Disabling hostapd and connecting to a router

[ajc]

Hi folks,

I'm using the Dawn Robotics SD image (everything is working great) and currently connecting using the hostapd service. I'd like to turn off the hostapd service so I can connect the robot to a router.

I found a few posts on the forum which explained how to disable hostapd (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1353) and setting up /etc/network/interfaces to connect to my router (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1343), however was still unable to connect. Interestingly, if I jump into the desktop on the Pi and try and scan for hotspots, the following message is displayed:

Could not get status from wpa_supplicant

I suspect something may still be preventing the wifi scanning for networks?

Could I double check the steps I need to take to disable hostapd and connect to a wireless router? Alternatively, if I just stick another Edimax into the Pi, would one be able to function as hostapd and the other connect to wifi?

For anyone interested, I came across this script that checks to see if there's a known wireless network nearby, and if not startup hostapd - which sounds like a nice solution:
http://sirlagz.net/2013/01/22/script-st ... goes-down/

Thanks!

[Alan]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forums. Apologies for the delayed reply.

The posts you've linked to should disable hostapd and so allow you to connect to a router.

Could you please run the following commands to check that the hostapd and dhcp services are indeed stopped?

sudo service hostapd status
sudo service isc-dhcp-server status

Also, could you please post the contents of your etc/network/interfaces file so that I can check to see if there's anything odd?

Regards

Alan

[ajc]

Hi Alan, sorry for the late reply. Just wanted to let you know I managed to get it all sorted by modifying my wpa_supplicant file with the wireless networks I needed to connect to. Many thanks for your help

On a random question (though this may be better as a separate topic), if I wanted to upgrade to the Dagu magician 4WD chassis (http://www.dawnrobotics.co.uk/dagu-magi ... t-chassis/), do I need to worry about drawing extra power for the motors, or can I continue using the existing chassis bundle kit (using the recommended USB power block)? I ask because my omniwheel seems to be getting stuck and 4 wheels sound like a nice solution.

Many thanks - really enjoying the project.

[Alan]

Hi there,

Glad to hear that you're up and running.

The few times that I've tried the kit with the 4WD chassis, it has worked well. When running from the USB powerbank, I did need to power the mini driver and motors from the 2.1A port though.

Regards

Alan