The output of lsusb is: Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:8178
I see it is loading the rtl8192cu module, but I see on the dmesg output:
[ 43.572442] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
[ 46.732703] cfg80211: Exceeded CRDA call max attempts. Not calling CRDA
CRDA isn’t critical to operation. I think the module that’s in the kernel is busted, but I’ll have to look into it. I think I have a 8192CU dongle lying around here somewhere.
EDIT 2:
Scratch the last edit. Firmware is also installed. Please try this:
$ sudo su
# vi /etc/init.d/S81hostapd
Find a line that says -- -B -P $HOSTAPD_PID $HOSTAPD_CONF and edit it (press i to start editing), and make it look like this:
-- -d -B -P $HOSTAPD_PID $HOSTAPD_CONF
Then press Esc : w q to save and exit. Restart hostapd with:
# service hostapd restart
Copy the output after running that command and pastebin it.
I’ve just tried 8192cu dongle (Edimax) I have here. The result is as follows:
> sudo service hostapd restart
Password:
Stopping hostapd: FAIL
Starting hostapd: Configuration file: /etc/hostapd.conf
nl80211: Driver does not support authentication/association or connect commands
nl80211: deinit ifname=wlan0 disabled_11b_rates=0
nl80211 driver initialization failed.
wlan0: interface state UNINITIALIZED->DISABLED
wlan0: AP-DISABLED
hostapd_free_hapd_data: Interface wlan0 wasn't started
FAIL
It appears that the driver (one that comes with the kernel) does not support AP mode. I’ve heard of an alternative driver that might support the ml80211 management commands, but not sure whether it actually works, and whether we’ll be able to include it in ORx.
On further read, it appears that we not only need a separate driver for rt8192cu, but also a separate version of hostapd that supports this chipset. It will be very difficult to support this if it breaks the other chipsets.
I think I’ve got it working. There are two common Realtek dongles (that I know of). One is RTL8188CUS (most notably Edimax), and another is RT8192CU (like yours). The latter seems to work with the fixes I’ve made, and the former won’t even be recognized with the fixes (but that’s fine cause it wouldn’t work in AP mode anyway).
The fix involves patching hostapd with patches from pritambaral, which enables the use of rtl871xdrv driver in addition to nl80211 (the part where it’s ‘in addition to’ is critical, since this allows previously working dongles to continue working). Another bit is the addition of Realtek’s vendor drivers for the RT8192CU chips which comes from dz0ny.
Unfortunately, hostapd’s rtl871xdrv driver is not selected automatically, so manual intervention is needed. To activate this driver, you need to edit /etc/hostapd.conf file and add a following line:
Thanks for looking in to this. I downloaded and installed the new image rc1.
It looks like the image does not include the rt8192cu module. I looked under: /lib/modules/4.1.12/kernel/drivers/net/wireless>
and it is no longer there.The device wlan0 is not created and hostapd fails to load because of that. I followed the links, but it does not look like I could do anything that was listed there. I think the image already include those patches. Am I missing something?
EDIT: Ah darn, it looks like I did botch the install, and the dongle I was testing is not actually rt8192cu so of course it works. Tho I also noticed the driver isn’t very friendly to what we’re doing so might not work out. Plus I see reports form people for whom the driver did not work at all. I’ll try with stock kernel driver in combination with Realtek-enabled hostapd, and let’s see where that takes us.
EDIT 2: One of the Realtek dongles I could never get working before works with the in-kernel driver, so this is promising. I’m doing a clean rebuild of the image and will upload soon.
I am happy to report that the latest image work as expected! I can see and connect to the outernet hotspot! Here is the output of my dmesg: http://pastebin.com/F4iFeQ2X
