The wifi ad-hoc or accesspoint problem

@ munderhill - Well my goal was to be able to see my device in my laptop’s list of available wireless networks. I would then select and connect to the “network” that is my device. Sort of like when you see a bunch of wireless networks which are really routers, except instead of a router broadcasting, it would be my Spider based device.

Once connected to the network (aka Spider), I would browse to the home page served up by the device, most likely at 192.128.1.1 and this page would then show all the wireless networks it sees. Sort of like my laptop does, except the Spider would not show itself just all the other wireless nets out there, most likely routers.

Then I can pick one, and join my network on my device to the selected network from the home page. I’d enter any creds on that page too so it could join.

Up till now, I’ve had both a wireless AND a physical ethernet connection, using the physical connection simply to serve a home page from where I could select which “other network” I could join to. I’d like to eliminate the physical altogether and just do everything via the wifi.

Sorry for the long winded explanation, I don’t quite have the lingo down yet :wink:

@ BigRunningBack - OK, thanks for the explanation. Yes, you would need the Spider/WiFi module to run as an access point. All this is do-able on the IoT Labs WiFi Module (I have one left from the current production run, if you are interested).

@ munderhill - yes I am definitely interested! :slight_smile:

Please let me know what I need to do to order one from you :slight_smile:
Thanks!
Rich

so let me really get this straight.

You want the Spider to be an ad-hoc device that your PC connects to.
You want the Spider to then present a list of other wireless networks it can see.
You want the Spider to then connect to the wireless network you choose.

Do you need the PC-to-Spider connection to still be working ? If so, for what purpose?

So really this is just the ad-hoc initial connection to allow the setup of the “more permanent” connection ?

@ Brett - yes, I need a friendly easy way for my device to present a list of networks to a user (via the wifi) and have them select one, and enter creds, and have my device join to the network selected. Most of the time likely done once, but need the ability to be able to join to another network at some point down the road too.

The PC-spider connection is as you said for initial setup where the spider is “joined” to the network selected on the setup page.

FYI Since MS Windows 8.1 AD-Hoc devices are not shown anymore as WiFi device :frowning:
With some manual setup it is still able to connect but that’s not user friendly.
Time for GHI to come with a newer device :wink:

To return to my original question in this post. Getting a wifi connection with websockets with a wifi module running in access point mode. It is now solved with the IoT Labs module! Running on windows, android, ios…

About adhoc: Not going to be added to android. Google closed it as obsolete on December 25… (??no comments)
https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=82

Yesterday I unpacked 15 IoT Labs WiFi Modules modules that are going into a first production run :slight_smile:

Be back later with a demo and some code… Just wanted to get it out if someone else is struggling with the problem I had.

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I poked around a bit and couldn’t find anywhere that I could order a IoT Labs WiFi Module. Gotta get me one to try :slight_smile: I know this will work perfectly for my application right out of the box.

@ munderhill - do you have a site/store I can order from, or shall I PM you with my info?

I sent you a private message earlier.