In this post, we will look at another way to configure pcDuino WiFi where there is no HDMI monitor.  We will configure the WiFi connection using the serial debug port.  Please refer to other posts about how to access the serial debug port.

No password or WEP encryption

We keep bumping into blogs complaining that iwconfig doesn’t work. At first, we saw exactly the same thing. After more investigation, I found it is because that network-manager took away the management right.That makes it is impossible to configure WiFi with iwconfig.  It is pretty straightforward to solve the issue.

Modify “/etc/network/interfaces”, and add the following content:

iface wlan3 inet dhcp

Then reboot network-manager：

$sudo /etc/init.d/network-manager restart

Continue to configure：

$sudo iwconfig wlan3 essid 

$sudo dhclient wlan3

If  a password is required, we need to add the password:

$sudo iwconfig wlan3 key s:<password>

At last, we can run “$iwconfig” and “$ifconfig wlan3” to check the results:

WPA/WPA2 encryption

The method we talked only works for the case that is not WPA/WPA2. In this section, we will look the case of encryption with WPA/WPA2.

Edit ” /etc/network/interfaces”, and add the following content:

iface wlan3 inet manua

lwpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

iface default inet dhcp

Edit or create the file named “/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf”, and add the following content:

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

network={
ssid=”AP name”
proto=RSN
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=CCMP TKIP
group=CCMP TKIP
psk=”password”
}

Restart the service:

$/etc/init.d/networking restart

Connect to the network:

$ifup wlan3

Oops. There is an error. I googled, and it seems to be a driver issue. However, it doesn’t impact the use.

We can use “$iwconfig” to check if the network configuration is correct or not. The correct one should be as following:

I would like pcDuino to connect to WiFi network automatically every time it reboots.

It is quite simple. We just need to add the following content before ‘exit 0’ to “/etc/rc.local: ‘

Power on the board , it automatically connect to your network .