Change WiFi from internal to USB Alfa AC1200

Hardware
1

I have issues with coverage so I want to change to external USB connected wireless. To accomplish this I googled to find a supported device and was recommended the Alfa AC1200.

When I connect it I find the following in dmesg:

[    2.372371] usb 1-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=8812, bcdDevice= 0.00
[    2.372394] usb 1-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[    2.372409] usb 1-1.4: Product: 802.11n NIC
[    2.372420] usb 1-1.4: Manufacturer: Realtek
[    2.372432] usb 1-1.4: SerialNumber: 123456

But still I only get the default wireless device, no new one. I also tried changing in config.txt adding “dtoverlay=disable-wifi” and that disables the internal one but again no new wireless device.

All my devices for network (without the disable-wifi overlay):

~ $ ifconfig
docker0   Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 02:42:E1:53:07:CD  
          inet addr:172.17.0.1  Bcast:172.17.255.255  Mask:255.255.0.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::42:e1ff:fe53:7cd/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:26 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:227 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:2820 (2.7 KiB)  TX bytes:31830 (31.0 KiB)

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr DC:A6:32:61:D0:AF  
          inet addr:10.0.0.209  Bcast:10.0.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::18e8:ab69:d97a:8529/64 Scope:Link
          inet6 addr: fdf1:68ec:ca1:10:2bda:6a47:304b:8fb4/64 Scope:Global
          inet6 addr: 2001:4645:cdda:0:d468:2583:b5c7:2e6a/64 Scope:Global
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:11537 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:7989 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:7470443 (7.1 MiB)  TX bytes:2769480 (2.6 MiB)

hassio    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 02:42:FA:75:61:41  
          inet addr:172.30.32.1  Bcast:172.30.33.255  Mask:255.255.254.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::42:faff:fe75:6141/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:2909 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:7380 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:760263 (742.4 KiB)  TX bytes:5126291 (4.8 MiB)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:613 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:613 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:43796 (42.7 KiB)  TX bytes:43796 (42.7 KiB)

veth3b10d9f Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr E2:23:68:E6:7A:38  
          inet6 addr: fe80::e023:68ff:fee6:7a38/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:71 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:3777 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:21982 (21.4 KiB)  TX bytes:606872 (592.6 KiB)

veth3e56a15 Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 8A:90:99:E0:93:CF  
          inet6 addr: fe80::8890:99ff:fee0:93cf/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:4424 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:690998 (674.8 KiB)

veth45a5674 Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 62:54:B7:45:C2:8C  
          inet6 addr: fe80::6054:b7ff:fe45:c28c/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:229 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1785 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:21342 (20.8 KiB)  TX bytes:781391 (763.0 KiB)

veth48564ae Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 16:CB:FF:21:78:75  
          inet6 addr: fe80::14cb:ffff:fe21:7875/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:4428 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:691236 (675.0 KiB)

veth691a45d Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 4E:37:EF:99:19:54  
          inet6 addr: fe80::4c37:efff:fe99:1954/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:45 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:3674 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:4725 (4.6 KiB)  TX bytes:601748 (587.6 KiB)

veth7917862 Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 6E:0F:02:01:F3:77  
          inet6 addr: fe80::6c0f:2ff:fe01:f377/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:248 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2004 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:34842 (34.0 KiB)  TX bytes:336865 (328.9 KiB)

veth916ea74 Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr CE:B4:A7:5D:02:6C  
          inet6 addr: fe80::ccb4:a7ff:fe5d:26c/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:742 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:4852 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:90119 (88.0 KiB)  TX bytes:702373 (685.9 KiB)

vetha50e147 Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr D2:2A:99:F5:30:BA  
          inet6 addr: fe80::d02a:99ff:fef5:30ba/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:315 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:4570 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:33578 (32.7 KiB)  TX bytes:707652 (691.0 KiB)

vethba32ecb Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 12:C3:4A:58:A1:AA  
          inet6 addr: fe80::10c3:4aff:fe58:a1aa/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:1278 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:4965 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:164857 (160.9 KiB)  TX bytes:4085305 (3.8 MiB)

vethd5c0b89 Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 2A:C6:27:B5:10:37  
          inet6 addr: fe80::28c6:27ff:feb5:1037/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1661 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:244983 (239.2 KiB)

vethe23b253 Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 6A:B3:03:3F:21:AC  
          inet6 addr: fe80::68b3:3ff:fe3f:21ac/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:26 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:259 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:3184 (3.1 KiB)  TX bytes:37535 (36.6 KiB)

vethe619851 Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 3A:85:DE:D5:67:39  
          inet6 addr: fe80::3885:deff:fed5:6739/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:800 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:5329 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:582786 (569.1 KiB)  TX bytes:1061095 (1.0 MiB)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr DC:A6:32:61:D0:B0  
          inet addr:10.0.0.10  Bcast:10.0.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::ae78:a0f8:6240:9eb2/64 Scope:Link
          inet6 addr: 2001:4645:cdda:0:3d2b:20d9:75e5:5b6f/64 Scope:Global
          inet6 addr: fdf1:68ec:ca1:10:fbdc:a4cf:a384:bb50/64 Scope:Global
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:5160 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:325 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:579417 (565.8 KiB)  TX bytes:49209 (48.0 KiB)

I was expecting the new one to show as wlan1 for example… My hardware is Raspberry Pi4, 4GB ram.

Any tips?

2

Did you download and install a driver ? → Directory listing of http://files.alfa.com.tw/[1] WiFi USB adapter

3

Hello Joerg, and than you for your reply!

I bought this adapter since I got the understanding that it had the drivers included in the kernel. This might not be the case then. Is there a guide on how I could compile the driver for my version of HassIO? I have SSH to the 22222 port so I can access the underlying OS. If I could then get a dev-environment on the same version I guess I could download, compile and copy the drivers into HassOS… (a bit of hack though, and would have to be repeated every upgrade of the OS). If you have a pointer for me I could try that out.

4

Sorry I can’t help much with HassIO and how to access it, since I always (except of the first 2 months) use a manual Home Assistant core installation, long time on a P3 with Rasbian and since a couple of days on a Fujitsu Thinclient and Debian Linux.
The installation of HA core is straightforward and takes just 25 mins, MQTT, Samba and SSH included.
It lacks the supervisor and snapshot thingi, but I want to have full access to the OS and believe its more stable, at least it was with V0.83 or so, which was when I started.

Not sure if it will work on HassIO, but you can try:
Download the driver for Linux, I guess it’s AWUSO36ACH - but check what is written on your device.
Unpack it somewhere at the OS, jump into the folder and in there do a

make
sudo make install
5

Thanks, bummer this… I was really hoping this to be plug and play. I know that HassOS does not have any build tools installed so I need to sandbox the binaries somewhere else.

6

Well, some device might be plug and play under Linux, for example hand scanner which are detected as keyboards, but work well. But USB network adapters, well…?
I have a similar adapter with a Realtek chip which works P&P under Windows 10 but needs drivers at Linux.
Good luck. I just wonder if it helps, because IMO it would be better to use a WIFI repeater or a meshed system…

7

Yes, I have allready installed a Mesh and tried to optimize the placement but still I struggle a bit. But I will do some more investigations and see. Thanks for the help!