it, like "Bob's iPhone"--you need to change that SSID to get rid of the apostrophe or many non-Apple devices (like the Pi) won't connect.
The WiFi password is also case-sensitive. It must be 8-63 characters long to work with the WiFi setup, and there cannot be embedded spaces in the password.
For most folks with recent gear, including most cellular hotspots, the security protocol will be WPA2, which is also known as RSN. The setup also supports the older WPA, and mixed mode "WPA RSN" The very old and no-longer really secure WEP is not supported...you have to go back a good ways to find a router using WEP any more.
The supported encryption protocols are CCMP (used with most gear produced in the last 3-5 years), TKIP, and both "CCMP TKIP".
If you're trying to set up with a fairly recent router or a cellular hotspot, and can't easily find the protocols used by your device, try to connect with RSN and CCMP first.
If you can't make it work, there's always the possibility to access the Pi's desktop through a VNC connection or by attaching a keyboard/monitor/mouse. From there go into the Pi's WiFi setup GUI by clicking on the icon on the desktop. You can setup your WiFi the old fashioned way there--the GUI supports WEP and some other really nonstandard modes generally used by organizations with sophisticated IT infrastructure. If you do set up your WiFi through the GUI, DStar Commander's WIFICFGx commands will not be able to hot-swap between WiFi connections for you. Another option would be to let the GUI detect your WiFi access point's encryption and security protocols, and (assuming they are supported as described above), go back and try to reconfigure DStar Commander using the protocols reported by the GUI setup for your WiFi connection.
That process has introduced some potential for confusion with the terminology used in setting up the WiFi connection.
First, the SSID (Service Set Identifier) is the name of the network connection you want to connect to. Your router, your cell phone or MiFi, the open WiFi at a coffee shop--all of them have an SSID that must be known to connect to the LAN. If you have a router and didn't choose the SSID yourself in the setup menus, then the SSID is probably on a sticker on the router itself, or possibly in the router's configuration menu. The SSID is case-sensitive, and should not have special characters embedded in it--numbers, letters, dashes, underscores and spaces are OK. If you use an Apple device like an iPhone or iPad as your cellular hotspot, they default to an SSID with an apostrophe in it, like "Bob's iPhone"--you need to change that SSID to get rid of the apostrophe or many non-Apple devices (like the Pi) won't connect.
The WiFi password is also case-sensitive. It must be 8-63 characters long to work with the WiFi setup, and there cannot be embedded spaces in the password.
For most folks with recent gear, including most cellular hotspots, the security protocol will be WPA2, which is also known as RSN. The setup also supports the older WPA, and mixed mode "WPA RSN" The very old and no-longer really secure WEP is not supported...you have to go back a good ways to find a router using WEP any more.
The supported encryption protocols are CCMP (used with most gear produced in the last 3-5 years), TKIP, and both "CCMP TKIP".
If you're trying to set up with a fairly recent router or a cellular hotspot, and can't easily find the protocols used by your device, try to connect with RSN and CCMP first.
If you can't make it work, there's always the possibility to access the Pi's desktop through a VNC connection or by attaching a keyboard/monitor/mouse. From there go into the Pi's WiFi setup GUI by clicking on the icon on the desktop. You can setup your WiFi the old fashioned way there--the GUI supports WEP and some other really nonstandard modes generally used by organizations with sophisticated IT infrastructure. If you do set up your WiFi through the GUI, DStar Commander's WIFICFGx commands will not be able to hot-swap between WiFi connections for you. Another option would be to let the GUI detect your WiFi access point's encryption and security protocols, and (assuming they are supported as described above), go back and try to reconfigure DStar Commander using the protocols reported by the GUI setup for your WiFi connection.
