Hi all, I have a solution that will work straight out of the box. The only requirement to successfully enable wireless, is that you have sufficient knowledge to login to your RuneAudio device. It will not involve any editing of configuration files in Linux, as I know that can be quite a difficult task for those who have little or no experience with Unix-based systems.
I am a bit reluctant to post the full instructions for wireless, since
booting RuneAudio without a functioning ethernet connection will delete your MPD database. Running wireless only, without first booting with the network cable attached, will not let you mount any network drives. The moral is that the network cable needs to be connected while booting RuneAudio.
This is beta software, and you should not stress about this at all. The project is great, and its prospects are greater. With the proper warnings, you should be able to decide on your own whether or not to use this solution. Should you happen to boot RuneAudio without an ethernet connection (wifi enabled or not), the same thing will happen.
I intend to make this understandable for anyone who can SSH into their Raspberry Pi. If it seems like spoon feeding, that's because it is spoon feeding.
Preferred solution:This is what you should do
the first time you want to use Wi-Fi:
- Always boot RuneAudio with the network cable connected.
- Always connect your wireless network card before booting RuneAudio.
- The first time you want to setup Wi-Fi, login to your RuneAudio (e.g. using SSH) device and run the command 'wifi-menu -o', without the quotes. The '-o' part is for safety, since this will produce a Wi-Fi profile. Without the '-o', you will have your Wi-Fi password saved in plain text. This might not bother you at all, but since it has no other effect I would recommend that you add those two extra characters this one time only.
- You will get a (text based) menu allowing you to choose your network by using the arrow keys on your keyboard, and input the password.
- Select the appropriate network and type in the password.
- Your RuneAudio device should now be connected to the wireless network. You can detach the network cable and you should still be up and running (with another IP address, of course).
- By following these steps, you have automatically created a network profile. Now you need to know the name of your profile, which is explained below.
What just happened, and where do I go from here?From now on, you don't have to use the 'wifi-menu' command anymore. You will just need to use the network profile to connect to Wi-Fi.
Now, this was for the first connection to the wireless network. For all consecutive reboots, it will be a bit different. After running the command 'wifi-menu -o' a network profile will be created. This is how you will know what it's called:
- After logging into your RuneAudio device (maybe you're already logged in after following the instructions above), you need to run the following command, again without the quotes:
- 'ls /etc/netctl'
- This will give you a list of files that reside in the folder /etc/netctl, which also is the list of your network profiles.
- How do you know which one of the profiles to look for? It will contain the name of your wireless network, as well as what's called a device name. The device name is simply the Linux name for your wireless network card.
- If your network name is "MyWireless", the profile name will most likely be "wlan0-MyWireless". It could be something different, but "MyWireless" will always appear in the profile name.
- Make a note of the profile name, as it will be needed for the next steps.
Use the network profile for Wi-Fi connections:To avoid any problems, remember the advice about (for now, until newer releases that support wireless are made available) always using the network cable when booting RuneAudio. Here are the three steps needed to enable Wi-Fi:
- Connect the network cable, start your RuneAudio device.
- Login to the RuneAudio device.
- Assuming (as in the example above) that your profile name is "wlan0-MyWireless", issue the following command without the surrounding quotes:
- 'netctl start wlan0-MyWireless'
- That's all you should need to connect to the wireless network, and you can disconnect the network cable.
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Now this is where the instructions should end, to make sure you don't delete your music database. Keeping in mind that you won't actually harm anything else, that no music will be deleted, nor any settings, there is one more thing you could do. That is to make this setting "stick" between reboots, to not have to do the 'netctl start wlan0-MyWireless" command every time and just get connected to Wi-Fi automagically.
I strongly suggest that you refrain from doing this, all disclaimers you can think of apply here. The only way I can be held responsible for any problems is if a two-headed dragon eats your bran-flakes and loses 30 pounds along with the ability to breathe fire.
In order to connect to the wireless network automagically, again assuming that your network profile is called "wlan0-MyWireless", you need to do the following:
- Boot your Raspberry Pi with both the network cable and the wireless network card attached.
- Login to your Raspberry Pi and issue the following command (without the qoutes):
- 'netctl enable wlan0-MyWireless'
Also, be sure to call me if an anorectic, smoke-blowing, constipated two-headed dragon complains that you're out of extra soft three-ply toilet paper.