PINE64 - Wifi/BT Module

Wifi / Bluetooth Board Update

Sun, 19 Jul 2020 22:13:19 +0000

OS is Fedora 5.7.8-200.fc32.aarch64

I have been content to use Ethernet Networking since acquiring the Pine64. This works well. However I would like to use the cable for another project and wish to activate the Wifi board. I have googled and searched the docs for a way to do this in Fedora. Some help from the Pine64 IRC suggested the wifi module and firmware was needed. This is a very new kernel but despite a few posts that the firmware was to be integrated - it does not seem to be the case. Can anyone suggest how to go about this in Fedora?

A64 Wireless issue

Sat, 11 May 2019 19:06:54 +0000

I didn't see a discussion group for the old Pine64, just the Pine64+ so the moderator will probably need to move it. I just purchased and installed the Pine wifi card for my board. It didn't have any instructions or ducumentation included so I assumed the installation would be automatic. Not so. The system doesn't appear to recognize the board...at least in the configuration. I'm not sure if drivers need to be installed or updated, etc. If been running on ethernet for some time and the systems been running pretty good...although slow but wireless would be nice. If I run iwconfig I get this:

dan@pine64:~$ sudo iwconfig
[sudo] password for dan:
eth0 no wireless extensions.

lo no wireless extensions.

wlan0 unassociated Nickname:""
Mode:Managed Frequency=2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Sensitivity:0/0
Retry:off RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

enxc8d719d80388 no wireless extensions.

so it appears the system sees is but that's about it Anybody know what's happening?

Connecting an Antenna

Sun, 14 Apr 2019 03:27:58 +0000

The signal strength is pretty weak so I would like to add an antenna. I thought that the connector was u.fl so I ordered this:

https://www.amazon.com/HUACAM-5-8GHz-Dua...06WD7FZV4/

However, when I pulled the old wires off of the module and tried to connect the new one, the connector is too big. Is the connector on the WIFI/BT module not u.fl? What do I need to get to connect to this board?

Thank you

Actually, now I'm wondering if the connector on the module is w.fl?

[split] Better WiFi/BT module?

Thu, 28 Feb 2019 12:13:04 +0000

If possible, could you please add Intel Wireless-AC 3168 or 3165 modules?
Also Qualcomm Atheros cards would be good.
The main issue with Realtek WiFi, is the the drivers are absolutely horrendous, and usually very unstable (former beta tester here, and Realtek did not seem to care about the quality of their drivers when I spoke with them about it).
Broadcom is also alright, however on Linux the best quality is with Intel and Qualcomm (due to them actually being serious about supporting Linux).

Regarding firmware, Also Realtek utilizes closed-source firmware, so that is not a real reason to go with them.
Realtek being the only option (I do not see any other boards I can connect to the WiFi/BT socket) is currently my main blocker from buying any Pine64 boards (and I'd love to switch over from Raspberry Pis), with my secondary blocker is (for me) inadequate USB I/O (I require at least 4 ports, not including USB-C, so 4 USB2 ports is better for me than 2 USB2 and 1 USB3).

I am interested in AMPAQ's quality though, so if anyone can post about it, I'd be very happy.

By the way, since the RockPro64 already has a PCIe x4 connector, why not start using M.2 for WiFi/BT on future iterations of Pine64 products? This will widen compatibility with more cards, as well as allow for more bandwidth (say if one would wish to use the Intel Wireless-AX 22260 for up to 600Mbts on 2.4Ghz Wireless-AX, or up to ~2400Mbts on 5Ghz Wireless-AX).

Wireless Module Driver Source code

Wed, 08 Aug 2018 22:26:17 +0000

Hi,
I am trying to find the source code of the Wireless module's driver. I could find the driver's source code for the Bluetooth part but not for the WiFi part of the module. Can someone help me with that?

Installing another WiFi module on one of the buses

Thu, 19 Jul 2018 21:59:58 +0000

Hi,
Is it possible to install another WiFi module on one of the two buses? the Pi-bus or the euler bus.

