request: chromecast-like setup for WiFi dongle

Hey guys.
I'd had some luck with the WiFi setup in the past, but had issues with the WiFi dongle being independent of the Ethernet connection. Seems that the WiFi network interface would always piggyback on the Ethernet and wouldn't work too well without a wire connected too.
I got a little frustrated and stopped working on it, but after rearranging my physical network, I had some more thought on working more on the WiFi.
Has the WiFi become more user friendly lately?
I had thought that a setup like the chromecast would be helpful; plug a dongle into the pogoplug, and the pogoplug sets up a network with a webpage that allows general setup. This could be used for more config than WiFi but this is just a start.
Is this feasable? Looking for input and ideas on how to implement into an image.
Thanks.

I'm not familiar with chromecast, but get the general idea I think of what you're trying to do ... if you want a shortcut, user Gravelrash has recently offered to share a pre-built image - http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,17760 , for pogoplug I think so you might want to contact him :) ... I've suggested he make a public dropbox share ...

His image contains an accesss point (which is what you'll need to connect to pogoplug over wifi) and webmin, a lightweight unix/linux admin tool ...

I did a long post about OpenMediaVault, which might provide the functionality you're looking for or part of it. OMV allows one to do all the setup, and includes facility to automatically install extras like torrents and dlna.

If you're handy with the command line, I'd consider setting all this up yourself. Debian includes most of the packages you'd need to do this. Time and effort is the main comodity you'd need to invest :D

The basic compents you'll need are :

1. the correct firmware for your wifi stick or buy one that's well supported by debian or linux in general.
2. a webserver, possibly apache, but you might want to look at lighthttpd which is what often used on embedded systems
3. Access point setup, gravelrash named the package he was using, try that
4. A web-ui of some kind, OMV, webmin and there are others ...
5. Other stuff you want the box to do torrents, media streaming, etc

Wifi hasn't gotten friendlier, I'm afraid. It seems some in the linux community are pushing to make it less friendly on the command line at least. OpenWrt has deprecated anything except the "iw" tool, which is the most unfriendly of all !

That said, it's not impossible, just takes some patience and determination ...

Not quite sure what you mean about the wifi being on a different network ... if you're connecting your pogo to your router, with DHCP for ip address, and it's a simple setup, then the wifi will connect to your router, and pogo on same network ... If you setup the wifi on pogoplug as an access point, then should be possible to issue IP addresses on the same network, but you'd need to setup the access point with a DCHP passthrough and the pogo would also need to be connected to the wired network.

Obviously if the pogo isn't connected to the wired network, then it'd be standlone ... it may be possible for the pgo wifi to be an access point and a client to your router at the same time, however that's probably just too complicated !

Cheers

DC

t3ch42 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I had thought that a setup like the chromecast
> would be helpful; plug a dongle into the pogoplug,
> and the pogoplug sets up a network with a webpage
> that allows general setup. This could be used for
> more config than WiFi but this is just a start.
> Is this feasable?
> Thanks.


Any reason Webmin won't meet your requirements when combined with a WiFi dongle?

Well, webmin is helpful and would allow most of the configuration I would need to do, but I didn't see any way to automate the WiFi side. I haven't found a WiFi module for webmin yet.
I found a thread that was a few years old by pazos that seemed pretty relevant.
The problem I find is the initial setup. If there isn't a Ethernet cable connected, I don't have access. I'd like to plug it in, have it start broadcasting a WiFi signal and allow a user to connect to the AP. They can then use a webpage with basic config capabilities to set the network config, AP, bridge, etc. At this point, webmin would be available as well and could be a link on the initial webpage.
Hoping to devote a little more time to this project over the next few weeks.

In my case, running Wheezy, the drivers needed for my Ralink USB dongle are not in the kernel. This requires manual installation of the firmware package, and then manual configuration of the interface. It's not difficult, and in my case very well documented on the Debian Wiki.

t3ch42 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well, webmin is helpful and would allow most of
> the configuration I would need to do, but I didn't
> see any way to automate the WiFi side. I haven't
> found a WiFi module for webmin yet.
> I found a thread that was a few years old by
> [url=http://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,6300,6408#
> msg-6408]pazos[/url] that seemed pretty relevant.
>
> The problem I find is the initial setup. If there
> isn't a Ethernet cable connected, I don't have
> access. I'd like to plug it in, have it start
> broadcasting a WiFi signal and allow a user to
> connect to the AP. They can then use a webpage
> with basic config capabilities to set the network
> config, AP, bridge, etc. At this point, webmin
> would be available as well and could be a link on
> the initial webpage.
> Hoping to devote a little more time to this
> project over the next few weeks.

Hi there, i havent had much time to play on the computer and work has kept me very busy of late. or action for that matter the brillian suggestion of DC to set up a public dropbox.

i can amend the image i have to broadcast an open wifi lan if needed.
you would need to modify the rc.local script afterwards. or i could set it to trigger from a script run from the rc.local or create it as a service that you could then modify from within webmin. however as to a fully functioning webmin plugin, i dont think i have time to do that right now.

Gravelrash