MiSTer FPGA Forum

For some time I've been using a Canakit USB WiFi adapter on my MiSTer.

The Canakit adapter worked fine, but it operates only on the 2.4GHz band, so it was prone to losing its connection whenever the microwave was in use.

I shopped around for a USB WiFi adapter that was dual-band, and found the "TP-Link Nano AC600 USB Wifi Adapter(Archer T2U Nano)" (available on Amazon).

It worked out of the box with zero setup. There was nothing to do but "stick it in", and it found my 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks with no issues. I entered my 5GHz network password at the prompt, and was magically connected. No drivers to install, no trouble-shooting, no hassle, no time lost.

I mention this because this WiFi adapter is not listed at https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_Mi ... WiFi-setup, and because someone might find this useful.

Happy gaming!

This one? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PB1X4CN

Yep.

A little off-topic, but if your microwave is leaking badly enough to disconnect your 2.4GHz clients it may be time to buy a new microwave! I had this problem with my last oven, manifesting in the Echo in my kitchen stopping playing radio/music whenever I used it

WiteWulf wrote: ↑Wed Jun 09, 2021 11:54 am A little off-topic, but if your microwave is leaking badly enough to disconnect your 2.4GHz clients it may be time to buy a new microwave! I had this problem with my last oven, manifesting in the Echo in my kitchen stopping playing radio/music whenever I used it

It can also be bad wiring in the house. Some houses/apartments have aluminum wires instead of copper which can cause all sorts of problems.

AnotherGamer wrote: ↑Tue Jun 08, 2021 10:27 pm For some time I've been using a Canakit USB WiFi adapter on my MiSTer.

The Canakit adapter worked fine, but it operates only on the 2.4GHz band, so it was prone to losing its connection whenever the microwave was in use.

I shopped around for a USB WiFi adapter that was dual-band, and found the "TP-Link Nano AC600 USB Wifi Adapter(Archer T2U Nano)" (available on Amazon).

It worked out of the box with zero setup. There was nothing to do but "stick it in", and it found my 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks with no issues. I entered my 5GHz network password at the prompt, and was magically connected. No drivers to install, no trouble-shooting, no hassle, no time lost.

I mention this because this WiFi adapter is not listed at https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_Mi ... WiFi-setup, and because someone might find this useful.

Happy gaming!

Hello,

So I had a read of this thread and decided to order this adapter (TP-Link Archer T2U Nano) from Amazon UK.

I wanted a nano sized adapter that ideally supported 5ghz. I've actually already got an ASUS AC-53 Nano, which is basically the same as an Edimax EW-7822ULC (based on RTL8812BU chipset), this is supposed to support 2.4ghz and 5ghz.

However, i've had nothing but problems with the AC-53 when using a combined SSID for 2.4ghz and 5ghz. Right now i'm not in a position to split them. Anyway, even if I temporarily disable 2.4ghz or 5ghz on the router to make it easier for the adapter to negotiate, the adapter does not reliably connect and it also gets ridiculously hot when you remove it. To be fair, this TP-Link one probably gets just as hot. I have an older 2.4ghz dongle (which is rather large) based on a Mediatek chipset and this works absolutely fine, but I want to tidy up the MiSTer yet retain a permanent network connection via WiFi. Wired is not an option right now.

So, i've been having a look for an alternative (as I want a small nano adapter which works) - hence why I picked up this one to try.

However, I do not have the same experience as the op in terms of a seamless experience. It connects first time every time, but only to the 2.4ghz band. If I run 'iwconfig' in the console, it only connects at 72mbps. This isn't an SSID issue btw - if I run 'iwlist freq' in the console, it actually only returns 2.4ghz channels. If the device supports 5ghz it should display some of the 5ghz channels here. When I plug in my temperamental ASUS AC-53, at least it shows both 2.4 and 5ghz channels when running this command.

So, I temporarily disabled 2.4ghz on my router, and now on the MiSTer I can no longer see the network at all, further proving that 5ghz isn't working with this adapter on the MiSTer (for me at least).

If I plug the adapter into Windows, 5ghz works fine so there is no hardware problem.

You mention in the original post that you were able to connect to your 5ghz network with this adapter - my adapter doesn't even seem to be able to scan 5ghz networks (when using the MiSTer).

If you drop to the console view (F9) on your MiSTer and run:

iwlist freq

do you see 5ghz channels? If you run 'iwconfig' does it state you are connected to 5ghz at AC speeds?

Final one, if you run 'lshw -C network', what driver is yours using? I believe it would be RTL8821AU.

If so I wonder how our adapters or setups differ, because 5ghz is a non-starter for me. My testing is on a fresh MiSTer install with a full run through of the update_all script, so it is very clean.

Thanks!

@aberu - just realised from another thread that you are/were using this adapter also (USB ID 2357:011e).

If you have a free moment, would you at all mind running 'iwlist freq' at the console to see if the 5ghz channels are listed? And perhaps also 'lshw -C network' and see what driver is in use (should be RTL8821AU).

Just trying to work out why on earth mine does not see 5ghz networks (Windows is fine though so hardware seems ok). I have the country correctly specified in my wpa_supplicant.conf, so it shouldn't be a regulatory thing. Also the ASUS I am replacing can see 5ghz networks on the same setup, although that dongle is too temperamental to use, hence why i've replaced it with this TP-Link one.

Kitrinx on Discord was kindly going to have a look and check for me, but hasn't had any luck locating the adapter.

Thanks!

Hi, I bought the very same adapter based off feedback from here saying it works plug and play.

I had no problems scanning my 2.4 and 5ghz networks.
However, when I configure the wifi using the wifi script or manually by editing wpa_supplicant.conf file to connect to an SSID that contains a space in it, it will fail to connect. SSIDs without a space work without any problem on both 2.4/5ghz bands

wpa_supplicant.conf looks like this:

network={
ssid="WIFI NAME"
psk="PASSWORD"
}

I've also tried using without speechmarks and using "\" as an escape character such as "WIFI\ NAME"

Does anyone have any other ideas, as I don't want to stand up a separate SSID just for my Mister.

try with apostrophes

ssid = 'WIFI NAME'


hope it helps

I use the ac600 nano archer t2u and it does not see my routers 5ghz band. I have a top of the line asus wifi 6 router and 1ghz internet connection. Has mister fpga dropped aupport for 5ghz?

I've just bought a TP-Link AC600 nano archer t2u, and I can confirm it only works on 2.4GHz on my MiSTer as well.
I've ran a few console commands: only 2.4GHz frequencies and channels appear as available, and the driver in use is indeed RTL8821AU.
Not sure if there's a way of enabling the 5GHz freqs with this driver on MiSTer, will do some tests on a Linux desktop

brownharris561 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 07, 2022 12:40 pm Does any cheaper option available? 2.4Ghz is enough for me.

Yes plenty of options for 2.4GHz dongles, prices usually in the range 6-10$ depending on where you live/purchase from
Have a look here: viewtopic.php?t=407