Footprint for the recommended Wi-Fi+BT breakout board

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 10:28:19 +0000

Hello,

Can anyone ping me here the package/Footprint information for the recommended Wi-Fi+BT breakout board for SoPine A64 Baseboard?

Awaiting a reply.

Thanks in advance.

Schematics of Wifi/BT module

Sun, 21 Jan 2018 18:51:34 +0000

Hello,

Is there available the schematics of Wifi/BT module?

Thank you

Pine64 doesn't recognize Wifi/BT Module

Fri, 14 Jul 2017 01:11:07 +0000

I have two Pine A64 boards, one with 1GB RAM and one with 2GB. I plugged the Wifi/BT module into the 1GB board but accidentally plugged it in off by one pin on the connectors. The board booted up, but restarted a couple of times before finally coming up. Naturally, it did not recognize the Wifi module. When I saw my mistake, I removed power and repositioned the module. It still did not recognize the module. I tried plugging the module on the 2GB board and it worked fine. I tried the module I originally had on the 2GB board on the 1GB board and it didn't recognize that one either.

So final result: the 2GB board sees both Wifi/BT modules, but the 1GB board doesn't see either one. I'm guessing I smoked the interface on the 1GB board. Everything else appears to be working on it so far. Has anyone else experienced this?

Create a WiFi hotspot on Debian 8

Sun, 19 Mar 2017 22:36:12 +0000

Hello together!

I tried something to create a WiFi hotspot with officially WiFi/bluetooth module by pine64 via ethernet and this is my solution.
Feel free to discuss about this topic

Note: The WiFi hotspot is using the internet connection via ethernet. I wasn't able to bridge the internet connection from wlan0 to wlan1!
Note 2: I haven't installed NetworkManager on my system. NetworkManager can be responsible for problems with these instructions.

Install hostapd (create a hotspot), dnsmasq (dhcp server) and iptables-persistent (firewall settings)

Code:
apt-get install hostapd dnsmasq iptables-persistent

Change the config of hostapd
/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf

Code:
interface=wlan0

driver=nl80211

ssid=MyPrivateHotspot

hw_mode=g

channel=6

macaddr_acl=0

auth_algs=1

ignore_broadcast_ssid=0

wpa=3

wpa_passphrase=MyVeryStrongPassword

wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK

wpa_pairwise=TKIP

rsn_pairwise=CCMP

Change the config of dnsmasq
/etc/dnsmasq.conf

Code:
no-resolv

interface=wlan0

dhcp-range=10.0.0.3,10.0.0.20,12h

server=8.8.8.8

server=8.8.4.4

Restart dnsmasq to apply the new config

Code:
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

Activate forwarding of IPv4
/etc/sysctl.conf

Code:
Just uncomment the following line:

net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

Apply it without reboot with the following command:

Code:
sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

Setup the network configuration
/etc/network/interfaces

Code:
auto lo

iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0

iface eth0 inet dhcp

        pre-up iptables-restore < /etc/network/iptables.rules

iface wlan1 inet manual

auto wlan0

iface wlan0 inet static

        address 10.0.0.1

        broadcast 10.0.0.255

        netmask 255.255.255.0

And restart the network:

Code:
/etc/init.d/networking restart

Apply iptables rules

Code:
iptables -A FORWARD -o eth0 -i wlan0 -s 10.0.0.1/24 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW -j ACCEPT

iptables -A FORWARD -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT

iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE 

Save the iptables rules

Code:
iptables-save > /etc/network/iptables.rules

Create the WiFi hotspot

Code:
hostapd /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf

You're done!

Best regards
Julian

Better WiFi/BT module?

Tue, 07 Feb 2017 19:20:00 +0000

Would it be possible for a 3rd party to create a better module?

