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RepWifi: graphical app for WiFi connection [using external adapter]

Added by Fil Bergamo over 7 years ago

Updated RepWifi apks:

Latest STABLE version: v0.6.2 Get if from F-Droid
Source: https://git.replicant.us/contrib/Fil/RepWifiApp/tag/?h=v0.6.2

Latest TESTING version: v0.9.1-beta Get if from F-Droid
Source: https://git.replicant.us/contrib/Fil/RepWifiApp/tag/?h=v0.9.1-beta
Version 0.9.1-beta may be UNSTABLE! Please use with care, and report any issues on the tracker or on this thread.

Release key

As of 2017-10-26, the official release channel is F-Droid.
APKs downloaded from F-Droid are signed by their release key.

Unstable/developer releases are signed with Fil's GPG key:

2D36 719C A4B8 3C7A DD9D  33AE A02A 2F68 CD07 CEAD

Installation Troubleshooting:

If installing from F-Droid fails, it probably means that RepWifi is installed as a system app (i.e. it came pre-installed with Replicant)
If that's the case, only if simple uninstall failed, do the following to uninstall RepWifi:
(this works for v0.6.2 or lower, read below for version 0.9 or higher)

adb root
adb shell stop
adb shell
su
mount -o remount,rw /system
# command to remove versions < 0.9
rm /system/app/RepWifi/RepWifi.apk
mount -o ro,remount /system
exit
exit
adb shell start

Starting from version 0.9, RepWifi installs itself in a different directory when operating as as system app (/system/priv-app).
So, to completely remove versions 0.9 or higher change the instructions above replacing

# command to be replaced
rm /system/app/RepWifi/RepWifi.apk

with
# command to remove versions >= 0.9
rm -r /system/priv-app/fil.libre.repwifiapp*

After removing RepWifi, it should be possible to install it normally from F-Droid and get further updates.

Happy hacking!

[ORIGINAL POST]:
Hi everyone,

I just released the first alpha version of my graphical application for managing wifi connection on Replicant.
source code is hosted on https://git.replicant.us/contrib/Fil/RepWifiApp/
I'm really a noob when it comes to git, so please feel free to point out anything I'm doing wrong.
It was my first commit to any project, ever, so please be patient and help me correct things!

For now, only Replicant 6.0 is supported.
Code for Replicant 4.2 is in a very primitive pre-testing state. Please be patient on that.
I stopped development for 4.2 after the first few test attempts, and turned to R6.0, because on my R4.2 device the situation was very unstable and testing was too stressful.
Support for R4.2 is coming, I promise, but first I will need to make a clean 4.2 installation on my device, hoping to make testing a little less cumbersome.

OTOH, I'm really satisfied about the stability under R6.0.
Everything works fine, featuring:
-network discovery
-connecting to WPA/WPA2 secured networks
-connecting to unsecured networks
-saving network passwords
-viewing and deleting saved network informations.

I'm thinking of a meaningful way to provide a compiled, ready to install, APK..
In the meanwhile, attached to this post is a "debug" APK, signed with my GPG key.
The fingerprint of my key is

2D36 719C A4B8 3C7A DD9D 33AE A02A 2F68 CD07 CEAD

You can import it using

gpg --recv-keys CD07CEAD

Please, verify the fingerprint before trusting any signature.
Also, note that my key should be signed by Paul Kocialkowski, so use that as an additional check.

Then download BOTH the apk AND the signature, and VERIFY it before installing.
To verify:

gpg --verify RepWifiApp.apk.sig RepWifiApp.apk

DO NOT INSTALL the apk if the verification fails!
To install the app, connect your device and type:

adb install RepWifiApp.apk

Everything should be now set up and working.
Connect the external wifi dongle, and follow the basic buttons the app provides!

Please, please, please, send feedback, of any kind!
I need to know how the app performs in the long run.
There are bugs, for sure, so please if you find any, report on them in this thread.
If you shall find that any useful feature is missing, please request it, and I'll do my best to include it in future releases!

Enjoy (alpha) libre WiFi connectivity and, as always..
Happy Hacking!

