Realtek RTL8192EU WiFi driver?

[Christos 15]

Hi,

 

I got one of those cheap 300Mbps wifi dongles with 8192EU chip with USB Vid/Pid  0bda:818b.

How can we enable this in Armbian?

lsmod does not show any detected h/w driver and wan0 is not showing up in ifconfig.

Only lsusb has the following

root@nanopineo:~# lsusb
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0bda:818b Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
root@nanopineo:~#

Any hint or pointer welcome.

 

Christos

 

[zgoda_j 4]

You have to build kernel driver from provided sources. In my opinion not worth the hassle, I dumped such dongle and bought another.

[Christos 15]

Ok,

The dongle came with a CD containing linux driver sources, a SDK for it, so if you have any pointer on how to add this myself, then I could give it a shot.

 

Also, which 300Mbps dongles do work with Armbian? do you happen to know? is the other you bought a 300Mbps one?

 

 

 

P.S.

I do have 8192cu 150Mbps dongles that are configured and work just fine, but do need now the extra bandwidth of the 300..

 

P.S. 2

Forgot to mention that I'm interested only in kernel 3.4.112

[zgoda_j 4]

This 300Mb/s vs. 150Mb/s is a marketing bullshit. All of these dongles are 802.11 b/g/n capable and actual efficiency depends only on chip used, in theory 802.11n data rates may go up to 600Mb/s. 8192eu may not be the worst one, but hey, it's 2016, no one should be forced to build kernel driver for a network card.

[Christos 15]

Ok,

 

The 8192cu based on specs go up to 150Mbps and 8192eu to 300Mbps, the protocol itself and its theoretical limit is another story.

What you forgot to mention is the actual current medium congestion where in rural areas and appartment buildings with lots of devices in the vicinity, achieving high speeds is dificult.

I kinda know all these things.. yet I do want to give a try and have a higher (capable) bandwidth wifi hardware.

So if anyone can propose such a device would be great. Or just to give me a pointer on how to integrate in Armbian a new driver.

 

Christos

[zgoda_j 4]

See this discussion on Arch linux forum -> https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=194658

 

I doubt drivers for these chips will ever be included in kernel tree, wext is pending deprecation (or is deprecated already) -> https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/wext-statement

[shahidali55 2]

Hi,

 

I got one of those cheap 300Mbps wifi dongles with 8192EU chip with USB Vid/Pid  0bda:818b.

How can we enable this in Armbian?

lsmod does not show any detected h/w driver and wan0 is not showing up in ifconfig.

Only lsusb has the following

root@nanopineo:~# lsusb
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0bda:818b Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
root@nanopineo:~#

Any hint or pointer welcome.

 

Christos

 

Hi Christos,

 

Please follow the below steps to compile and deploy the kernel module for 8192EU:

 

git clone https://github.com/shahidali55/rtl8192eu_3
cd rtl8192eu_3
make ARCH=arm
sudo make install

If all the above steps complete without errors, reboot the board. ifconfig should now show wlan0

[RagnerBG 29]

I also have one of those cheap 8192EU dongles. Driver is a little pain in the back for all platforms. In Windows, official driver installs but no signs of work, i had to deeply dig internet for correct driver and then it works fine, with real 300Mbit speed and descend range. In Linux (official x64), it kind of worked with this driver - dkms_rtl8192eu_4.3.1.1.11320.20140505-2_all.deb , but show no connection speed, and real download speed was about 100/200Kb. I have no idea if it can be installed on Armbian. I have also this drivers on my harddrive - dkms_rtl8192eu_4.3.1.1.11320.20140505_all.deb, Realtek-TL8192EU-driver.tar.gz .But doesn't have a chance to test it, because the cheap thing, mechanically break, losing it's front metal cover and i lost enthusiasm to deal with it.

[Christos 15]

 

Hi Christos,

 

Please follow the below steps to compile and deploy the kernel module for 8192EU:

 

git clone https://github.com/shahidali55/rtl8192eu_3
cd rtl8192eu_3
make ARCH=arm
sudo make install

If all the above steps complete without errors, reboot the board. ifconfig should now show wlan0

 

 

@shaidali55

 

Thanks!!

