[GLLUG] A USB WiFi dongle that works as Host/Master

[damion.yates at gmail.com]

On Wed, 10 Oct 2012, Robert McKay wrote:

> On Wed, 8 Aug 2012 11:25:51 +0100, Matthew Copperwaite wrote:
> > Hi Guys,
> > A little bored of all the requests to events going on all over the
> > country that most people can't attend, so I have a serious question
> > that I can't seem to find the answer to.
> > 
> > I was wondering if anyone knew of or owns a USB WiFi dongle
> > (preferably capable of .11n) that works in Host/Master mode so it
> > can be run as an access point.

This used to be a poorly understood (I don't think many people
knew/cares about running hostapd) and annoyingly complex hardware/driver
specific issue.

However as I understand it, ever since kernel 2.6.32 this problem all
but went away with the rewrite of the wifi stack, to have generic
mac80211/lib80211 modules provide a new standard api for wpa_supplicant
and hostapd to be able to do what was needed.

So the answer should be, pretty much any wifi dongle you read works at
all under linux.  You should no longer have to additionally qualify your
search with "and can do ad-hoc, supports wpa via wpa_supplicant, can
work with hostapd".

> > Finding (or rather deciphering) this information seems difficult as
> > a lot of dongles are capable, but not all of them work well in Linux
> > which is the real key here. So previous experience of one that works
> > and where to buy it would be best.

The forums used to be full of people with general success in getting
wifi working at all, but a complete lack of understanding that only
certain hw would permit all features.  This should no longer be true.

> I guess you may have found one that works already but I just purchased
> a ALFA AWUS036NH and can confirm that it definitely works with
> hostapd.
> 
> I'm currently using it in conjunction with redsocks and tor to create
> a public open wifi hotspot that forwards tcp traffic to redsocks ->
> tor and udp DNS traffic to tor's DNSPort. DHCP requests are serviced
> locally and all other traffic gets dropped. So far it seems to work
> great.. anyone can connect and browse the web (or hidden services
> (.onion addresses)!) albeit at 'tor' speeds (helps keep down the
> bandwdith usage though :)

I had good success with a TRENDnet zd12xx chipset device, sorry I can't
remember more details, but this was super reliable and worked with
hostapd ONLY after 2.6.32!

Damion

-- 
Damion Yates - Google UK Ltd
Belgrave House, 76 Buckingham Palace Rd, London SW1W 9TQ - reg:3977902