Finding a working Wi-Fi USB dongle

[Sam76]

Hi,
I'm working on a project where I need a dual-band 2.4/5GHz Wi-Fi dongle with monitor mode support. I have done extensive googling to find a dongle that is dual band, supports monitor mode, can be powered by the RPi (many 802.11ac dongles require too much power and needs a separate USB hub, so I have already thrown away two of those) and also comes with a Linux driver. The latest failed attempt was to buy an ASUS N-53 dongle which according to all forum threads I found should be a bullet proof solution.
This is what lsusb and dsmeg output looks like:

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pi@raspberrypi /usr/Sam $ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0b05:180b ASUSTek Computer, Inc.

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pi@raspberrypi /usr/Sam $ dmesg
[  402.181336] usb 1-1.5: new high-speed USB device number 5 using dwc_otg
[  402.283236] usb 1-1.5: New USB device found, idVendor=0b05, idProduct=180b
[  402.283280] usb 1-1.5: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2,SerialNumber=3
[  402.283301] usb 1-1.5: Product: 802.11ac WLAN
[  402.283319] usb 1-1.5: Manufacturer: MediaTek Inc.
[  402.283336] usb 1-1.5: SerialNumber: 000000000

After some more googling, I found out that the N-53 dongle might be a completely different one than what I was looking for (this guy has the exact same issue https://github.com/kuba-moo/mt7601u/issues/24). There are also threads where people seem to have got at least a driver installed but it still fails (viewtopic.php?f=28&t=101991).

I'm quite fed up wasting money and time on the wrong hardware, and given what I see on other forum threads on this topic there's a lot of other people in the same situation. What I wonder is this:

1. Does anyone know if there is a Linux driver that works with the ASUS MediaTek N-53 dongle I have here now (on an RPi B+)? I'm running Raspbian (just upgraded to the latest version).
2. If not, could someone give a specific advice on what kind of dongle I could use? Doesn't matter if it's 802.11ac capable as long as it's dual-band. I already have all links to all pages listing all dongles that should work, so I really wonder if someone has actually tested something and can point at a specific product?

Help on this would be very appreciated.

Cheers!
Sam

[W. H. Heydt]

It's very likely that any dongle that "comes with a Linux driver" will come will an x86 binary driver and you'll have to get the source and recompile it for the Pi.

[MrEngman]

I have drivers available for download from Dropbox. From the output you show from command lsusb it would appear your wifi is an ASUS N53 B1 which uses the mt7612 driver.

Using my standard naming format you can download and install a driver using

wget https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/80256631/mt7612-kernel-build.tar.gz
tar xzf mt7612-kernel-build.tar.gz
./install.sh

replacing kernel and build with the values from the command uname -a.

As an example for a Pi 2 B using raspbian 4.1.18-v7+ #845 use commands

wget https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/80256631/mt7612-4.1.18-v7-845.tar.gz
tar xzf mt7612-4.1.18-v7-845.tar.gz
./install.sh

For the Pi A/A+/B/B+ the kernel version will not have -v7 like

wget https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/80256631/mt7612-4.1.18-845.tar.gz
tar xzf mt7612-4.1.18-845.tar.gz
./install.sh

I also have a script which will automatically download the right driver if it is available for the wifi module and raspbian kernel version you use. You can download and install the script using commands

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wget https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/80256631/install-wifi.tar.gz
tar xzf install-wifi.tar.gz

Run command ./install-wifi -h to get the info how to use it.


MrEngman

[Sam76]

Thanks a lot for replies. I tried running the script from MrEngman but I get the error shown below. And the USB dongle still doesn't pop up. Suggestions?

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pi@raspberrypi /usr/Sam $ ./install-wifi

Your current kernel revision = 4.1.13+
Your current kernel build    = #826

Checking for a wifi module to determine the driver to install.

Your wifi module is Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0b05:180b ASUSTek Computer, Inc.

And it uses the mt7612 driver.

Checking for a new mt7612 wifi driver module for your current kernel.
There is a driver module available for this kernel revision.
Downloading the mt7612 driver.
Installing the mt7612 driver.

Error: could not insert module mt7662u_sta.ko: Unknown symbol in module

[ghodan]

So monitor mode is necessary for pen-testing/hacking purpose?
If yes: Better focus on a good 2.4ghz dongle as 5ghz range is short (So you have to be to close to your target)

[MrEngman]

Thanks a lot for replies. I tried running the script from MrEngman but I get the error shown below. And the USB dongle still doesn't pop up. Suggestions?

