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johanndo avatar image
johanndo asked

hostapd configuration on VenusOS

I would like to run a second wifi adapter (either on USB-WiFi dongle or on the internal WiFi chip) on the VenusOS in AP mode and an isolated ip segment (no routing to LAN and the other Wlan network, dnsmasq dhcp, iptables blocking the traffic as an workaround if necessary). Venus manages the network settings and WiFi in client mode, not sure how to prevent it from trying to screw up the settings. Also looking for a way to force Venus to leave alone the manually configured default gateway settings - it screws them up and points default route on LAN instead of WiFi client frequently if one of the networks goes down and back up - what is verry annoying (LAN is connected to Raymarine St.HS isolated network, the chartplotter provides dhcp for 10.x.x.x addresses, Wlan connects to a 4G MiFi router or a phone with tethering for VRM portal internet access, both are often down or offline depending on network availability or devices turned off).

reason behind is, I want to set up an external router-independent wireless network for sensors, that continues to work if the router is down for any reason.

Any hints appreciated.

wifiTCP IP Networking
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3 Answers
bathnm avatar image
bathnm answered ·

@JohannDo You do not state what hardware you are using. The VenusGX device already has this, the PI's do not as they have only 1 WIFI controller. I suspect it is all controlled by dbus and various other victron specific bits, but does use hostapd

2006 root 5680 S /usr/sbin/hostapd /run/hostapd.conf


You might want to hunt down the hostapd.conf that VenusOS uses within the VenusGX, but then you need to find a way too stop VenusOS from managing a Wifi device added through a USB dongle, unless you can fool it into thinking it is the interface the VenusGX uses for this.

screenshot-2022-06-13-at-183312.pngscreenshot-2022-06-13-at-183344.png


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johanndo answered ·

Thank, I use a raspberryPi 4b on VenusOS 2.40~42

hostapd is not installed in the image, maybe it came on a later version. Will look at it. Thanks!

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bathnm avatar image
bathnm answered ·

I guess it is not included in the RPI image as there is no second WIFI interface is the hardware to use it. You may well find you can install it via opkg.

I would also suggest you want too get onto 2.90 as there are some significant changes, especially if your PI4B has more than 1Gb of RAM. The new 2.90 version (in beta) has support for the ;after PI4b's with >1Gb of RAM.

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johanndo avatar image johanndo commented ·
I have a 4GB version of the Pi. I am a little hesitant to upgrade as I had added and patched the system heavily with borrowed libraries and programs from a raspbean 2 years ago to make all the different GPIO interfaces available (I2C, 1-Wire etc., Python3 side by side with Python2) experimenting with the system, I extended some of the system services to gather and handle non-Victron sensors (like the systemcalc and gui) and I am afraid to have to do it all over again when I upgrade.


I need to make a system diff and probably script a patching procedure to get it all running again, or install the new version on a new hardware and then port from one to the other all the script changes and libraries. The system is life running on our boat (we live on board and cruise), I don't want to mess it up too much at a time.

I tried to install hostapd with opkg but seams the package source is broken, I get an error message that it doesn't find it, but it is listed when I look in the catalogue with opkg list... Maybe too old / not maintained.


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