[gentoo-user] Gentoo + wifi

[gentoo-user] Gentoo + wifi

[Philip Webb]

After many years living in the same apartment, I am going to move soon.
Since before I started using Gentoo in 2003, I have been accessing the I/net
via a landline phone jack, a splitter & (more recently) DHCPCD.
I have never had a cell phone or accessed the I/net via Wifi.

Where I'm moving to, there is free Wifi + free use of broadband ;
there's also a phone jack, tho' it's not in the best location.
I need to decide whether to get Bell Canada (my phone) + my ISP
to transfer my connections to the new place & carry on as always
or to use the offered Wifi services, which would save me  CAD 70 / month .

My phone needs are quite basic -- dental appointments + emergencies --
& my ISP has been very reliable, a small Canadian company in Waterloo.

My basic question, if I use the Wifi services,
is whether I would need to add hardware to my machine
& whether I would need to add any packages to my Gentoo system.
I built my computer in 2015 & the mobo came with the usual connectors.

For I/net, I need a DNS address ; for e-mail -- vital -- , an e-ddress.
If I use Wifi, how would these be provided ?

Any advice wb very welcome ; please remember I know nothing re cell phones,
tho' of course I'm quite willing to buy one (brand suggestions ? ).

-- 
========================,,============================================
SUPPORT     ___________//___,   Philip Webb
ELECTRIC   /] [] [] [] [] []|   Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT    `-O----------O---'   purslowatchassdotutorontodotca

Re: [gentoo-user] Gentoo + wifi

[Matt Connell (Gmail)]

On Sun, 2021-03-21 at 21:25 -0400, Philip Webb wrote:
> if I use the Wifi services, is whether I would need to add hardware to my machine

It depends on if your motherboard has an integrated Wifi chip or not.

If it does not have an external connector for an antenna, it probably
doesn't have the hardware.

However, USB wifi adapters are quite affordable and sufficient for your
use case, in my opinion.

> whether I would need to add any packages to my Gentoo system.

Yes, you will.  You'll need to find out what chipset is used by the
adapter you want to add (or already have). Once you have that, you can
enable the appropriate kernel drivers and rebuild, and then you'll need
to install net-wireless/wpa_supplicant to make the actual connection.

wpa_supplicant can be cumbersome to set up by hand, but the Arch wiki
has a very comprehensive page[1] on how to configure it. 
Alternatively, there are GUI tools for managing the configuration (the
aptly named wpa_gui is usually enough; to get this, you need to enable
the qt5 use flag for wpa_supplicant), but if you're connecting to one
network, and never changing the configuration, that might be overkill.

1: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wpa_supplicant

Re: [gentoo-user] Gentoo + wifi

[Philip Webb]

210321 Matt Connell (Gmail) wrote:
> On Sun, 2021-03-21 at 21:25 -0400, Philip Webb wrote:
>> my question is, if I use the Wifi services,
>> is whether I would need to add hardware to my machine
> It depends on if your motherboard has an integrated Wifi chip or not.
> If it does not have an external connector for an antenna,
> it probably doesn't have the hardware.  However, USB wifi adapters
> are quite affordable and sufficient for your use case, in my opinion.

I built the machine in 2015 & it doesn't have an integrated Wifi chip.
I plan to built a new machine in Autumn 2021, so it looks
as if I wb best simply transfering my present set-up to my new place
& exploring the possibilities of Wifi after I've got organised there.

>> & whether I would need to add any packages to my Gentoo system.
> Yes, you will.  You'll need to find out what chipset is used
> by the adapter you want to add.  Once you have that,
> you can enable the appropriate kernel drivers and rebuild,
> then you'll need to install 'net-wireless/wpa_supplicant'
> to make the actual connection.  'wpa_supplicant' can be cumbersome
> to set up by hand, but the Arch wiki has a very comprehensive page[1]
> on how to configure it.  Alternatively, there are GUI tools
> for managing the configuration the aptly named 'wpa_gui' is usually enough;
> to get this, you need to enable the 'qt5' USE flag for 'wpa_supplicant',
> but if you're connecting to 1 network and never changing the configuration,
> that mb overkill.  [1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wpa_supplicant

Thanks for your very clear, prompt & comprehensive explanation (big smile).

-- 
========================,,============================================
SUPPORT     ___________//___,   Philip Webb
ELECTRIC   /] [] [] [] [] []|   Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT    `-O----------O---'   purslowatchassdotutorontodotca

Re: [gentoo-user] Gentoo + wifi

[Neil Bothwick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1908 bytes --]

On Sun, 21 Mar 2021 22:41:44 -0500, Matt Connell (Gmail) wrote:

> However, USB wifi adapters are quite affordable and sufficient for your
> use case, in my opinion.

There are also PCI wifi cards, which would be neater on a desktop. Both
are very cheap, but check what chipset a card uses before buying. Some
need third party modules. I prefer Intel-based ones, they "just work".

