I’m an ASL newbie. I just finished setting up ASL on a laptop PC. This will be a radioless node for the time being. During setup I think it connected to the internet via my home LAN to download necessary features. However, after installation I cannot connect the laptop to my home Wifi network. I understand it is a linux process to connect to a network rather than ASL. In my /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf file I have a network entry with the correct ssid and password for my home network. After rebooting the laptop it is still not recognized by my LAN.
Bob (KE0SDV)
Node 56376
Taking a guess…
I’m not sure how your created the file but you may want to check/set permissions to the file +rwx
And perhaps ownership of the file?
I changed the file permissions to rwxrwxrwx and it had no effect. The weird thing is that networking was working during installation b/c I had to connect to my home network to download ASL. I remember the script asking me which network I wanted. I entered the password and off it went downloading ASL. But after installation I have no network connection, nor can I establish a connection. If I could recreate what the ASL script was doing during installation maybe I could get the system to connect to my network.
I scoured the Internet and found this page with some suggestions [Using iw to Manage Wireless LAN in Linux (tu.ac.th)] (Using iw to Manage Wireless LAN in Linux). sudo ifconfig -a shows I have an adapter for wireless called wlp2s0. When I tried to execute sudo ifconfig wlp2s0 up I got the response Operation not possible due to RF-Kill. There is a dev/RF-Kill file, but it is empty. I tried sudo iw dev wlp2s0 connect BCHome and the response was command failed: Network is dowon (-100). Looking for more ideas.
Thanks,
Bob (KE0SDV)
I might suguest another set of eyes to /wpa_supplicant.conf file
looking for typo’s
You would be surprised.
You are welcome to send me a ‘unedited copy’ to my qrz email if you trust me with it.
Some errors will kick the file to not load.
I might also suguest truning off encryption/password for a test but make your file reflect that change.
After much investigation I have solved the problem and I now have network connectivity. During installation I hand network connectivity because it asked for my SSID and passkey, then proceeded to download the ASL software. I stopped at the Determine Radio Interface steps b/c this is going to be a radioless node for now. At that point my wireless interface wlp2s0 was down. I found that the install script up to that point had not created a wpa_supplicant.conf file even though I had gone through the steps in the Beginners Guide to enter my SSID and passkey and to request DHCP. Here’s how I solved it:
- I ran the helper scripts net-setup and wifi-setup. They created a wpa_supplicant.conf file with my correct home network SSID and passkey.
- sudo ip link set wlp2s0 up ;wlp2s0 is still showing not connected but is readied for the next step.
- sudo wpa_supplicant -B -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -i wlp2s0 ;This runs the wpa_supplicant process in the background to associate the wireless interface with the access point.
- sudo dhclient wlp2s0 ;This assigns a local IP address
5.Computer is now recognized as a device on my local network and I am able to access the internet. Whew!
There are additional steps to get this to auto connect on startup. Otherwise, rerun the steps above. In the router I will assign a fixed IP address for the computer to facilitate port forwarding.
My main question - Why did I have to go through all these steps to get a wireless connection for ASL? There must be an easier way.
Thanks,
Bob
KE0SDV
The best link I found to help with this is at Using WPA_Supplicant to Connect to WPA2 Wi-fi from Terminal on Ubuntu 16.04 Server (linuxbabe.com)
It is for Ubuntu but similar enough to work for me.
I can only guess corruption in the initial install.
And/Or/Caused by inadiquite power supply that causes coruption on SD writes that many overlook.
https://wiki.allstarlink.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi’s_and_Power_Supplies
Not saying it was the source of the trouble, but a likelyhood to check as it will resurface again if it was.
The rated consunption of the Pi is accurate, and folks buy based on that and not including powering usb devices etc. Most of the midget power units get ‘noisy’ when they reach 85% of their limit.
Noise is not something you want on the power line of anything with a cpu or memory.
This was installed on an Intel based PC that formerly ran Windows 10 with no problems. I installed ASL twice just to be sure I didn’t miss anything. It appears there may be a bug in the Intel PC install scripts for ASL. Why else would it fail to create a wpa_supplicant.conf file and leave me no option but to go back to run the helper scripts to do that task? I’m guessing most people have a Pi based system where this problem may not exist.
Also, some people apparently use a network manager to simplify the wireless network connection procedure. Do ASL users commonly use a network manager?
While I could be wrong, I don’t think PC version include wpa, only Pi installs.
Not that it can’t be installed manually, which it appears you have done.
It was why I assumed you were using a Pi. You did not say.
Yes I should have mentioned that this is PC based ASL system. It will be for home use to help me learn about ASL and Linux. I have a Pi board on order from China for use in our club’s repeater up on a mountain. Due to supply chain issues, it won’t arrive for a couple of months (if it ever gets here.) In the meantime I am learning about ASL, and I greatly appreciate your help.
LOL… if it ever gets here ! …I understand.
I normally refrain from commenting on the Pi as my opinion would go against the grain a little.
I am a PC guy. But I Play with the Pi, but I don’t use it for anything that counts much.
But in the days when the BBB and Pi arrived on the scene, to me, it was like packing 10lbs of stuff in a 5lb bag kinda thing. I wondered what the draw was.
Well, hams are cheap I said to myself all the time.
But at this same time, I was buying intel atom d2700mud mini itx boards and stuffing them with 4gb of ram and ssd’s and a 12vdc power supply for about the same money as the Pi in a case with a power supply. Short supply raises prices so they keep the supply short.
I still use those boards and have been top runners for what they do. Never a issue.
But that cheap thing was not what was doing it for folks. It was more of a plug and play setup.
Get the image and put it on a SD and edit a few files and you are up and running.
Most learn the rest here when they have issues. And you learn nothing if you don’t have issues.
But,
It’s always a good thing when a bunch explore new avenues as you never know how far it will go.
Now we have the Pi4 with 4gb and I will get one to play with when the demand and price come back down to what was intended.
But honestly, I think if you have a old PC with at least 2gb of ram, you would have a easier time of it.
Folks are throwing them away LOL
The Pi can give unique issues complicating it all. But now there are so many personal stations, the Pi is the dominate format used. Much because of the reasons I mentioned above.
10 years ago, there were less than 1000 nodes and less than 500 node owners and they were predominately established repeaters. You would be lucky if 60% of the nodes issued were actually running. And they were all PC’s
Not really knocking the Pi, but If your primary target is to learn it all, a Pi is not the best 1st choice.
They are a good choice for special circumstances where low power, low heat and small size are needed. But folks are using them for the more plug and play type set-up.
Just a link for those that stumble on this later…
wpa suplicant
Every time I enter this line rfkill hard locks the adapter.
sudo wpa_supplicant -B -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -i wlan0
I reboot and it unlocks. Stuck…
Idea’s?
Mine has a button on the keyboard, when rfkill blocked the hardware a simple push of the button unblocked it! Oh to have a Raspberry Pi3b+ !