I'm attempting to connect two wifi USB dongles to a debian system. One is to connect to a local lan, the other I plan to use in adhoc mode to connect to a specific device. You could look at this as an attempt to connect two wifi dongles to a linux device to connect to two separate wifi networks at the same time.
The USB devices appear to be recognised correctly with no problems. ifconfig reports wlan0 and I was able to setup /etc/network/interfaces so it configures correctly and connects to my lan via my access point.
My /etc/network/interfaces is:
auto wlan0
iface lo inet loopback
iface eth0 inet dhcp
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-conf /etc/wpa.config
my /etc/wpa.config is:
ap_scan=1
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
network={
ssid="###"
psk="##########"
}
Both usb wifi dongles are identical (ASUS EX N) and the first one is recognised and I can configure (as above), while the second one is detected but not recognised as a lan device. Experimenting with dmesg I can find out the following for each usb device:
dmesg | grep "usb1"
[ 1.841842] usb usb1: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002
[ 1.850929] usb usb1: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[ 1.860403] usb usb1: Product: DWC OTG Controller
[ 1.867357] usb usb1: Manufacturer: Linux 3.2.27+ dwc_otg_hcd
[ 1.875306] usb usb1: SerialNumber: bcm2708_usb
dmesg | grep "1-1:"
[ 2.343158] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using dwc_otg
[ 2.563416] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0424, idProduct=9512
[ 2.572622] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
[ 2.583814] hub 1-1:1.0: USB hub found
[ 2.591025] hub 1-1:1.0: 3 ports detected
dmesg | grep "1-1.1:"
[ 2.873414] usb 1-1.1: new high-speed USB device number 3 using dwc_otg
[ 2.983730] usb 1-1.1: New USB device found, idVendor=0424, idProduct=ec00
[ 2.995145] usb 1-1.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
[ 3.078641] smsc95xx 1-1.1:1.0: eth0: register 'smsc95xx' at usb-bcm2708_usb-1.1, smsc95xx USB 2.0 Ethernet, b8:27:eb:e8:9f:ac
[ 24.257871] smsc95xx 1-1.1:1.0: eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0xCDE1
dmesg | grep "1-1.2:"
[ 3.193382] usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 4 using dwc_otg
[ 3.306387] usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0b05, idProduct=1786
[ 3.319133] usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 3.329079] usb 1-1.2: Product: ASUS EZ N Network Adapter
[ 3.340862] usb 1-1.2: Manufacturer: Manufacturer Realtek
[ 3.349052] usb 1-1.2: SerialNumber: 00e04c000001
I've tried googling but cannot find any info about connecting two wifi dongles to a device. I suspect that I have to somehow apply the drivers (which are obviously already available) and make wlan1 appear, once there then I will be able to figure out the rest. Any help would be appreciated.
Added extra information as requested:
lsusb:
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9512 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0b05:1786 ASUSTek Computer, Inc. USB-N10 802.11n Network Adapter [Realtek RTL8188SU]
/var/log/messages (sample, presuming this is relevant):
[ 13.057545] r8712u: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[ 13.500489] r8712u: DriverVersion: v7_0.20100831
[ 13.783452] r8712u: register rtl8712_netdev_ops to netdev_ops
[ 13.791591] r8712u: USB_SPEED_HIGH with 4 endpoints
[ 14.027050] r8712u: Boot from EFUSE: Autoload OK
[ 15.017889] r8712u: CustomerID = 0x0010
[ 15.024091] r8712u: MAC Address from efuse = 30:85:a9:6e:a6:bb
[ 15.032267] r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"
...
[ 30.073530] r8712u: 1 RCR=0x153f00e
[ 30.074269] r8712u: 2 RCR=0x553f00e
...
[ 38.336980] r8712u: [r8712_got_addbareq_event_callback] mac = 58:6d:8f:00:37:45, seq = 0, tid = 0
The mac addy 30:85:a9:6e:a6:bb matches the one from ifconfig, so I am presuming that the r8712u is what is used for the ASUS EX N that is recognised. ifconfig -a:
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr b8:27:eb:e8:9f:ac
inet addr:192.168.1.132 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:656 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:453 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:59529 (58.1 KiB) TX bytes:105486 (103.0 KiB)
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 30:85:a9:6e:a6:bb
inet addr:192.168.1.117 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:418 errors:0 dropped:1 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:111070 (108.4 KiB) TX bytes:1308 (1.2 KiB)
Please note that while I'm an experienced Unix/Linux user, I'm not very experienced with the kernel and drivers. So please be patient with me.
More info:
Tried replacing the second wifi dongle with a flash drive. That worked fine. Looking at messages I can see that it detects a usb 1-1.3, which it doesn't detect if I have the second wifi dongle in there.