I believe with the SDIO interface, it should be possible to implement a Broadcom BCM4356 (which supports SDIO v3.0 for WiFi and GPIO for BT4.0), and achieve WiFi speeds up to 867Mbps (not to mention this chip has a built-in FM receiver, which could also be used).

Also I understand that this would raise prices for such a wireless module, but for many, it would be a better choice (especially as there's no PCIe or USB3.0 port onboard). I just feel like 150Mbps is quite limited for such a versatile device.

RF connector on wifi\bt board

Thu, 15 Dec 2016 11:48:38 +0000

Hi,

What's the RF connector on the wifi\bt board? U.fl?
Want to connect the board to a better antenna.
I think i picked up a mmcx cable and that didn't fit.

Thansk

wifi direct

Fri, 04 Nov 2016 08:48:39 +0000

Hello. Do you know how to connect wifi-direct on ubuntu with wifi/bt module

Howto: Getting Bluetooth (serial console) working on Debian

Tue, 20 Sep 2016 09:18:05 +0000

Tested on a Pine64+ 1GB running Debian 8 “jessie” (3.10.102-3) using the official WIFI 802.11BGN/BLUETOOTH 4.0 Module.

What's it all about? These were the steps I followed to be able to view the text output of a bluetooth-enabled USB power meter, and most of these steps apply to getting bluetooth working at all if it isn't already configured in your chosen image. If it is already enabled, you can probably jump straight to step 5. Regardless, steps 1-5 should get your bluetooth working and a device paired with your pine64, but what you do after that if you don't want the text output (ie. you instead want a bluetooth mouse, audio) like I did I wouldn't know!

Step 1: Make sure you have the bluetooth stack and utilities installed! If you want to all make sure you have all of the stuff this guide uses in one hit, you can add "rfkill git screen minicom" to the list of stuff to install.
sudo apt-get install bluez

Step 2: Get the firmware binaries for the BT from https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8723bs_bt

This repo contains the programs and firmware to operate the Bluetooth section of the RTL8723BS. This basically loads the firmware into the module, which makes it a bluetooth module! if you don't have git, install it by running "sudo apt-get install git".

Quote:git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8723bs_bt.git

Step 3: Compile and load the firmware.
Change into the newly cloned repo, and run "make", which will compile the main program needed, rtk_hciattach. Then run "sudo make install" to install the firmware.

You’ll then want the following command to run at bootup, so perhaps put it in /etc/rc.local. For the moment though, you can run it as shown below.

Quote:sudo ./start_bt.sh

This is the command that does real magic… it configures the BT module and makes it available for use.

Step 4: Remove soft block, scan for devices
For some reason or another, the device is "soft blocked" (meaning it is blocked by software), which is easy to fix when you know how. Run

Quote:sudo rfkill list

and you should see something like this (if you don’t, something has gone horribly, horribly wrong already). If you get a message saying rfkill can’t be found, thats ok… just run "sudo apt-get install rfkill" to install it, and try again.

Quote:0: sunxi-bt: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
2: phy1: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
3: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no

The entry of interest is the last one (the one for hci0: Bluetooth). That is the bluetooth adapter we’re trying to use, and as you can see, it is currently soft blocked. To fix that, just run (if yours is listed as 3 also)

Quote:sudo rfkill unblock 3

and it will be unblocked. You sould then see if you run "sudo rfkill list" again that this is the case, and if you run hcitool dev, you should also have something like this as the ouput, listing the MAC address of the pine64’s BT adapter.

Quote:Devices:
hci0 34:C32:71:BE:ED

Step 5: Power on bluetooth module and pair your device
You can then run bluetoothctl (as sudo) in order tha manage the bluetooth connection. Install via ‘sudo apt-get install bluez-utils’ if it is missing. You should get an immediate message about a new bluetooth controller… this is a good sign… everything is working so far if you get that message. If you get a message about no default controller, something is wrong. Assuming you don’t have any issues, run the following commands, which power on the BT module and sets it as the default BT agent.

