I managed to get this working on a previous kernel by downloading the driver using the following commands:
wget https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/80256631/8188eu-20150406.tar.gz
tar -zxvf 8188eu-20150406.tar.gz
sudo install -p -m 644 8188eu.ko /lib/modules/3.18.11+/kernel/drivers/net/wireless
sudo insmod /lib/modules/3.18.11+/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/8188eu.ko
sudo depmod -a
sudo reboot
However, since updating the kernel to 4.1.8+, I can't seem to get the thing to work using the same procedure. I'm now trying to use this driver:
wget https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/80256631/8188eu-20150929.tar.gz
but can't get it to work my network config files remain the same
I found that this file:
'/etc/modprobe.d/8188eu.conf'
contained the line:
blacklist r8188eu
Commenting that line out had no effect.
lsusb returns the following:
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9514 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:8179 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
('Realtek Semiconductor Corp' is the device in question) And lsmod shows the system is aware of the driver:
CODE: SELECT ALL 8188eu 933436 0
But attempting to restart the network with
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
Returns
Running /etc/init.d/networking restart is deprecated because it may not r[warnble some interfaces ... (warning).
[....] Reconfiguring network interfaces...wpa_supplicant: /sbin/wpa_supplicant daemon failed to start
run-parts: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant exited with return code 1
wpa_supplicant: /sbin/wpa_supplicant daemon failed to start
run-parts: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant exited with return code 1
ifup: interface eth0 already configured
I tried downloading what I think is the source for this driver:
https://github.com/Red54/linux-shumeipai2.git
But couldn't figure out how to build it - 'build.sh' gives the following message:
build.sh - Top level build scritps
Valid Options:
-h Show help message
-p <platform> platform, e.g. sun4i, sun4i-lite, sun4i_crane
-m <module> module
(goodling 'sun4i' reveals it's something to do with a system-on-a-chip thing - is that the guts of the TPLink chip? I'm not sure which one to build.
Obviously this is all a bit of a pain and I'd appreciate it if anybody could help. Also, can anybody tell me why my particular brand of wifi dongle doesn't 'just work'? Should I avoid this brand in the future if I want to have better compatibility on pi (ubuntu mate works out of the box, not sure why raspbian does not)