Fil

RepWifi_v0.9-beta_unofficial.apk.sig (819 Bytes) RepWifi_v0.9-beta_unofficial.apk.sig GPG signature for RepWifi_v0.9-beta
RepWifi_v0.9-beta_unofficial.apk (709 KB) RepWifi_v0.9-beta_unofficial.apk Unofficial compiled APK for RepWifi_v0.9-beta

Replies (46)

RE: Graphical app for WiFi connection released [using external adapter] - Added by Fil Bergamo over 7 years ago

Gian-Maria Daffré wrote:

Sorry for all the noise. It works now.

Problem was the low battery as mentioned in the issues here
https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/WifiAdapter

F-Droid not working tough, will have to look into it.

Thanks for the work and efforts put into this project!

Best,
Giammi

Hello,

I'm sorry I haven't been able to reply until now.
But I'm glad you found the documented Issue #1791 by yourself. Indeed, your case is probably related to that.
As for F-droid, that's another known Issue #1792.
I'm currently working on that, and I'm confident it will eventually be solved, so keep an eye on #1792!

Please, feel free to ask for further assistance if you need so.

Happy hacking,

Fil

RE: Graphical app for WiFi connection released [using external adapter] - Added by Gian-Maria Daffré over 7 years ago

Fil Bergamo wrote:

Hello,

I'm sorry I haven't been able to reply until now.

No problem.

But I'm glad you found the documented Issue #1791 by yourself. Indeed, your case is probably related to that.

Yes, most probably this is the problem. Battery at 10% gave no network list, at 50% no problems.
What might be misleading is also the amount of charge shown on the icon in the status
bar and the real charge amount, shown e.g. after a reboot.

As for F-droid, that's another known Issue #1792.
I'm currently working on that, and I'm confident it will eventually be solved, so keep an eye on #1792!

Yes, saw that one and will keep an eye on it.

Please, feel free to ask for further assistance if you need so.

No questions at the moment. Thanks for your good work.

Best,
Giammi

RE: Graphical app for WiFi connection released [using external adapter] - Added by Wolfgang Wiedmeyer over 7 years ago

Ports of Replicant 6.0 for the Galaxy Note and Galaxy Nexus are almost finished. I did some testing with a Wi-Fi adapter. The Galaxy Note is very similar to the S2 and uses the same kernel sources as S2, S3 and Note 2. Due to its large battery, I had hoped that the Note would perform better than the S2 and possibly even better than the S3, but the results are a mixed bag. It can work very well for some time, but it can also be very unstable, similar to the S2, but possibly worse. The battery I have might not be the best as its a second-hand device. This probably contributes to the issues.

Improvements for the S2 performance will very likely also help the Galaxy Note. Another reason for the issues could be that RepWifi fails to wake the dongle from sleep state in some cases. Running ifconfig wlan0 up is maybe not enough in such cases and native code is necessary that directly talks to the driver. Enabling more debugging options in the kernel could also bring more light to this.

Dongles don't yet work with the Galaxy Nexus. It uses different kernel sources with a different driver for the internal Wi-Fi chip.I haven't really looked into it. My guess is that the driver for the internal Wi-Fi chip hijacks the wlan0 interface and thus prevents the dongle from working. It should be possible to fix the driver so the ath9k driver and the driver for the internal chip can coexist. The "hijacking" could also already happen in the Wi-Fi HAL.

RE: Graphical app for WiFi connection released [using external adapter] - Added by Gu W over 7 years ago

Hey,

I just stumbled upon this app ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.draisberghof.pppwidget3 ), which is for connecting a USB modem to an Android device. Here the developer writes:

Regarding the last point: modems often draw more power than tablets or phones can deliver. Even if they do with full battery, there may be instabilities if the battery is drained.

I use a cheap OTG Y cable which can employ any generic micro USB power adapter to 'inject' power to the modem while plugged in. Much less drain on the battery !!

Maybe this would be a simple (and maybe even the proper) way to circumvent the battery problem with the external WiFi?

RE: Graphical app for WiFi connection released [using external adapter] - Added by Wolfgang Wiedmeyer over 7 years ago

Yes, Tiberiu from Technoethical already mentioned to me that an Y OTG cable provides the best stability. I added a note to the WifiAdapter page.

