Can RasPlex be used for WiFi with a dongle?

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1

To share a database on TV I am using a Raspberry Pi 3-B with RasPlex v1.0.3. Internal WiFi being too slow I want to use a WiFi dongle via a USB port instead. But:

  1. All the strong signals from my WiFi environment indicated in System Settings>Connections disappear after a couple of minutes and I have to reconnect the dongle in a different USB port to see them again. However I was able to activate my own network via the dongle (interface: wlan1)

  2. After disconnecting and reconnecting the power to the Pi the signal from the dongle is disappeared and the WiFi is connected via the internal WiFi (interface: wlan0) even if I had made this connection idle on beforehand.

Did I do something wrong or is it impossible to use a WiFi dongle?

2

Sorry, not ignoring this, just catching up on alleged issues, will post back later.

Regards

3

@NedtheNerd
I see that you are very busy with the forum, but my question, not forgotten about it?

I loaded pre-release 1.6.1 and noticed a better standard WiFi, however not an absolute solution for all shared data (some still have moments of disappearing audio). I still think a dongle would be better solution.

I don’t know if I have to open a new item for the following or that it has to do with above mentioned problem. With release 1.6.1 for a acceptable audio with output HMDI I have to select the stereo 2.0 audio channels. If I select 5.1 audio channels the soundlevel of only the spoken language (so not the background music) is ranging continuously from soft to very soft and therefore unacceptable.

Regards

4

Sorry for the delay.

USB WiFi dongles can be used without any issues.

Plug in your USB WiFi dongle (I find these one of the best http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WIFI-300Mbps-WIRELESS-ADAPTOR-802-11-B-G-N-LAN-NETWORK-USB-DONGLE-ADAPTER-WPS-/330836774580?hash=item4d07688eb4)
Restart your RPi3,
Go to System Settings, Network, make sure Wireless Networks is enabled,
In Connections, select your SSID with the Interface ‘wlan1’ and select Connect, enter your password,
USB dongle now connected, built in WiFi is disabled.

Regarding your sound issues, please refer to https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/181255/rasplex-guide-to-audio-settings-updated.

Regards

5

I hope I was not too impatient.

  1. I was already able to get an excellent signal from a USB-dongle, the way you described, however power off the Rpi3 and on again: no signal from the dongle anymore and internal WiFi is automatically enabled again.

  2. After a short time all non-selected SSID’s from built in WiFi and dongle are not shown in Connections anymore. Why is that?

  3. Thanks for this guide to audio settings, but I don’t know what “SSH into the RPi” means. Sorry for that. Are there also other setting guides?

Thank you

6

@raaf999:
SSH is a network protocol used to access a computer remotely using command-line interactions.
For this you need an SSH compatible client program such as the widely used “PuTTY.exe” for Windows.

With such a program you can connect to the RPi, and use a command-line window to interact with the system.
The effect is very similar to using a command-line window locally on a Linux system, with many of the standard Linux ‘bash’ commands available, as well as some specific to the RPi and RasPlex.

When you use SSH with the RPi the login username is “root” and the password is “rasplex”.

Best regards: dlanor

7

Will a WiFi dongle work with a RPi2 as well?

Thanks!