• Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • Users
  • Search
  • Register
  • Login
Netgate Discussion Forum
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • Users
  • Search
  • Register
  • Login

Support for USB AWUS036H RTL8187L

Wireless
3
9
14.0k
Loading More Posts
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • O
    OMEN
    last edited by Feb 19, 2009, 6:27 PM

    Hello, this may be trivial, but I would like some info how this could be done. I can follow guides and search extensively before I post, but in this case I can't get anything to work.

    AWUS036H is an ALFA wireless device running on RTL8187L chipset, it will show up as wlan0 when properly installed.
    I will try to get something working but .. I really would like some help.

    Thank you, pfsense is awesome !

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • W
      wallabybob
      last edited by Feb 19, 2009, 9:21 PM

      I can't see any sign of support for a Realtek wireless LAN chipset in the FreeBSD 7.1 hardware support list at http://www.freebsd.org/releases/7.1R/hardware.html

      In what context does the device "show up as wlan0"? The FreeBSD man page for wlan says its "generic 802.11 link layer support".

      If you are looking to get a wireless interface operating I suspect the quickest way would be to start with a device known to be supported. If you take that route you should ask yourself if you want a device capable of acting as an access point. If the answer is yes and you must have a USB device then I think you are pretty much stuck with devices supported by the ural driver (and these seem to be unavailable for purchase) or the rum driver. You have a bigger range if you can use PCI, mini PCI or Cardbus and in a number of cases these are cheaper than USB devices.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • O
        OMEN
        last edited by Feb 19, 2009, 10:23 PM

        I have this device running on several linux distros and i was guessing that it wouldn't be much of an issue getting it running on freebsd because of how freebsd can run most linux software.

        I just want some 200mw + wireless adapters in my box, and looking at http://www.aerial.net/shop/product_info.php?products_id=48 you cant use these in http://www.aerial.net/shop/product_info.php?cPath=45&products_id=129 …
        Honestly I don't know why I cant use these ? Is it the heat ? The voltages .. I'm going to email the guy.

        But about the wlan0 << thats what it looks like in ubuntu after you got the rtl8187l drivers setup.

        Who do i talk to about expanding freebsd usb device support ?

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • W
          wallabybob
          last edited by Feb 19, 2009, 11:30 PM

          I suspect the limitation on the SR2 in the mini-PC to PCI adapter is the power requirement of the SR2. Perhaps the adapter might take ONE SR2 provided it was the only mini-PCI slot used.

          FreeBSD will run lots of linux application software. However it won't normally run Linux device drivers because the FreeBSD kernel is very different internally from Linux.

          Since in the same thread you mentioned the ALFA USB wireless adapter and 200mW power I have a question: Is the ALFA USB adapter a solution you are considering to meet your 200mW requirement or is that a separate issue?

          linitx.com list a 802.11b/g wireless booster with output power to 500mW http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=11918

          Probably it would help if you gave some details about what you are trying to do and your constraints.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • O
            OMEN
            last edited by Feb 20, 2009, 12:05 AM

            Right now i am just messing about,
            The point of the high power wifi adapters: I begin with a story. Two years ago, one of my clients gave me the challenge of connecting two offices that were about 50 meters away from each other. I couldn't use cables because there was a foot path and modifying the building to have a cable stretched overhead was also not an option.

            I purchased two £60 wireless capable a/b/g router/adsl modems and tried linking them together. Wireless bridging or interconnections work with WEP only. WEP was too insecure and i scrapped the project, partly because the other office lacked funding and my failure added to that.

            Couple of months ago I had a similar problem, large house needs lots of wireless packets. So i got the top of the range d-link router, same problem only WEP bridging/point to point.

            PFS allows you to use wpa/wpa2 in point to point links - i would like some test setups before i can properly deploy the link.

            and about the high power alfa wireless - yes i want a high power link between two PFS boxes in AP or Infrastructure mode.

            about the signal booster - lots of wireless equipment is crap, poor cables, rubbish antenas. I feel like i had the worst equipment ever so i dont want to invest into anything other than something thats genuinely high-power, top spec stuff.

            I bought some LMR400 cable and its great (noticeably lower loss), but the crimp bits (the crown that you crimp to secure the cable to the plug) might be loosening i dont know if thats normal if it breaks .. thats even more wasted time and money on the RMA…

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • W
              wallabybob
              last edited by Feb 21, 2009, 5:12 AM

              Maybe you would be better served by using directional aerials for the point to point links rather than upping the power. I've seen reports of people getting 5km point to point with pretty simple directional aerials.

              http://www.usbwifi.orconhosting.net.nz/

              Here's an example of what looks like a fairly simple construction procedure for a directional "bow tie" aerial for 2.4GHz (802.11b/g): http://martybugs.net/wireless/biquad/ There are a number of variants of this approach on the 'net.

              Oh, and it looks as if a driver (urtw) for the RTL8187L was committed to FreeBSD 23-Jan-2009. I would guess that it works with FreeBSd 8.0, may need some tweaking for FreeBSD 7.x There is no man page yet but a quick look at the driver suggests it doesn't support host access point mode nor IBSS (adhoc) mode which suggests it would be suitable only for use with ac access point.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • O
                OMEN
                last edited by Feb 25, 2009, 2:06 PM

                Well ideally I would like to have AP and infrastructure functionality, but since things are as they are …

                In my own time I have been experimenting with home-made directional antennas, parabolic reflector, biquad (the same one you gave the link to.) and cantennas.

                Most success was from the cantennas - I am using 4nec2 antenna modeller and optimizer, though I am unsure how accurate it is, 2 out of 3 antennas I made, work really well.

                I can post some sample files, excel calculator for cantenna, and other resources I used. Home made antennas can be way more efficient than anything you buy. I need to do extensive testing and get that device that measures the gain. Right now 4nec2 only simulates theoretical antenna gain, and making the same antenna twice I got very different results - so, I have to work out what affects performance during the manufacturing process.

                wallabybob - do you have any experiece with LMR400 cables ? if so do the crimped plugs fall apart easily ? some cables I ordered - the crimp crown rotates after you tighten the N-Type to an antenna.
                I only assume something is wrong because as the crown rotates I can hear the shielding wires brushing against the plug. The cables are still providing good contact - but I would like to know if this is normal.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • W
                  wallabybob
                  last edited by Mar 1, 2009, 9:22 PM

                  wallabybob - do you have any experiece with LMR400 cables ?

                  No, sorry.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • L
                    lsf
                    last edited by Mar 14, 2009, 11:50 AM

                    It is not normal for it to rotate. Sound like you have the wrong connectors for that cable. Most connectors are cable specific.

                    -lsf

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • First post
                      Last post
                    Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.