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I’m trying to understand why this is better than a usb WiFi dongle, and coming up empty. Anyone have an idea?

by vxNsr 5y ago

foxrider 5y ago
No driver, processing or configuration is required on the bridged machine. This is good for devices you can't install a driver on (smart TVs, networked printers, any other appliance). No configuration also means you don't have to risk your wifi password being stored/shared with third parties.
- vxNsr 5y ago
  Gotcha. These are actual great use cases. I wonder if there’s a market to make an actual dedicated consumer device. I guess the main issue is that Ethernet ports are going the way of the dodo.
  - vel0city 5y ago
    ~~Lots of~~ Some* wireless access points support operating in either a client or bridged mode. Client mode usually implies (not always) it NAT'ing the WiFi connection similar to what a home router might do with your internet connection. Sometimes client mode is synonymous to bridging which is what this Pi is doing. So yes, there's been a market for this on lots of consumer devices for quite some time. Most people just don't know it exists. Edited my comment a bit as doing a bit more research its not quite as common as I believed but does exist on a number of consumer devices. I still stand by my point that most people don't know about this feature of their hardware when present as most people don't understand the difference between a router and an access point.
jz_ 5y ago
n=1 I use an intel nuc i3-7100U as a wifi to ethernet bridge for a Windows 10 machine (HP Elitedesk 8300 Core i5-3470). The nuc also serves as a htpc running libreelec. Why? I tried 4 different USB WiFi dongles with different chipsets spanning ~11 years and each one would end up being the cause of intermittent blue screen of death. The dump file backtrace repeatedly pointed to the usb-wifi stack.
locusm 5y ago
You have a printer thats no where near a wired port. Your USB stick isnt going to work in this case.
- treesknees 5y ago
  Similar case, I did this with a home security system when I moved in. It's old but has a web interface for viewing some alarm data, and can technically reach out to the web for sending alarms. The panel is in a closet so the Pi worked perfectly.
sosodev 5y ago
I did this when I didn't have a dongle but did have a Raspberry Pi on hand.
vel0city 5y ago
Wireless bridges can be useful when you're trying to connect several devices through a single wireless link. Think about potentially having a whole room of devices all with a perfectly placed antenna instead of half a dozen antennas placed in compromised locations.

I’m trying to understand why this is better than a usb WiFi dongle, and coming up empty. Anyone have an idea?

by vxNsr 5y ago

I’m trying to understand why this is better than a usb WiFi dongle, and coming up empty. Anyone have an idea?

No driver, processing or configuration is required on the bridged machine. This is good for devices you can't install a driver on (smart TVs, networked printers, any other appliance). No configuration also means you don't have to risk your wifi password being stored/shared with third parties.

vxNsr 5y ago
Gotcha. These are actual great use cases. I wonder if there’s a market to make an actual dedicated consumer device. I guess the main issue is that Ethernet ports are going the way of the dodo.
- vel0city 5y ago
  ~~Lots of~~ Some* wireless access points support operating in either a client or bridged mode. Client mode usually implies (not always) it NAT'ing the WiFi connection similar to what a home router might do with your internet connection. Sometimes client mode is synonymous to bridging which is what this Pi is doing. So yes, there's been a market for this on lots of consumer devices for quite some time. Most people just don't know it exists. Edited my comment a bit as doing a bit more research its not quite as common as I believed but does exist on a number of consumer devices. I still stand by my point that most people don't know about this feature of their hardware when present as most people don't understand the difference between a router and an access point.

jz_ 5y ago

n=1 I use an intel nuc i3-7100U as a wifi to ethernet bridge for a Windows 10 machine (HP Elitedesk 8300 Core i5-3470). The nuc also serves as a htpc running libreelec. Why? I tried 4 different USB WiFi dongles with different chipsets spanning ~11 years and each one would end up being the cause of intermittent blue screen of death. The dump file backtrace repeatedly pointed to the usb-wifi stack.

locusm 5y ago

You have a printer thats no where near a wired port. Your USB stick isnt going to work in this case.

treesknees 5y ago
Similar case, I did this with a home security system when I moved in. It's old but has a web interface for viewing some alarm data, and can technically reach out to the web for sending alarms. The panel is in a closet so the Pi worked perfectly.

sosodev 5y ago

I did this when I didn't have a dongle but did have a Raspberry Pi on hand.

vel0city 5y ago

Wireless bridges can be useful when you're trying to connect several devices through a single wireless link. Think about potentially having a whole room of devices all with a perfectly placed antenna instead of half a dozen antennas placed in compromised locations.