RE: Graphical app for WiFi connection released [using external adapter] - Added by Tim Suggs over 7 years ago

I apologize if this is the wrong place to ask this, but is there currently a way to connect using a hidden SSID in RepWifi? I did not see an option to do so.

RE: Graphical app for WiFi connection released [using external adapter] - Added by Fil Bergamo over 7 years ago

Tim Suggs wrote:

I apologize if this is the wrong place to ask this, but is there currently a way to connect using a hidden SSID in RepWifi? I did not see an option to do so.

Hi!

You don't need to apologize, you're in the right place.
Sorry for the late reply.. I've been cut away from the internet for the last 4 weeks..

Currently, there's no way to connect to hidden SSIDs via RepWifi graphical app...
But your need is a nice suggestion. I took note, and will work on including this feature in a next release.

Meanwhile, you could have a look at the scripts
See the wiki page for how to use them.

You could just edit a couple of lines, and manually enter the SSID of the network you want to connect to, instead of having the scripts search for publicized ones.
OR, instead of using select_netwokrk.sh, you could directly use connect.sh providing the SSID and password as arguments, this way:

bash connect.sh "YOUR_HIDDEN_SSID" "YourPassword"

Please, feel free to ask for more info if you need!

Happy hacking,

Fil

RE: Graphical app for WiFi connection released [using external adapter] - Added by Xan VFR about 7 years ago

I just bought Technoethical's N150 adapter + OTG and as there's no option to connect to hidden networks yet, I tried showing my hidden network and connected to it. Made it hidden again and when I go to "Manage networks" it's all data there. Would it be an acceptable solution to add a Connect button below wifi data? Would it work?

Another app I guess has issues with no network data enabled is Kontalk. I disabled network data in my S3 while trying RepWifi, restarted Kontalk's messaging center while connected via WiFi and couldn't see any contact's connection updates. I'll report this to Kontalk.

Thank you all guys for your excellent work which gets us one step closer to mobile freedom!

RE: Graphical app for WiFi connection released [using external adapter] - Added by pete mars about 7 years ago

Thanks for the brilliant work guys.

This was working great until yesterday when it just stopped working. The app connects to wifi but there seems to be no network activity. No web pages will load and I can't connect with other apps despite RepWifi saying I am connected. I tried deleting the profile and reconnecting but still no joy. The dongle works fine on my Trisquel distro so I don't think it's a problem there.

I also tried connecting through reverse tethering as per the wiki. Again, everything seemed to be connected properly but I got the same response as with the wifi dongle.

I have tried with cellular data on and off.

Has anyone had this before? I am happy to post logs if this helps.

Thanks
Pete

RE: Graphical app for WiFi connection released [using external adapter] - Added by Fil Bergamo about 7 years ago

pete mars wrote:

This was working great until yesterday when it just stopped working. The app connects to wifi but there seems to be no network activity. No web pages will load and I can't connect with other apps despite RepWifi saying I am connected.

Hi Pete!

I was expecting someone to point out RepWifi's suddenly not working.
I experienced the same and got myself irritated in trying to debug the cause.

The answer is plain simple:
DNS.
Not very wisely, I put some hard-coded dns addresses into RepWifi, which were two OpenNIC dns servers.
Unfortunately, those servers went down, so no name is being resolved by RepWifi. That's why you're experiencing that misbehaviour.
(BTW, I'm finding that lately OpenNIC servers are performing quite badly in general..)

I'm currently working on major upgrades for RepWifi, which I'll be able to release in a couple of days (hopefully)..
One of the new features will be the ability to manually change DNS servers.

In the meantime, a possible temporary workaround is the following:
To be repeated every time RepWifi connects to an Access Point
1) open a terminal window (default terminal will do), and type the following, after RepWifi has connected:

su
ndc resolver setnetdns 1 <a-working-dns-IP-here> <another-working-dns-IP-here>

Note that "su" is needed, in order to get root privileges, to be able to execute network-related commands.

If you encounter any other difficulties, please let me know.
I'll do my best to try and help!

Please, stay tuned for the upcoming RepWifi release!

RE: Graphical app for WiFi connection released [using external adapter] - Added by pete mars about 7 years ago

Brilliant!

Thanks for that, it seems to work for me.