 

Tested and t works just fine.

 

 

Thank you

Christos

[zgoda_j 4]

Repeat after every kernel update.

[Christos 15]

Ok,

 

After succesfully using the 8192eu as client, its time to set ip up with hostapd use.

 

I got two of those dongles, each is plugged to a NanoPi NEO v1.1 running Armbian 5.21 jessie 3.4.112.

 

Both got the 8192eu .ko driver installed and are able to operate as clients succesfully.

 

Now one of them I like to make it as AP with hostapd.

Followed the tutorial here for AP

-> http://forum.armbian.com/index.php/topic/1237-tutorial-opi-one-wireless-success/

but did report errors

root@nanopineo:~# hostapd /etc/hostapd.conf
Configuration file: /etc/hostapd.conf
nl80211: deinit ifname=wlan1 disabled_11b_rates=0
nl80211 driver initialization failed.
wlan1: interface state UNINITIALIZED->DISABLED
wlan1: AP-DISABLED
hostapd_free_hapd_data: Interface wlan1 wasn't started
root@nanopineo:~#

the /etc/hostapd.conf contents

root@nanopineo:~# cat /etc/hostapd.conf
ssid=NanoPiNEO
interface=wlan1
hw_mode=g
channel=5
driver=nl80211
logger_syslog=0
logger_syslog_level=0
wmm_enabled=1
ieee80211n=1
wpa=3
preamble=1
#wpa_psk=66eb31d2b48d19ba216f2e50c6831ee11be98e2fa3a8075e30b866f4a5ccda27
wpa_passphrase='123456789'
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
wpa_pairwise=TKIP
rsn_pairwise=CCMP
auth_algs=1
macaddr_acl=0
noscan=1
#ht_capab=[HT40-][SHORT-GI-40][SHORT-GI-40][DSSS_CCK-40]
country_code=GR
#ieee80211d=1

root@nanopineo:~#

thats the ifconfig -a report

root@nanopineo:~# ifconfig -a
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr ee:1e:a4:bb:94:e9
          inet addr:192.168.1.7  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: 2a02:582:d2e:1100:ec1e:a4ff:febb:94e9/64 Scope:Global
          inet6 addr: fe80::ec1e:a4ff:febb:94e9/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:818 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:702 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:74303 (72.5 KiB)  TX bytes:87621 (85.5 KiB)
          Interrupt:114

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:43 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:43 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:4436 (4.3 KiB)  TX bytes:4436 (4.3 KiB)

tunl0     Link encap:IPIP Tunnel  HWaddr
          NOARP  MTU:1480  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0   TX bytes:0 (0.0 

wlan1     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 24:05:0f:00:00:75
          inet addr:192.168.10.1  Bcast:192.168.10.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: 2a02:582:d2e:1100:2605:fff:fe00:75/64 Scope:Global
          inet6 addr: fe80::2605:fff:fe00:75/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:31 errors:0 dropped:2 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:124 errors:0 dropped:1 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:5427 (5.2 KiB)  TX bytes:9680 (9.4 KiB)

root@nanopineo:~#

Any hints?

 

Christos

[zgoda_j 4]

That's because they don't support nl80211, only wext.

[tkaiser 1642]

Any hints?

 

Wasting another few hours of your life googling for '8192eu -8192cu ap mode' and stuff like that? Most probably to realize that the only place on earth where this works are seller pages on Aliexpress?

[Christos 15]

lol

[Christos 15]

And the funny part is that Armbian's repository is down, cannot do an apt-get whatever..

 

 

 

 

 

(a few hours later, apt-get started working again)

[Christos 15]

Managed so far to have hostapd with 8192cu and client with 8192eu.

 

But still hostapd with 8192eu is elusive for me..  (keep trying and using hostapd-realtek).

[tkaiser 1642]

Managed so far to have hostapd with 8192cu and client with 8192eu.