[ 9.443324] usb 1-1.3: new high-speed USB device number 5 using dwc_otg
[ 9.945760] usb 1-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=090c, idProduct=1000
[ 9.963268] usb 1-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 9.976352] usb 1-1.3: Product: USB DISK
[ 9.982674] usb 1-1.3: Manufacturer: SMI Corporation
[ 9.992819] scsi0 : usb-storage 1-1.3:1.0
Even more info:
I decided to switch the to move the wifi dongle that works to the other usb port and then decided to plug in the other one. Interestingly lsusb now states:
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9512 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0b05:1786 ASUSTek Computer, Inc. USB-N10 802.11n Network Adapter [Realtek RTL8188SU]
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0b05:1786 ASUSTek Computer, Inc. USB-N10 802.11n Network Adapter [Realtek RTL8188SU]
So it appears to detect both now (no idea why this is different to before). Strangely though wlan1 isn't coming up automatically, not sure why. In /var/log/messages I now see:
[ 3.173177] usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 4 using dwc_otg
[ 3.296059] usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0b05, idProduct=1786
[ 3.305833] usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 3.320060] usb 1-1.2: Product: ASUS EZ N Network Adapter
[ 3.331367] usb 1-1.2: Manufacturer: Manufacturer Realtek
[ 3.343032] usb 1-1.2: SerialNumber: 00e04c000001
[ 3.443224] usb 1-1.3: new high-speed USB device number 5 using dwc_otg
[ 3.566236] usb 1-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=0b05, idProduct=1786
[ 3.575638] usb 1-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 3.585429] usb 1-1.3: Product: ASUS EZ N Network Adapter
[ 3.593239] usb 1-1.3: Manufacturer: Manufacturer Realtek
[ 3.601034] usb 1-1.3: SerialNumber: 00e04c000001
...
[ 11.713221] r8712u: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[ 11.728515] r8712u: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[ 12.124771] r8712u: DriverVersion: v7_0.20100831
[ 12.131967] r8712u: register rtl8712_netdev_ops to netdev_ops
[ 12.550340] r8712u: USB_SPEED_HIGH with 4 endpoints
[ 12.691051] r8712u: Boot from EFUSE: Autoload OK
[ 13.716918] r8712u: CustomerID = 0x0010
[ 13.723264] r8712u: MAC Address from efuse = 30:85:a9:6e:a6:c9
[ 13.731529] r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"
[ 13.740279] r8712u: DriverVersion: v7_0.20100831
[ 13.750556] r8712u: register rtl8712_netdev_ops to netdev_ops
[ 13.760178] r8712u: USB_SPEED_HIGH with 4 endpoints
[ 13.774319] r8712u: Boot from EFUSE: Autoload OK
[ 14.532517] r8712u: CustomerID = 0x0010
[ 14.538717] r8712u: MAC Address from efuse = 30:85:a9:6e:a6:bb
[ 14.546902] r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"
...
[ 32.273631] r8712u: 1 RCR=0x153f00e
[ 32.274494] r8712u: 2 RCR=0x553f00e
Via ifconfig I am only seeing wlan1 and not wlan0. Very weird…
Changed ifconfig to ifconfig -a above, output is the same (wlan1 is not shown). If I do a ifconfig wlan1 then I get:
wlan1: error fetching interface information: Device not found
When I swap them around and lsusb is showing all five usb devices (listed above), when I do a ifconfig -a I get both wlan0 and wlan1:
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr b8:27:eb:e8:9f:ac
inet addr:192.168.1.132 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:117 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:95 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:12685 (12.3 KiB) TX bytes:12594 (12.2 KiB)
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 30:85:a9:6e:a6:bb
inet addr:192.168.1.117 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:32 errors:0 dropped:1 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:5 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:5674 (5.5 KiB) TX bytes:1098 (1.0 KiB)
wlan1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 30:85:a9:6e:a6:c9
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
and doing a ifconfig wlan1 shows the wlan1 info as shown above.
ip link show in the swapped usb device config shows:
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 16436 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP mode DEFAULT qlen 1000
link/ether b8:27:eb:e8:9f:ac brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wlan1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT qlen 1000
link/ether 30:85:a9:6e:a6:c9 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
4: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP mode DORMANT qlen 1000
link/ether 30:85:a9:6e:a6:bb brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
Best Answer
It appears that the device I'm using doesn't like the two wifi dongles connected in the order that I had them connected. Reversing the order in which they are connected resulted in both wifi dongles being recognised (as seen via
lsusb) and then consequently configurable via/etc/network/interfaces, after which they could be brought up viaifup wlan1.The final entries in
/etc/network/interfacesthat worked was:and the results with
ifconfigare:As can be seen, both wifi devices are working and have received ip addresses.
It appears that the problem was not a configuration issue of debian but an issue with the hardware that required the two devices to be swapped.
A big thank you to Gert van den Berg and user1129682 for their patience with me.