> 
> > whether I would need to add any packages to my Gentoo system.  
> 
> Yes, you will.  You'll need to find out what chipset is used by the
> adapter you want to add (or already have). Once you have that, you can
> enable the appropriate kernel drivers and rebuild, and then you'll need
> to install net-wireless/wpa_supplicant to make the actual connection.
> 
> wpa_supplicant can be cumbersome to set up by hand, but the Arch wiki
> has a very comprehensive page[1] on how to configure it. 
> Alternatively, there are GUI tools for managing the configuration (the
> aptly named wpa_gui is usually enough; to get this, you need to enable
> the qt5 use flag for wpa_supplicant), but if you're connecting to one
> network, and never changing the configuration, that might be overkill.

There's nothing to stop you installing with the qt5 flag, setting up and
then removing the flag, although you won't save much if you have other Qt
apps installed.

Setting up wifi for the first time can be a bit trial and error, so you
will need a wired connection as a fallback to search for help or download
software. If possible, get wifi working before you move, most phones have
an option to act as a wireless access point, or hotspot, so you could use
that to make sure your wireless hardware and software is working before
you move. Then you only need to plug in the authentication details at the
new location and all should be well.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Don't judge a book by its movie.

[-- Attachment #2: OpenPGP digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 833 bytes --]

Re: [gentoo-user] Gentoo + wifi

[Peter Humphrey]

On Monday, 22 March 2021 01:25:35 GMT Philip Webb wrote:

> Any advice wb very welcome ; please remember I know nothing re cell
> phones, tho' of course I'm quite willing to buy one (brand suggestions ? ).

Google Pixel, for the nearest thing to the pure Android experience. Others add 
all manner of bloat - stuff you'll never use but can't remove.

That's my two-penn'orth anyway.

-- 
Regards,
Peter.

[gentoo-user] Re: Gentoo + wifi

[Grant Edwards]

On 2021-03-22, Peter Humphrey <peter@prh.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
> On Monday, 22 March 2021 01:25:35 GMT Philip Webb wrote:
>
>> Any advice wb very welcome ; please remember I know nothing re cell
>> phones, tho' of course I'm quite willing to buy one (brand suggestions ? ).
>
> Google Pixel, for the nearest thing to the pure Android experience. Others add 
> all manner of bloat - stuff you'll never use but can't remove.

If you don't want to spend quite that much money, I'm a fan of
Lenonovo Moto "G" series phones. You get a lot of phone for your money
and very little "bloat". A few of the models used to be available as
pure vanilla android, but I don't know if any of the current models
are.

--
Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Gentoo + wifi

[antlists]

On 22/03/2021 13:17, Grant Edwards wrote:
> If you don't want to spend quite that much money, I'm a fan of
> Lenonovo Moto "G" series phones. You get a lot of phone for your money
> and very little "bloat". A few of the models used to be available as
> pure vanilla android, but I don't know if any of the current models
> are.

Agreed. I had a G5 (all the reviews said it was the lemon between the G4 
and the G6, but I liked it). It's now been replaced by a G8. The main 
thing I don't like is the stock android! It's changed between the 5 and 
8 - from Android 8.1 to 10. And afaik they're all close to stock.

The other thing is to look at your contract - I pay £5/month for 
unlimited minutes and texts, and 2GB data.

I don't know whether the wi-fi would be a good deal - my experience of 
free wi-fi is it assumes you're using a browser, so if you're using a 
mail client or whatever things tend to break ... And it's filtered, so a 
lot of sites I do (or did) visit get blocked ... Make sure the wifi is 
pure access without any of that sort of crap.

The phone itself should allow tethering no problem - that's what we use 
when we go away. And if tethering works and you get an unlimited data 
contract, then you've got all you need (that sort of contract is about 
£30, iirc).

Cheers,
Wol

[gentoo-user] Re: Gentoo + wifi

[Grant Edwards]

On 2021-03-22, antlists <antlists@youngman.org.uk> wrote:
> On 22/03/2021 13:17, Grant Edwards wrote:
>> If you don't want to spend quite that much money, I'm a fan of
>> Lenonovo Moto "G" series phones. You get a lot of phone for your money
>> and very little "bloat". A few of the models used to be available as
>> pure vanilla android, but I don't know if any of the current models
>> are.
>
> Agreed. I had a G5 (all the reviews said it was the lemon between the G4 
> and the G6, but I liked it). It's now been replaced by a G8. The main 
> thing I don't like is the stock android! It's changed between the 5 and 
> 8 - from Android 8.1 to 10. And afaik they're all close to stock.

The G's are all very close to stock Android, but there were one or two
models that were advertised as "pure" (or maybe I'm thinking of the
X?). I've currently got a G8 power, and it'll easily go 3 days without
needing charging. There were also some Moto One models which used to
run stock Android One, but I don't think they still actually ran
Adroid One the last time I checked.

--
Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] Gentoo + wifi

[Neil Bothwick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 572 bytes --]

On Mon, 22 Mar 2021 09:52:17 +0000, Peter Humphrey wrote:

> > Any advice wb very welcome ; please remember I know nothing re cell
> > phones, tho' of course I'm quite willing to buy one (brand
> > suggestions ? ).  
> 
> Google Pixel, for the nearest thing to the pure Android experience.
> Others add all manner of bloat - stuff you'll never use but can't
> remove.

