My pcie wifi card is an orphan! ('unclaimed')

[Bullwinkle]

I've tried to install an ASUS PCIe wifi card in my box (for connecting to my tablet). It's based on the Realtek 8812AE chip. Golden Ears sees the chip when I enter

sudo lshw -class network

but says it is "unclaimed" (unlike the wired ethernet chips). I take this to mean no driver has "attached" to the card.

I have tried to load a driver running the install.sh program on the ASUS cd included with the card, and also by editing source.list and then using apt-get to tap online versions of the driver, but get the same lack of cooperation I saw using the ASUS cd.

Any advice? Thanks for considering this.

[agent_kith]

I've tried to install an ASUS PCIe wifi card in my box (for connecting to my tablet). It's based on the Realtek 8812AE chip. Golden Ears sees the chip when I enter

sudo lshw -class network

but says it is "unclaimed" (unlike the wired ethernet chips). I take this to mean no driver has "attached" to the card.

I have tried to load a driver running the install.sh program on the ASUS cd included with the card, and also by editing source.list and then using apt-get to tap online versions of the driver, but get the same lack of cooperation I saw using the ASUS cd.

Any advice? Thanks for considering this.

I'd build a new custom kernel for you. But as you can see from the Snakeoil OS WebApp there is no place for you to enter the Wifi password (Yet!). So you'd need to install wpa_supplicant manually and then hop on to the WAP.

Will start from the first step I guess - get the kernel to support your card. Then work from there.

[Bullwinkle]

I've tried to install an ASUS PCIe wifi card in my box (for connecting to my tablet). It's based on the Realtek 8812AE chip. Golden Ears sees the chip when I enter

sudo lshw -class network

but says it is "unclaimed" (unlike the wired ethernet chips). I take this to mean no driver has "attached" to the card.

I have tried to load a driver running the install.sh program on the ASUS cd included with the card, and also by editing source.list and then using apt-get to tap online versions of the driver, but get the same lack of cooperation I saw using the ASUS cd.

Any advice? Thanks for considering this.

I'd build a new custom kernel for you. But as you can see from the Snakeoil OS WebApp there is no place for you to enter the Wifi password (Yet!). So you'd need to install wpa_supplicant manually and then hop on to the WAP.

Will start from the first step I guess - get the kernel to support your card. Then work from there.   

Agent Kith, perhaps I should just purchase a card that's already supported by the kernel. I hate having you handcraft custom kernels for my benefit. You already did this once for my megaraid scsi, and perhaps it would be best if my kernel doesn't wander too far from the stock kernels, so that future upgrades will be simpler.

Online I notice that linux users seem to like cards based on the atheros chips that are supported by the ath9k driver, and I noticed that snakeoil support for that was resolved last year. If Golden Ears already supports that, there is a $30 card on Amazon liked by linux users. I am happy to buy it, assuming it's the right piece of hardware. It's not like we're talking about a new DAC or something like that.

[agent_kith]

Agent Kith, perhaps I should just purchase a card that's already supported by the kernel. I hate having you handcraft custom kernels for my benefit. You already did this once for my megaraid scsi, and perhaps it would be best if my kernel doesn't wander too far from the stock kernels, so that future upgrades will be simpler.

Online I notice that linux users seem to like cards based on the atheros chips that are supported by the ath9k driver, and I noticed that snakeoil support for that was resolved last year. If Golden Ears already supports that, there is a $30 card on Amazon liked by linux users. I am happy to buy it, assuming it's the right piece of hardware. It's not like we're talking about a new DAC or something like that. 

Not a big problem as it's more or less automated anyway. But setting up wpa_supplicant will have to be done manually. If you prefer, you can get a good NIC, and then connect that to a WAP to get wireless.

The main reason why we don't do Wifi is because somehow, subjectively we believe that degrades the sound quality (Hey we don't call this Snakeoil OS if we don't make some outrageous claims!!)

If you want to get a network card. Get something from Intel (preferably PCI-e). Anything that works with E1000 (PCI) or E1000E (PCI-e) will work out of the box. For whatever reason I just feel these Intel cards sound better over Atheros and Realtek.

So the megaraid kernel works fine now? If yes, I'd publish this kernel into the official thread.

[Bullwinkle]

Agent Kith, perhaps I should just purchase a card that's already supported by the kernel. I hate having you handcraft custom kernels for my benefit. You already did this once for my megaraid scsi, and perhaps it would be best if my kernel doesn't wander too far from the stock kernels, so that future upgrades will be simpler.

Online I notice that linux users seem to like cards based on the atheros chips that are supported by the ath9k driver, and I noticed that snakeoil support for that was resolved last year. If Golden Ears already supports that, there is a $30 card on Amazon liked by linux users. I am happy to buy it, assuming it's the right piece of hardware. It's not like we're talking about a new DAC or something like that. 

Not a big problem as it's more or less automated anyway. But setting up wpa_supplicant will have to be done manually. If you prefer, you can get a good NIC, and then connect that to a WAP to get wireless.

The main reason why we don't do Wifi is because somehow, subjectively we believe that degrades the sound quality (Hey we don't call this Snakeoil OS if we don't make some outrageous claims!!)

If you want to get a network card. Get something from Intel (preferably PCI-e). Anything that works with E1000 (PCI) or E1000E (PCI-e) will work out of the box. For whatever reason I just feel these Intel cards sound better over Atheros and Realtek.

So the megaraid kernel works fine now? If yes, I'd publish this kernel into the official thread. 

I'm still modding the server with new cooling and new power... and busy with work... so I haven't put snakeoil through any audio tests. Best to wait for an official post. I am about to go to the UK for 10 days on business too, so much of this needs to wait until early July anyway. So relax.

I'm just thinking that I need the wifi to connect to my tablet for music servers like Logitech. My plan was to run a USB connection to my DAC... I have a JCAT USB femto card in the server for that and assume that is well-supported by snakeoil.

[agent_kith]

I'm still modding the server with new cooling and new power... and busy with work... so I haven't put snakeoil through any audio tests. Best to wait for an official post. I am about to go to the UK for 10 days on business too, so much of this needs to wait until early July anyway. So relax.

Man, would love to see your worklog on that .

I'm just thinking that I need the wifi to connect to my tablet for music servers like Logitech. My plan was to run a USB connection to my DAC... I have a JCAT USB femto card in the server for that and assume that is well-supported by snakeoil. 

The best design IMO is to connect your music server directly to the network via wired. And if you are using a router with WIFI, that means you can already control your music server wirelessly on the tablet (because your wireless tablet should also be able to see the wired music server)...

[Bullwinkle]

The best design IMO is to connect your music server directly to the network via wired. And if you are using a router with WIFI, that means you can already control your music server wirelessly on the tablet (because your wireless tablet should also be able to see the wired music server)...

Yes, that makes perfect sense and the tablet already sees the server (which has two Broadcom NICs and is indeed already hardwired to my router) just fine. I just misunderstood your "recommended hardware" list. Don't worry about customizing my already custom kernel for that wifi card: With my misunderstanding removed, I see I don't need it. I can use that wifi card for something else.

Thanks for your help!