Quote:power on
agent on
default-agent

If all has gone well, you should be seeing something like this.

Quote:[NEW] Controller 34:C32:71:BE:ED pine64 [default]
[NEW] Device 00:BA:55:568:7E SPP-CA
[bluetooth]# power on
Changing power on succeeded
[bluetooth]# agent on
Agent registered
[bluetooth]# default-agent
Default agent request successful

You can then then enter "scan on" to start discovery of BT devices, and if you have any devices available for pairing, you should see messages about them appear (prefixed by [NEW]). If they’re not ready for pairing, this is the time to make them ready.

Once your device appears, you can run "scan off" to make the system a bit more responsive again, as it seems pretty laggy at times whilst the scan process is running.

To pair the device you’re trying to pair the pine64 with, enter the command "pair " . For example, my USB power meter with BT serial had an address of “00:BA:55:568:7E”, so I entered “pair 00:BA:55:568:7E” and entered the device pin when prompted. Once you see a message about the pair being successful (I had to do it a couple of times, it didn’t seem to take the first time) you can exit the bluetoothctl program with the quit command.

Step 6: Bind bluetooth device for usage
This step is what makes the bluetooth device available for you to access. It’s really simple.. just run "sudo rfcomm bind hci0 "

For example,

Quote:sudo rfcomm bind hci0 00:BA:55:568:7E

This binds hci0 (which you might remember from the rfkill list output from earlier) to the bluetooth device you specificied (usb power meter in my case).

Step 7: Do something with it!
Since I simply wanted to view the serial output from the meter, and I prefer using screen I ran

Quote:sudo screen /dev/rfcomm0 9600

in order to connect to the bluetooth device (made available at /dev/rfcomm0) at 9600 baud. (run "sudo apt-get install screen" to use screen as it’s not installed by default). For those of you who prefer minicom, you could do the same thing by running

Quote:sudo minicom -D /dev/rfcomm0 -b 9600

And then try figuring out how to exit it – hint: it’s Ctrl+a, z, q, enter).I then get a line like this every 5 seconds (the update rate I have the meter set to) telling me the voltage and amperage being measured by the meter. Success!

Quote:052496,005516
052496,005420

All it needs then is some simple decoding to change the interger values sent to their decimal equivalents (ie. the second line is 5.2496v and 0.5420A).

Assuming you were working with a device that didn’t work one way (the meter only ouputs the data, it doesn’t have any configuration or anything over the BT link), you sould then have proper two-way communication via your device and the pine64 over bluetooth!

Acknowledgements:
This information/guide would not be possible without the following sources:

https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8723bs_bt – info on compiling and installing the BT firmware
http://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?t...1#pid19891 – post by another Pine64 user, Arjun, detailing how to use bluetoothctl
http://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=1392 – posts by xalius and Faye on getting the BT firmware loaded and unblocked.
Bashing my head against a screen for an afternoon and finally winning!

Errata:

2016-09-25 - removed redundant part of step 3
2016-10-10 - removed reference to bluez-utils as isn't needed (or available!) for jessie

Using Bluetooth for Sending serial data

Sun, 11 Sep 2016 09:04:39 +0000

I'm using Ubuntu long sleep OS on pine64+, I'm trying to send serial data from the pine 64+ to the Arduino UNO over bluetooth.
For that i installed Bluez package and when i check for the bluetooth device using "Hcitool dev", its empty.

But i checked the status of bluetooth using "etc/init.d/bluetooth status", the result is,

Quote:● bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Sun 2016-09-11 05:43:23 UTC; 3h 18min ago
     Docs: man:bluetoothd(8)
Main PID: 7439 (bluetoothd)
   Status: "Running"
   CGroup: /system.slice/bluetooth.service
           └─7439 /usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd

When i add a USB bluetooth adapter to pine 64+, it gets detected and works fine.

I tried this using the procedure given in the following link:
http://blog.whatgeek.com.pt/2015/09/blue...d-arduino/