WLAN for your Raspberry Pi

In one of my last articles I created a SSH connection for my Raspberry Pi. Now its time for WLAN. For my other computer I use a WLAN USB stick from D-Link. So I stick it into the USB device an reboot.

After reboot my first sense of achievement: the LED is blinking! But this was only a short success. The stick is not supported by the system. It is not possible to use it.

Raspberry compatible WLAN Stick

After some search I found a solution for my WLAN problem. There are WLAN sticks that are supported by Raspberry Pi out of the box. One of them is also very cheap. Only 9,98€. You can find it here: Edimax EW-7811Un nano USB Adapter.

Test

I trusted to some user feedback and ordered them. I put the USB stick into the port and reboot my Raspberry Pi in graphical mode. On the desktop there is a WiFi config program. I start this and I can see: there is a wlan0 adapter. It works!

The configuration is quite simple. With the scan button we can search for WLAN networks. This works without a problem and my home network is found. Now we only need to set our PSK (WLAN key). Then press connect. With the correct key, your stick should now connect to your WLAN router and will get an IP address with DHCP.

WIth the Midori Browser you can check the connection.

Conclusion

The connection with WLAN can be very simple for your Rasoberry Pi if you use hardware that is supported. I’m sure it is possible to run other WLAN sticks that are not supported. But after many hours of work, so for only 10€ you get a real cool stick that is very small, works without problems and has also power saving. So I’m very happy with it.

Which WLAN stick do you use?