Configuring the WIFI chipset rtl8188cu

Building Linux sunxi with WIFI Realtek support

The first step to configure the wifi module is to load a driver support this chipset. There is a legacy driver called 8188cu.ko and other newer called rtl8192cu.ko. This driver support both chiptsets rtl8192cu and rtl8188cu, but it is necessary a firmware to work.

Before doing these steps, first test if there is already WIFI Realtek support in Linux board:

modprobe rtl8192cu (linux board)

If the message is: modprobe: FATAL: Module rtl8192cu not found, do next steps. If no, go to section Configuring the interface.

Warning: this step is to be done on PC! You can enable the driver in kernel config:

Device Drivers --> [*] Network device support -->[*] Wireless LAN --> <M> Realtek RTL8192CU/RTL8188CU USB Wireless Network Adapter

Now compile the kernel with Realtek support enabled. You could read: Compiling linux for sunxi.

You can also download the source code RTL8192CU and build it manually. For the Wifi works it is necessary to have the firmware rtl8192cufw.bin. In the Debian repo there is the package firmware-realtek that contains the firmware. Download here debian-repo and tranfer to uSD or media used and install it:

dpkg -i firmware-realtek

In my case (Debian 6), even installing the package firmware-realtek, rtl8192cufw.bin was not present. Verify the /lib/firmware/rtlwifi and look for it. If this is your case, download here rtl8192cufw.bin and tranfer to uSD or media used. Then copy the firmware to /lib/firmware/rtlwifi of target. This debian-rootfs already have all the necessary packages. Choose your preferred Linux distribution!

In Linux with WIFI Realtek support enabled and the firmware in right place just type:

modprobe rtl8192cu (linux board)

You should see something like:

rtl8192cu: MAC address: 48:02:2a:ea:8c:3e
rtl8192cu: Board Type 0
rtl8192cu: rx_max_size 15360, rx_urb_num 8, in_ep 1
ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'rtl_rc'
usbcore: registered new interface driver rtl8192cu

Configuring the interface (linux board)

All commands and actions performed in that section is to be done on board. That is, in linux that is running on the board!

In order to configure the wlanN(N can be any interger) interface download from your PC and transfer to uSD the packages wireless-tools and wpasupplicant and install them, if your system does not have them! These packages are to Debian wheezy armhf. Download the appropriate packages for your system!

Thereafter check if your wifi interface is active:

ifconfig

If you see only the lo interface,  we find out the number of interface wlanN(N can be any integer). Type:

iwconfig

lo        no wireless extensions.

tunl0     no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=0 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:on

Ok, my N is 0. Edit the file /etc/network/interfaces and change as your network(dhcp or static):

auto wlan0 
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
    wpa-driver wext
    wpa-ssid YOUR_WIFI_SSID (change as your network)
    wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
    wpa-psk YOUR_WIFI_PASSWORD (change as your network)

Now we can type:

ifup wlan0 (replace with the number you found)

From that point everything already works in the current kernel!

Verifying the Wifi functionality (linux board)

Type ifconfig and a similar result should appear:

ifconfig

lo        Link encap:Loopback Local  
          inet end.: 127.0.0.1  Masc:255.0.0.0
          endereço inet6: ::1/128 Escopo:Máquina
          UP LOOPBACKRUNNING  MTU:16436  Métrica:1
          RX packets:16 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:16 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          colisões:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:1000 (1000.0 B)  TX bytes:1000 (1000.0 B)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  Endereço de HW 00:0d:f0:a2:63:74  
          inet end.: 192.168.1.3  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Masc:255.255.255.0
          endereço inet6: fe80::20d:f0ff:fea2:6374/64 Escopo:Link
          UP BROADCASTRUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Métrica:1
          RX packets:604836 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:343723 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          colisões:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:898817015 (857.1 MiB)  TX bytes:31367981 (29.9 MiB)

Make sure you are connected on the wireless network:

iwconfig

lo        no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"GVT-9EE1"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.447 GHz  Access Point: 84:C9:B2:C9:9E:E2   
          Bit Rate=72.2 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=51/70  Signal level=-59 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:1   Missed beacon:0

One way to improve the connectivity is downloading the network-manager. Test your internet connection and type:

apt-get update

apt-get install 'any package'

If these two commands to work, the configuration is ok!