I look forward to the update.

Many many thanks
Pete

RE: Graphical app for WiFi connection released [using external adapter] - Added by Fil Bergamo about 7 years ago

Hey folks!

RepWifi version v0.5 is released!
Many new features are included: refer to the changelog

Instructions and APKs are reported on the original post

Happy Hacking!

Fil

RE: Graphical app for WiFi connection released [using external adapter] - Added by pete mars about 7 years ago

Brilliant, thanks. It works a charm.

Just to note, the line:

rm /system/app/RepWifi.apk

needed to be:

rm /system/app/RepWifi/RepWifi.apk

for me.

Thanks, Pete

RE: Graphical app for WiFi connection released [using external adapter] - Added by Fil Bergamo about 7 years ago

pete mars wrote:

Just to note, the line:

[...]

needed to be:

[...]

Yup! You're right! Sorry, my bad!
I corrected it ;)

RE: Graphical app for WiFi connection released [using external adapter] - Added by Jeremy Rand about 7 years ago

Fil Bergamo wrote:

Many new features are included: refer to the changelog

I suspect you intended a different URL for this link.

RE: Graphical app for WiFi connection released [using external adapter] - Added by Fil Bergamo about 7 years ago

Jeremy Rand wrote:

Fil Bergamo wrote:

Many new features are included: refer to the changelog

I suspect you intended a different URL for this link.

Indeed!
Thanks for pointing out!
Edited the link, now it's really pointing to the changelog.

Thanks!

RE: RepWifi: graphical app for WiFi connection [using external adapter] - Added by Kurtis Hanna about 6 years ago

Is the method to delete RepWifi_v0.9-beta_unofficial.apk and get back to using F-Droid's build different than the directions listed here? https://redmine.replicant.us/boards/9/topics/14079?r=14457#Installation-Troubleshooting

Somehow I ended up Replicant thinking that RepWifi is installed, and it seems to function, but I can't find the app in system/app or in data/app. This doesn't seem like it should be possible.

RE: RepWifi: graphical app for WiFi connection [using external adapter] - Added by Fil Bergamo about 6 years ago

Kurtis Hanna wrote:

Is the method to delete RepWifi_v0.9-beta_unofficial.apk and get back to using F-Droid's build different than the directions listed here? https://redmine.replicant.us/boards/9/topics/14079?r=14457#Installation-Troubleshooting

Yes it is.
Things have changed a lot in version 0.9: RepWifi installs itself in a different system sub-directory, so it's not installed in /system/app anymore, but instead in /system/priv-app
I have updated the instruction accordingly.

Thanks for pointing it out!

Somehow I ended up Replicant thinking that RepWifi is installed, and it seems to function, but I can't find the app in system/app or in data/app. This doesn't seem like it should be possible.

Don't worry, your Replicant is mentally sane! :)
RepWifi is indeed installed in your system, just not in the directories you've been listing :)

Please, follow the updated instructions to remove RepWifi v0.9+

RE: RepWifi: graphical app for WiFi connection [using external adapter] - Added by Kurtis Hanna about 6 years ago

I just followed the new instructions and it worked like a charm. I'm now rocking v0.9.1-beta, which seems to have fixed some issues I was having with v0.9-beta. Thanks Fil!

RE: RepWifi: graphical app for WiFi connection [using external adapter] - Added by farnaz arra about 5 years ago

Hi, is this app for general wifi use, or specifically for the Tehnoetic N150?
If for the former, what particular use case is there that is not covered by the applications included with Replicant?
If the latter, could you make that clear in the title please, at the moment it is not mentioned at all.

thanks
http://www.rahkarenovin.com
http://www.rahkarenovin.net

RE: RepWifi: graphical app for WiFi connection [using external adapter] - Added by Kurtis Hanna about 5 years ago

Hello rahkarenovin,

This app is for the Unex DNUA-93f which is sold by Tehnoetic as the Tehnoetic N150, but is also sold by other retailers. Other USB WiFi dongles with the AR9271 chipset should also work. This forum thread might not mention this, but it is documented in our wiki here: https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/WifiAdapter#WiFi-adapters

Do you have any specific suggestions for a title change that would make things more clear?

Cordially,
Kurtis

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