How to connect Beaglebone blue to *any* network, except a simple Wifi

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Firstly, via USB. I set a gateway on Beaglebone, but the desktop (host Ubuntu) does not care. There are some instructions on the internet, followed by “if does not work add use echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward, a thing with iptables, whatever”, it all did not work, ping 8.8.8.8 on the bone does not work. Someone told that you need to put the respective interface to a “trusted zone”. I do not know where I can found that zone. To add a VPN connection. “Add a VPN connection” is grayed on my system.

I did not want to touch wifi, because I would prefer beaglebone to be a hotspot, but if it did not work with the cable…

Firstly, there is “connman”, to make it easier. I tried connman, but the wifi network is enterprise tunneled double-authentication etc, connman just prints “invalid arguments” when I try to connect. There is some wpa-supplicant-like configuration file, added it as instructed, but no effect, all I see is still “invalid arguments”. No detailed error, no problematic file, no problematic line, no list of these arguments, nothing, just “invalid arguments”.

Lastly, there is wpa-supplicant itself. I made a respective file, but it all starts and stops with

$ wpa_supplicant -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -i wlan0
Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
Could not read interface p2p-dev-wlan0 flags: No such device
nl80211: Could not set interface ‘p2p-dev-wlan0’ UP
nl80211: deinit ifname=p2p-dev-wlan0 disabled_11b_rates=0
p2p-dev-wlan0: Failed to initialize driver interface
P2P: Failed to enable P2P Device interface

There is nothing about p2p-dev-wlan0, whatever it is, in wpa_supplicant.conf

Could you please help me? I had never problems with RPi, with BBone Black, but Blue, no idea. I am not a network expert and I do not want to be one. I just want to apt update etc. Thanks.

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For enterprise, you'll need a config file, see the "Eduroam" example:

https://manpages.debian.org/testing/connman/connman-service.config.5.en.html

Regards,

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Hi!

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Thanks Robert, I know. I have created that file. It is something like wpa-supplicant.conf, but different. Connman did not react to that file, or at least all that it prints is still “invalid arguments”, as in the case when the file did not exist.

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Hi Tarmo, yes one of these pages with instructions also informed that network-over-usb it is a non-recommended struggle, which may not even survive a reboot.

Thanks for informing me that a USB-Ethernet dongle will work though, I did not know that.

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I like these little things, USB - wifi for under $5. I have a few of the little ones like this, but more of the kind with gain antennas about 6 inches long. Mostly Realtek, one Ralink. Some Linux versions don’t have a decent driver for Realtek, but mostly just Armbian.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/F393-NEW-Realtek-RTL8188ETV-USB-150M-802-11b-g-n-n-Wireless-WiFi-mini-adapter-do/202555327846?epid=15027574714&hash=item2f293d0566:g:kc4AAOSwckVcLWak:rk:6:pf:0

I’m not sure if I’ve ever plugged in 2 of them at once like if you wanted to make a hotspot that’s fed by another network,. I’ve been using Android phones as hotspots for several years, that’s my only internet connection. Look at the man page for iwconfig for nitty-gritty details. I have no experience with wpa, I run an open network (rural area).

This is old-school but I use an /etc/network/interfaces file that’s just

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wireless-essid Moto_lte

For both Raspbian and Debian. Your first wireless interface becomes wlan0. You add a wired one like:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.0.59
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.0.0
broadcast 192.168.0.255

Into the same file. I like wifi better than I expected to. It’s not as fast as wired but it’s a lot more convenient. Unless you’re running an embassy and the Russians are snooping into what you do with directional antennas to steal secrets.