 

But still hostapd with 8192eu is elusive for me..  (keep trying and using hostapd-realtek).

 

Googling for 'problem or issue 8192' results in 3,000,000 hits. Given a single hour spent on solving problems with these crap dongles is worth just $1 maybe these RealTek devices are the most expensive peripherals around?

 

Anyway: I would never buy this stuff but have one 8192CU based TL-WN823N here by accident (came with an UP Board). The dongle is rated '300 Mbps' and compared to the el cheapo onboard SDIO Wi-Fi of an Orange Pi Lite it's just... slow crap: see #238 here: http://forum.armbian.com/index.php/topic/1580-nanopi-neo-air/?p=17619 (I tested also speed with iperf3, over 3 times less than OPi Lite Wi-Fi).

 

BTW: No offense at all, I just want to produce stuff for search engines so that people realize that crappy Wi-Fi dongles are crappy Wi-Fi dongles prior to purchase and not after.

[shahidali55 2]

Ok,

 

After succesfully using the 8192eu as client, its time to set ip up with hostapd use.

 

I got two of those dongles, each is plugged to a NanoPi NEO v1.1 running Armbian 5.21 jessie 3.4.112.

 

Both got the 8192eu .ko driver installed and are able to operate as clients succesfully.

 

Now one of them I like to make it as AP with hostapd.

Followed the tutorial here for AP

-> http://forum.armbian.com/index.php/topic/1237-tutorial-opi-one-wireless-success/

but did report errors

 

 

Any hints?

 

Christos

 

Hi Christos,

 

You will need hostapd version specific for 8192eu module. I've just tested compiling it and it does compile. Not sure if it will work. Please try and let me know.

git clone https://github.com/shahidali55/rtl8192eu-driver
cd rtl8192eu-driver
cd wpa_supplicant_hostapd
tar -zxvf wpa_supplicant_hostapd-0.8_rtw_r7048.20130424.tar.gz
cd wpa_supplicant_hostapd-0.8_rtw_r7048.20130424
cd hostapd
make arch=ARM
cp ../../rtl_hostapd_2G.conf ./

Then follow this guide to setup and launch hostapd

[Christos 15]

Hi Christos,

 

You will need hostapd version specific for 8192eu module. I've just tested compiling it and it does compile. Not sure if it will work. Please try and let me know.

git clone https://github.com/shahidali55/rtl8192eu-driver
cd rtl8192eu-driver
cd wpa_supplicant_hostapd
tar -zxvf wpa_supplicant_hostapd-0.8_rtw_r7048.20130424.tar.gz
cd wpa_supplicant_hostapd-0.8_rtw_r7048.20130424
cd hostapd
make arch=ARM
cp ../../rtl_hostapd_2G.conf ./

Then follow this guide to setup and launch hostapd

 

Thank you very much shahidali55 for the help, its really appreciated.

Tried the compile and got it through, yet I could not start the produced hostapd even though tried quite a few config variations.

I come to believe that it might not worth the trouble after all..

 

 

 

@tkaiser  ..Thomas, just got a new OPiPC+ and indeed, working wifi out of the box and by listing twice as many nearby APs is definitively impressive..

[pe63 0]

Downloaded the driver and compiled it with many errors like

rtw_security.c:(.text+0x20f4): multiple definition of `is_multicast_mac_addr'
/home/gandalf/rtl8192eu_3/core/rtw_cmd.o:rtw_cmd.c:(.text+0x4c): first defined here

 

after removing in the file ieee80211.h ' extern _' in line 1317, 1322 and 1328,  it compiled fine and after 'sudo make install' the wifi was up and running

thanks for the driver

git clone https://github.com/shahidali55/rtl8192eu_3
cd rtl8192eu_3
make ARCH=arm
sudo make install

[tomsaul 1]

For current OS installs, to get this to compile edit the file include/ieee80211.h, search for 'extern __inline' and replace with 'static __inline' for the three offending declarations!  This allows it to compile cleanly.