Code: Select all

pi@raspberrypi /usr/Sam $ ./install-wifi

Your current kernel revision = 4.1.13+
Your current kernel build    = #826

Checking for a wifi module to determine the driver to install.

Your wifi module is Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0b05:180b ASUSTek Computer, Inc.

And it uses the mt7612 driver.

Checking for a new mt7612 wifi driver module for your current kernel.
There is a driver module available for this kernel revision.
Downloading the mt7612 driver.
Installing the mt7612 driver.

Error: could not insert module mt7662u_sta.ko: Unknown symbol in module

Did you try rebooting after installing the driver?

The driver needs some additional modules loading and if they are not running when you install the driver using the script you can get that error. Must edit the script to make that point.



MrEngman

[Sam76]

Works! You're the BOSS!

[Sam76]

Hi,
One more question. Trying to set this Wi-Fi dongle in monitor mode. I get this error message:

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wlan0           AR9001/9002/9271        usb - [phy0]mon0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device

Does this mean the dongle doesn't support monitor mode or is this something fixable?

Cheers!
Sam

[ubuntubhoy]

MrEngman is yourdropbox driver list still posted and upto date?
I am trying to get this USB adapter working with the Google AIY version of Raspbian which reports a version of :-
Linux raspberrypi 4.9.24-v7+ #993 SMP Wed Apr 26 18:01:23 BST 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux
When I try and wget your drivers I am just getting a 404

[MrEngman]

MrEngman is yourdropbox driver list still posted and upto date?
I am trying to get this USB adapter working with the Google AIY version of Raspbian which reports a version of :-
Linux raspberrypi 4.9.24-v7+ #993 SMP Wed Apr 26 18:01:23 BST 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux
When I try and wget your drivers I am just getting a 404

Dropbox have made a major change to their web site and its really screwed things up. Really annoying to say the least.

I have moved some of the drivers to a new site. You will need to download and install a new script to use the new site.

Download and install the new version of the script with commands

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sudo wget http://www.fars-robotics.net/install-wifi -O /usr/bin/install-wifi
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/install-wifi

The command

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sudo install-wifi -h

will show details on using it.

This should let you get the driver you need.



MrEngman

[ubuntubhoy]

MrEngman is yourdropbox driver list still posted and upto date?
I am trying to get this USB adapter working with the Google AIY version of Raspbian which reports a version of :-
Linux raspberrypi 4.9.24-v7+ #993 SMP Wed Apr 26 18:01:23 BST 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux
When I try and wget your drivers I am just getting a 404

Dropbox have made a major change to their web site and its really screwed things up. Really annoying to say the least.

I have moved some of the drivers to a new site. You will need to download and install a new script to use the new site.

Download and install the new version of the script with commands

Code: Select all

sudo wget http://www.fars-robotics.net/install-wifi -O /usr/bin/install-wifi
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/install-wifi

The command

Code: Select all

sudo install-wifi -h

will show details on using it.

This should let you get the driver you need.



MrEngman

Thanks for both the really quick reply and the resources. Hopefully I will be able to set it up later tonight.

[jb2002]

Hi,
it is a great script an it works on my PI perfectly.
It detect the right USB modul, but it finds no Driver to install.......


The Output of your script is:

*** Raspberry Pi wifi driver installer by MrEngman.
*** Performing self-update
*** Relaunching after update

*** Raspberry Pi wifi driver installer by MrEngman.

Your current kernel revision = 4.9.35-v7+
Your current kernel build = #1014

Checking for a wifi module to determine the driver to install.

Your wifi module is Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0e8d:7612 MediaTek Inc.

And it uses the mt7612 driver.

Checking for a new mt7612 wifi driver module for your current kernel.
A driver does not yet exist for this update.


Can you help me finding a Driver?

Thank you yery much in advice !

jb2002

[MrEngman]

Hi jb2002,

Sorry to say but I haven't been able to get the mt7612 wifi driver I compile to work with kernel 4.9.xx. I've tried several different source codes but they all behave the same. I've been meaning to try and sort out why it doesn't work but just haven't got round to it yet.

[jb2002]

Hi, thank you for your answer. Is this only a Problem with kernel 4.9.x.x? What about kernel 4.10 like in Debian stretch? What is a good Chipset for raspberry and wlan usb stick

Thank you very much in advice

Best regards
Jb2002