WiFi Acces Point/Hotspot PurE2 plugin to extend your home network via your STB!

gorski

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Re. the aforementioned WiFi AP mode plugin Delfi made... From what little I know, he put quite a bit of his time into it - hence done with some pride... ;) So a somewhat belayed "announcement"... but hey, better now than never.... :) This is a really nice addition to PurE2 and wider...

Sooo.... say, you have a LAN cable drawn all the way to your STB but you could do with a further extension to your home network, in a wireless manner, to the parts of the house your modem does not cover well with its WiFi capabilities, it's just too far, the walls are just too thick etc. So, use this app, switch it on and you may have a really good WiFi connection in your loft or in your garden, in a bath-tub etc. :)

Here is Delfi's text, since he is the author and I haven't yet tried it...

WiFi AP

Acces Point / Hotspot

Makes most sense on boxes with built in WiFi (osmio4k*, sf8008, ustsym4k, viper4k, etc..)

Works on most of other boxes with added USB WiFi adapter (Zgemma H7, etc)

Low RAM impact and CPU strain.

In the feeds: MENU--> PurE2 plugins --> Setup WiFi AP (enigma2-plugin-systemplugins-wifiap)

Preset Value should work in most cases, if the adapter/wifi device is 5GHz capable or can function in a best mode possible (a very rough guess, with wifi, permutations and surprises are... many), that is a preferred mode.

Due to almost countless combinations of interaction between the kernel and wifi drivers, it is possible to setup non working stuff in "Advanced" mode, so... beware. This is still, sort of beta stuff.

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Boring Tech notes:

Should work on most boxes like DMMs, VUs, that have some features in the kernel enabled or do not practice some protection via Ethernet iface.

Some USB adapters on some kernels cannot work in AP/hotspot mode. For example Mediatek mt7601u driver does not work, but on a different/older kernel mt7601uSTA might be ok. Similar situation is with once popular Alfa AWUS036H long range based on 8187B wifi chipset. Commercial AP devices and routers usually have custom drivers that work in a one of 2-3 dedicated modes. Sadly, miracles can not happen all the time.

Did not check old rt73, they could make problems as well, besides they need so much power that your PS might not be happy.


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EDIT: just found old rt73 b+g Asus USB wifi stick lying in the dust, and it works ok on sf8008 as a 2nd WiFi adapter.

New rtl8812AU and similar AC1200 stuff seems to work very nice (again, on some kernels).

In the future release it ***might*** be possible to use active wifi adapter both as a client and an AP, but, again, not many drivers are capable of this.

Therefore, as it is, it makes sense for users that have a box connected to a wire and might need an additional AP.

Due to some tech drama, this is not available for SH4 boxes, but we''ll try to solve it if possible.

Some older chipsets like rtl8182eu used in many boxes (well, depending on the HW revision), might support "n" mode in 5 GHz band. Whether it works in your individual case is, sadly a question of luck. 5 GHz band is probably a better choice due to 2.4 band congestion and speed, but, to really work decently, it needs a clear path between a client and AP, or, at least, multi antennae capability between both, the AP (your box) and client (your phone or laptop).

On the other hand, 2.4 GHz band is usually better with penetration thru obstacles like walls, etc.

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Really boring stuff about the channel choice for your AP:

Some Realtek (and other) devices are nice to suggest a best channel available. This sounds great, but actually it is not really, as these wild guess suggestions are based (usually) only on 20MHz bandwidth, or in the best case 40MHz, alas in some rather lazy mode. If one is curious, a check can be made from telnet:
cat /proc/net/rtl8192eu/wlan0/best_channel
...and, of course, adjust as per your device.

Usually it makes a senseless suggestion, so --> channel choice is up to you. There are decent apps for smartphones (wifi scanners) that might help you with the right choice.

As always YMMW.

Have fun and may the wifi force be with you.

Edited by gorski...
 
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