Oneplus phones are also close to vanilla Android, and without the Pixel
price tag.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

I've found a solution to Fermat's Last Theorem but I see I've run out of
room o

[-- Attachment #2: OpenPGP digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 833 bytes --]

Re: [gentoo-user] Gentoo + wifi

[Fosco]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 637 bytes --]

I subscribe the wifi related sugegstions.

I'd strongly suggest the qt5 use flag for wpa_supplicant: wpa_gui get
easier and intuitive the authentication process.


About the phone brand...I spent a while wondering about the less
invasive brand to have the purest Android environment. I found the
interesting gentoo android project
<https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Project:Android> but it looked a bit
overkilling for personal use pourposes.

I choose lineageOs <https://lineageos.org/> . When I need a new phone, I
match supported device (from "download" section of lineageOs website) to
availability on market.


Fosco


[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 1010 bytes --]

Re: [gentoo-user] Gentoo + wifi

[Matt Connell (Gmail)]

On Mon, 2021-03-22 at 15:21 +0100, Fosco wrote:
> I choose lineageOs <https://lineageos.org/> . When I need a new
> phone,I match supported device (from "download" section of lineageOs
> website) to availability on market.

+1 for Lineage here.

I didn't recommend it to the OP because for a first-time Android user,
this might be jumping straight into the deep end of the pool.

Also, depending on the circumstances, installing Lineage might void
your warranty.  If going that route, then a used, warranty-less phone
from FleaBay might be a good option.

Re: [gentoo-user] Gentoo + wifi

[Neil Bothwick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 743 bytes --]

On Mon, 22 Mar 2021 09:46:45 -0500, Matt Connell (Gmail) wrote:

> +1 for Lineage here.
> 
> I didn't recommend it to the OP because for a first-time Android user,
> this might be jumping straight into the deep end of the pool.
> 
> Also, depending on the circumstances, installing Lineage might void
> your warranty.  If going that route, then a used, warranty-less phone
> from FleaBay might be a good option.

Also, rooting a phone to install a different OS version can stop some
apps from working, particularly any financial ones.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

"Of course, I could switch back to Windows. At least there, if I have a
problem, I don't suffer under the illusion that I could ever fix it." -
Unknown (paraphrased)

[-- Attachment #2: OpenPGP digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 833 bytes --]

Re: [gentoo-user] Gentoo + wifi

[Matt Connell (Gmail)]

On Mon, 2021-03-22 at 14:58 +0000, Neil Bothwick wrote:
> Also, rooting a phone to install a different OS version can stop some
> apps from working, particularly any financial ones.

Thanks for mentioning this.  I always forget about this because,
fortunately, my credit union app is not affected in this way.

Re: [gentoo-user] Gentoo + wifi

[Neil Bothwick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 632 bytes --]

On Mon, 22 Mar 2021 10:12:07 -0500, Matt Connell (Gmail) wrote:

> > Also, rooting a phone to install a different OS version can stop some
> > apps from working, particularly any financial ones.  
> 
> Thanks for mentioning this.  I always forget about this because,
> fortunately, my credit union app is not affected in this way.

That's what I said about my bank, until an update to their app refused to
run. Once rooted, it was impossible to completely unroot the phone, even
with a factory reset :(


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. Its the transition thats
troublesome. - Isaac Asimov

[-- Attachment #2: OpenPGP digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 833 bytes --]

Re: [gentoo-user] Gentoo + wifi

[Fosco]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1149 bytes --]

On Mon, 22 Mar 2021 09:46:45 -0500, Matt Connell (Gmail) wrote:
>> +1 for Lineage here.
>>
>> I didn't recommend it to the OP because for a first-time Android user,
>> this might be jumping straight into the deep end of the pool.

Nigthly build for supported devices are fairly safe (from my experience).

But yes: you should account for a day working in OS installation and
tuning. That is far away from the ready to use phone you bought and that
only needs the sim card to fit in.

>>
>> Also, depending on the circumstances, installing Lineage might void
>> your warranty.  If going that route, then a used, warranty-less phone
>> from FleaBay might be a good option.

Furthermore devices from "SALES" are easier to find whitin the supported
list. The port of a new device can be painful.

I checked also in amazon wharehouse offerts

> Also, rooting a phone to install a different OS version can stop some
> apps from working, particularly any financial ones.
Maybe Magisk <https://magisk.me/> is not suitable for a firt-time
Android user as it can be mind mangling, but in the end it leds those
apps to run smoothly.

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 1970 bytes --]

Re: [gentoo-user] Gentoo + wifi

[Neil Bothwick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 568 bytes --]

On Mon, 22 Mar 2021 16:14:20 +0100, Fosco wrote:

> > Also, rooting a phone to install a different OS version can stop some
> > apps from working, particularly any financial ones.  
> Maybe Magisk <https://magisk.me/> is not suitable for a firt-time
> Android user as it can be mind mangling, but in the end it leds those
> apps to run smoothly.

I haven't tried Magisk but I did try other systemless rooting methods
that were still detected by banking apps or Google Pay.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.

[-- Attachment #2: OpenPGP digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 833 bytes --]