Attaching a WiFi dongle to the iMote2
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ZD1211- and ZD1211B-based WiFi dongles, such as the IOGEAR GWU523, are fully supported by the MSP. Other dongles are supported if you build the proper kernel modules for them. You can attach a WiFi dongle either to the LSB, or wire it into the iMote.
Drivers
To use a WiFi dongle, the proper drivers must be loaded. You can specify drivers to load at boot time in /etc/modules. ohci-hcd is required (it's the USB host port driver) regardless of which dongle you use. Information about the ZD1211(B) drivers is here.
LSB method
- If you attach the WiFi dongle to the LSB port, you must run lsb-server with USB_ENABLE set to 1 in lsb.ini to enable power on USB port.
iMote2/MSB method
- Caution: You can easily damage the iMote2 with this method. It is not recommended unless you have considerable soldering experience.
In some cases, you can wire a USB dongle directly into the iMote2 and MSB. The biggest constraint is that you must be able to power the USB dongle, and the MSP by default doesn't produce the 5 volts required by the USB spec. However, many dongles simply regulate the 5 volts down to 3 or 3.3 volts. In this case, you can likely bypass the regulator and attach it directly to one of the 3 volt lines on the MSB, or, depending on the dongle, one of the 2.8V lines on the iMote2. Once you've solved the power problem, attach the D+ line from the USB dongle between R20 and R21 on the iMote2. Attach the D- line from the USB dongle between R19 and R22 on the iMote2.
