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Intel IWD 1.9 Released With New Capabilities

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  • Intel IWD 1.9 Released With New Capabilities

    Phoronix: Intel IWD 1.9 Released With New Capabilities

    Intel's iNet Wireless Daemon (IWD) is out with a new feature release with this daemon continuing to see new usage and possibly on Ubuntu moving forward...

    Phoronix, Linux Hardware Reviews, Linux hardware benchmarks, Linux server benchmarks, Linux benchmarking, Desktop Linux, Linux performance, Open Source graphics, Linux How To, Ubuntu benchmarks, Ubuntu hardware, Phoronix Test Suite

  • #2
    Is this capable of sharing a Wifi conection as a Wifi hotspot ?
    I know that it's already possible to create a Wifi hospot and share the internet connection when the computer gets it through a wire, but I'm curios if we can do the same with this when the internet connection is already coming through Wifi.
    I see that in KDE Plasma I have the Hotspot option only if I disconnect from the wifi, but in that case I don't have Internet to share anymore over hotspot.
    In any case I hope Ubuntu switches to it as soon as possible.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Danny3 View Post
      Is this capable of sharing a Wifi conection as a Wifi hotspot ?
      It does its part to allow that, but it is only a part of a bigger system.
      "sharing a connection" it's not its job as that involves routing and other networking tasks that are far outside of its scope (and in many cases done by a daemon called "hostapd").
      It could be used as part of such a system since the beginning, as it can create access point networks.

      This obviously assumes that your wifi hardware actually supports access point mode AND being used to create multiple wifi networks like that. Afaik Intel Wifi N cards didn't, but you can check your card's abilities from commandline https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...upport_AP_mode

      I know that it's already possible to create a Wifi hospot and share the internet connection when the computer gets it through a wire, but I'm curios if we can do the same with this when the internet connection is already coming through Wifi.
      I see that in KDE Plasma I have the Hotspot option only if I disconnect from the wifi, but in that case I don't have Internet to share anymore over hotspot.
      If your card supports the feature, this is a Network Manager limitation. It's the application that manages network and has a GUI in more or less all big distros.

      While I don't see the point in using a PC as a wifi repeater, since ancient times there was a script that allowed to do that https://github.com/oblique/create_ap
      which has now been super-seeded by an improved version with a basic GUI. https://github.com/lakinduakash/linux-wifi-hotspot

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      • #4
        So why can't they integrate all this Miracast stuff in Networkmanager?

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        • #5
          Does the Miracast feature require one of those dongles for it or could I use this with my laptop to extend to screens connected to a desktop machine without changing the cables? Or add a RPi or something to handle that dongle functionality?

          I assume it wouldn't work that well over 802.11N, but benefits from 802.11ac and ax? What do the dongles usually provide? (or I suppose it's not something they advertise)

          Regarding the hotspot talk, last I knew you usually could only have the wifi chipset in one mode, so if it was acting as a hot spot it still needed another connection elsewhere to bridge, they don't usually function as both a hotspot and a connection to a router?

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          • #6
            polarathene it should probably work with any wifi adapter that supports p2p. and 802.11N it should be enough

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            • #7
              Originally posted by polarathene View Post
              Does the Miracast feature require one of those dongles for it
              the dongles are just very low end Android devices running some Miracast server application.

              What matters for Miracast is that you need a miracast server application on the device that is connected to the screen physically. There are some on Github

              Regarding the hotspot talk, last I knew you usually could only have the wifi chipset in one mode, so if it was acting as a hot spot it still needed another connection elsewhere to bridge, they don't usually function as both a hotspot and a connection to a router?
              many wifi chipsets allow multiple networks at the same time (either client or access point mode). It's just older stuff that can't do it. I think all wifi ac can do it, while for wifi N not all devices could do it, especially Intel and Broadcomm ones

              Many cheap embedded repeater devices are also using a single wifi chipset too.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by polarathene View Post
                Does the Miracast feature require one of those dongles for it or could I use this with my laptop to extend to screens connected to a desktop machine without changing the cables? Or add a RPi or something to handle that dongle functionality?

                I assume it wouldn't work that well over 802.11N, but benefits from 802.11ac and ax? What do the dongles usually provide? (or I suppose it's not something they advertise)
                802.11n is pretty much obsolete. First 802.11ac draft based routers appeared almost 10 years ago. If you're ok with closed firmware, 802.11ac has been supported on Linux at least 6-7 years. 802.11n provides only about 100-200 Mbps in optimal conditions, in practice it's barely usable for 1080p h264 streaming with sufficient buffering.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by starshipeleven View Post
                  many wifi chipsets allow multiple networks at the same time (either client or access point mode). It's just older stuff that can't do it. I think all wifi ac can do it, while for wifi N not all devices could do it, especially Intel and Broadcomm ones
                  I'll need to look into that some time, I have an 802.11ac dongle from ASUS that uses an upstreamed driver in the kernel (MediaTek I think? Been a while since I bought it).

                  I don't recall it allowing me to run a hotspot from it and maintain the connection to the router, but that was only attempted via NetworkManager GUI that Plasma provides, so I ended up using the 80211.ac for hotspot and 802.11g/n for connection to the router (I don't really much speed tbh, still on 1080p and Netflix and youtube streams fine on that).

                  Originally posted by caligula View Post

                  802.11n is pretty much obsolete.
                  I understand that, but I have a wifi dongle that's still working well from 2008-ish? I think it was $100 D-Link when bought. I can't recall if it's 802.11N or 802.11G but seeing as around that time N came out, it might be that it was 802.11G, either or I still actively use it today as until recently we didn't have fiber here so 8mbps connection only amounted to 1MB/sec at most anyway.. and G can do something like 54mbps theoretical iirc?

                  What I do know is it's horrible streaming over Steam Link to my android phone. I've got a newer 802.11ac dongle since 2019 with driver upstreamed in the kernel, but last I tried it I kept getting kernel panics and didn't have time to investigate further (it didn't use to have that issue). Might get around to switching back to it at some point but kernel panics are rather inconvenient :P

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by polarathene View Post
                    I'll need to look into that some time, I have an 802.11ac dongle from ASUS that uses an upstreamed driver in the kernel (MediaTek I think? Been a while since I bought it).

                    I don't recall it allowing me to run a hotspot from it and maintain the connection to the router, but that was only attempted via NetworkManager GUI that Plasma provides, so I ended up using the 80211.ac for hotspot and 802.11g/n for connection to the router (I don't really much speed tbh, still on 1080p and Netflix and youtube streams fine on that).
                    I have written already how to check for this feature a few posts before yours https://www.phoronix.com/forums/foru...58#post1205158 and also an application that allows you to create a wifi hotspot on the same radio you are using to connect to the router, in case NetworkManager is too dumb to do that.

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