How do I use a USB dongle for Wifi?

[La Zorra]

I have a raspberry Pi 3 B+ and I would like to use the on-board wifi as an Access Point (AP) and the Realtek USB wifi dongle to connect to my home network.  I am using Openplotter 3.  On the previous version of openplotter, I had no problem achieving this and I am using the same dongle and Pi. 

On Openplotter 3, I can connect to my home network with the on-board wifi without issue and create an AP without issue.  When I create an on-board access-point and select the wifi selection drop-down menu, it says "no wireless interfaces found" so I do not have a way to connect to my home wifi with the USB dongle.

The Real-tek drivers are installed and when I run iwconfig I can see both the on-board wifi and the dongle.

I followed the instructions in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM2kAnITNyE

and I was able to get the dongle to connect to the internet but only while an AP was not enabled.  The moment I enter into the Network app of Openplotter and create an AP, it puts me back to just an Access Point and "No wireless interfaces found". 

Is there an easy way to do this?  Thank you for any help.

[holgerw]

try changing AP Tap to external WLAN Adapter. Then click on the pencil and set the right Box. it will reboot on clicking the sdcard button.

[La Zorra]

try changing AP Tap to external WLAN Adapter. Then click on the pencil and set the right Box. it will reboot on clicking the sdcard button.

AP Tab? I only see "on board" and "AP and station" on that tab.  Is there something I am missing?

Thank you for your reply!

[holgerw]

Hello LAZORRA

It seems your WLAN-Stick is not fully supported as an AccesPoint. For an rpi also it is not stable to use the internal wifi as WLAN-Client and make an own AccesPort simultan. After installing an little WLAN-Router onboard and use it only as Client, my Preformance was much better with no Errors or Offline Periods. These LTE-Routers got really cheap (€50-60), often you get them together with an monthly LTE unlimited Plan here in Europe for under 15€.

Otherwise try an updated Driver for your USB-Adapter with better AP Support. But be warned, an little external Router will save you much Trouble and Delays - acting as AP-Router your pi3 will slow down. And most Routers are also capable to do Firewalling and 5G for free and all Boat-Devices have an stable Internet even if your Pi is rebooting.

Good Luck - Holger

PS: found an URL abot the various USB-WLAN Adaptors: https://elinux.org/RPi_USB_Wi-Fi_Adapters

[La Zorra]

Hello LAZORRA

It seems your WLAN-Stick is not fully supported as an AccesPoint. For an rpi also it is not stable to use the internal wifi as WLAN-Client and make an own AccesPort simultan. After installing an little WLAN-Router onboard and use it only as Client, my Preformance was much better with no Errors or Offline Periods. These LTE-Routers got really cheap (€50-60), often you get them together with an monthly LTE unlimited Plan here in Europe for under 15€.

Otherwise try an updated Driver for your USB-Adapter with better AP Support. But be warned, an little external Router will save you much Trouble and Delays - acting as AP-Router your pi3 will slow down. And most Routers are also capable to do Firewalling and 5G for free and all Boat-Devices have an stable Internet even if your Pi is rebooting.

Good Luck - Holger

PS: found an URL abot the various USB-WLAN Adaptors: https://elinux.org/RPi_USB_Wi-Fi_Adapters

I would like to use the "on board" wifi as an AP and then use my USB dongle to connect to the internet (home network or at the dock). I have used this set-up on Openplotter 2 for the past couple of years on my boat and never had stability or connectivity issues.  I appreciate your suggestion for a router as a connection point for my devices but for me I would rather not add another piece of equipment to my boat when previously it was working well.

Is there a way to modify the configuration file for the openplotter network app to setup wlan1 as a client when wlan9 is an AP?  I am looking through this folder but would like some assistance:
/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/openplotterNetwork/Network

Thank you for your help! I hope I can get this working with Openplotter 3! :-)

[baltika_no_9]

Hello LAZORRA

It seems your WLAN-Stick is not fully supported as an AccesPoint. For an rpi also it is not stable to use the internal wifi as WLAN-Client and make an own AccesPort simultan. After installing an little WLAN-Router onboard and use it only as Client, my Preformance was much better with no Errors or Offline Periods. These LTE-Routers got really cheap (€50-60), often you get them together with an monthly LTE unlimited Plan here in Europe for under 15€.

Otherwise try an updated Driver for your USB-Adapter with better AP Support. But be warned, an little external Router will save you much Trouble and Delays - acting as AP-Router your pi3 will slow down. And most Routers are also capable to do Firewalling and 5G for free and all Boat-Devices have an stable Internet even if your Pi is rebooting.

Good Luck - Holger

PS: found an URL abot the various USB-WLAN Adaptors: https://elinux.org/RPi_USB_Wi-Fi_Adapters

I would like to use the "on board" wifi as an AP and then use my USB dongle to connect to the internet (home network or at the dock). I have used this set-up on Openplotter 2 for the past couple of years on my boat and never had stability or connectivity issues.  I appreciate your suggestion for a router as a connection point for my devices but for me I would rather not add another piece of equipment to my boat when previously it was working well.

Is there a way to modify the configuration file for the openplotter network app to setup wlan1 as a client when wlan9 is an AP?  I am looking through this folder but would like some assistance:
/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/openplotterNetwork/Network

Thank you for your help! I hope I can get this working with Openplotter 3! :-)

Realtek devices are not well supported and until that changes I would avoid them

 I strongly recommend using a dongle with the Ralink RT5370 chipset. They work with pi 3/4, Op2/3 out of the box. I use it on multiple systems exactly in the way you are looking for. If you like, send me your address (pm) and I'll let you borrow one to try it out.

Here is my output. USB dongle is connected to my router giving external access. It is designated as wlan1. the onboard wifi chip is serving as the AP. This is with OpenPlotter 3 on a Pi 3 B+.

[baltika_no_9]

Hi La Zorra

How are you getting on with this problem?

[La Zorra]

Hi La Zorra

How are you getting on with this problem?

I ordered a Ralink RT5370 dongle which should be arriving tomorrow.  I will give that a go and report back here with what I am finding.  I am hoping it is plug and play.   Thank you for the very generous offer to send me a dongle, I highly appreciate that! 

It may take me a couple weeks to report back as my family has some upcoming travel plans but I will report back ASAP.

Cheers and thank you!

---

Hi La Zorra

How are you getting on with this problem?

I ordered a Ralink RT5370 dongle which should be arriving tomorrow.  I will give that a go and report back here with what I am finding.  I am hoping it is plug and play.   Thank you for the very generous offer to send me a dongle, I highly appreciate that! 

It may take me a couple weeks to report back as my family has some upcoming travel plans but I will report back ASAP.

Cheers and thank you!

I reloaded Openplotter 2 on my pi and the Realtek dongle works without issue. Same exact hardware that I am using on Openplotter 3.  See the included images. 

Will this possibly be rectified in the future for Openplotter 3 so that Realtek works again? Or should the manual be updated to say that Realtek is no longer supported to save future hassle of other users? 

I appreciate all the hard work of the Openplotter coders, please know that I am grateful, thank you!

[baltika_no_9]

La Zorra

I don't think this is something that Openplotter can fix. The problem is in the underlying Operating System. OP2 is built on Buster but OP3 is built on Bullseye. I strongly suspect that the Realtek compatibility issue is to do with Bullseye at a much lower level than the OP3 application.