My Christmas RPi is rockin, my Wi-Pi..not so much. What am I doing wrong....

auto wlan0

iface wlan0 inet dhcp

wpa-ssid Le-Mars

wpa-psk #############   (this was the actual password)

You need to use inverted commas like so:

auto wlan0

iface wlan0 inet dhcp

wpa-ssid "Le-Mars"

wpa-psk "#############"

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply Fergus.

I put double quotation marks around the ssid and the passkey as you suggested and saved and then rebooted. Unfortunatly there was no difference in the outcome. The RPi still didn't have access to the network. I checked the interfaces file to make sure that I had indeed saved the file correctly and it was as I had edited it. Then I had a thought, I'll go into Xwindows and see if I can access the WiPi via the application on the desktop. Sure enough I was able to do a scan of the local access points and I found mine. Then I selected it and typed in my passkey and 'bingo', network access and the little blue light on the WiPi was mine. The browsers worked and everything. Then I exited out of Xwindows and the network access persisted as demonstrated by pinging the router from the command line. So then I rebooted and sure enough, the WiPi initialized immediatly and I was linked to my access point. So I checked the interfaces file and it was exactly as I had left it before going into Xwindows. In fact just as a test I purposely broke the SSid and Psk entries in the Wlan0 section and rebooted. It made no difference. The RPi connected to my access point without a problem. Then I deleted the whole Wlan0 entry as shown in the install PDF. Obviously the RPi/Wheezy is not looking in the interfaces file for it's login information.

So now I have two questions for the engineers at Element 14;

1, what did the Xwindows WiFi application modify (because it wasn't the interfaces file) to enable the WiPi to work on the latest version of the RPi/Wheezy.

2, Did anybody at Element14 actually tested the instructions PDF on the E14 website regarding the WiPi and the installation to the RPi because quite obviously they don't work, and don't get me started on the instructions that come in the E14 WiPi branded box.Those caused me to have to reflash my SD card because they wrecked the OS (not happy. Wasted an afternoon on this foolishness).

I suspect that the instructions to install the WiPi on the current RPi are actually really simple.

1, Use the latest version of Wheezy (if you don't you're on your own)

2, Plug in the WiPi to the Raspberry Pi

3, power up the RPi, log in and type 'startx'

4, Doubleclick on 'WiFi Config'

5, click on the Scan button

6, Enter your passkey for your respective network security (probably WPA)

7, click on the Close button.

8, click on the Connect button.

9, close the application.

Thats it. You should see a blue light on the WiPi and you should be connected to your network.

Trust me Element14, I really appreciate that the the WiPi is a staggeringly cheap product and offers excellent value for money. But the RPi is being sold to legions of noobs (even more nooby than me) and they are going to be frustrated as hell with this simple stuff. They will give up and stick the RPi in the drawer and you won't sell them tons more stuff for their little electric pal who's fun to be with.

I'm glad you got it working.  Networking is often tricky and there are so many layers and protocols that sometimes it's hard to tell why something worked.  I'm speaking as someone who has implemented networking hardware and software -- but not wireless.

At some point I may get a WiPi for my RasPi/Lapdock.  Quick question: is your WiPi plugged into a RasPi USB port or a Lapdock USB port?

Thanks!

It's plugged directly into the RPi top USB slot, and it works perfectly. I read on another board that you don't want to plug the WiFi dongle into a hub and that it only works reliably if it's directly connected to the RPi. I have to say I am gobsmacked at how cool the Atrix lapdock works with the RPi. How it works out the correct screen res I do not know. It will be a bit of a giggle to take over the Lapdock/RPi and sit in Starbucks on battery power just like all the big kids do....

Paul Bryant wrote:

 

... How it works out the correct screen res I do not know...

HDMI has an I2C link (signals SCL and SDA).  The HDMI generator asks the monitor what resolutions it supports and the monitor returns a list.  I think Lapdock only returns 1366 x 768.

The only thing I had to do manually was to set "disable_overscan=1" in config.txt to use all the pixels.  If you have wide black bands around the used part of the screen you may want to try this.

Paul Bryant wrote:

 

... How it works out the correct screen res I do not know...

HDMI has an I2C link (signals SCL and SDA).  The HDMI generator asks the monitor what resolutions it supports and the monitor returns a list.  I think Lapdock only returns 1366 x 768.

The only thing I had to do manually was to set "disable_overscan=1" in config.txt to use all the pixels.  If you have wide black bands around the used part of the screen you may want to try this.

Ahh, so that's how. Nope, no big black bands. It figured it out all on it's own. Maybe it's because it's got a UK keyboard.....