[cordvision]

Does anybody have an Edimax EW-7811Un working (not an EW-7811UnR2)?

I followed the instructions to the letter and mine still isn't working. The adapter blinks about five times right after I plug it in, then stops for awhile before it starts blinking again. This repeats a couple times but that is it. Is the adapters little blue led light constantly on when it has a connection?

[popspipes]

Yup! The stand is basically a Faraday Cage. There is no way the little dongle has enough power to go through that.

I keep on wondering why is it that we can't use a powered USB hub. We could wire this out of the "cage" and then connect all sorts of USB dongles to it. Think Wifi, Keyboard and mouse. The only wired device would be the shuttle pro.

They make windows for machine enclosures and motor homes that have a rubber seal around the edge of it, basically cut a hole in the sheet metal the correct size and install it, that would break the shielding and the adapter should work fine as it would be plugged directly into the front computer usb slot, and it would have a finished look when its installed.

edit: kind ofl ike this..

[quarky42]

Does anybody have an Edimax EW-7811Un working (not an EW-7811UnR2)?

I followed the instructions to the letter and mine still isn't working. The adapter blinks about five times right after I plug it in, then stops for awhile before it starts blinking again. This repeats a couple times but that is it. Is the adapters little blue led light constantly on when it has a connection?

Sorry for the late reply, but yes I have both models working. I have a good quality (thicker wire) USB extension cable running outside of the cabinet. After you plug it in, you have to use the ADMIN NETWORK command in the MDI interface to configure the wireless network that you are connecting to. I also used that interface to configure a static IP address for my mill so that I would always know what IP it was on when I try to bring up the network share.

\\<IP>\gcode
username is: workgroup\operator
password is: pcnc

I use a batch script to open up / browse the share, so these two lines are in a .bat script file:
net use \\<IP>\gcode /user:workgroup\operator pcnc
start \\<IP>\gcode

<IP> needs to be replaced with the actual IP address of the controller.

The blue light blinks and stops when you are not connected to a wifi network. The blue light continually blinks when you are connected. I believe you need to go through the ADMIN NETWORK command.

I did find that one of my USB extension cords did not work for the USB adapter. It was low quality and probably higher resistance (lower gauge wire inside it) so buy a good quality USB extension cable... 5 to 6 feet ought to be plenty.

[quarky42]

Does anybody have an Edimax EW-7811Un working (not an EW-7811UnR2)?

I followed the instructions to the letter and mine still isn't working. The adapter blinks about five times right after I plug it in, then stops for awhile before it starts blinking again. This repeats a couple times but that is it. Is the adapters little blue led light constantly on when it has a connection?

I did confirm with another person, also. They had to use a higher quality (thicker) USB Extension cable to get better reception. I ran my extension cable out of the cabinet, up and into the swing arm for the monitor. It sticks out there and gets a good signal from my garage to my router (middle of the house through a couple walls.)

[scott216]

I've got my wireless adapter on a 6 foot extension cable and my connection is very intermittent. On my windows 7 laptop, sometimes the connection visible and just fine, a few minutes later it might not be. If I wait a minute, it usually appears again. Very flaky. My laptop is pretty close to the wireless adapter, about 6 feet away. I'm gonna try putting the adapter directly in the PC to see if that helps. I'll also try just a good quality 3 ft extension cable.

Would it be possible to get rid of the adapter and just run an Ethernet cable between the PathPilot PC and my laptop? If so, how would I configure this to work?

[kstrauss]

Unless I misunderstand your description your laptop doesn't connect to PP but rather connects to your WiFi router which in turn connects to PP. Thus, the important distance is from laptop to router rather than laptop to PP.

I bit the bullet and buried an Ethernet cable between the router in my basement and my detached workshop. The PP machine and an old XP box are hardwired to a hub in the workshop. I now get file transfers and remote console sessions from my design machine in the basement at gigabit speeds (!) and the PP machine connects to everything in the house at 100Mbit. A wired link works great!

[scott216]

the important distance is from laptop to router rather than laptop to PP.

Oh, okay. My laptop's connection to the router is fine. I have no trouble connecting to the internet.

I bit the bullet and buried an Ethernet cable between the router in my basement and my detached workshop. The PP machine and an old XP box are hardwired to a hub in the workshop. I now get file transfers and remote console sessions from my design machine in the basement at gigabit speeds (!) and the PP machine connects to everything in the house at 100Mbit. A wired link works great!

What did you have to config on your old XP box to get it on the wired network?

[kstrauss]

The old XP box has been on the wired network for years (it was my wife's machine). It is configured to use DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol or some such) so everything -- IP address, DNS server, gateway server, subnet mask, etc -- are automagically configured when the machine is powered up. The PP machine also uses DHCP (I believe that is the default install) so nothing has to be done to it either. I configured the router to always assign the same IP address to the PP machine's MAC address.

[quarky42]

Oh, okay. My laptop's connection to the router is fine. I have no trouble connecting to the internet.



What did you have to config on your old XP box to get it on the wired network?

If you have room to move the router, you can try getting it closer. If you can't move it much, you can try getting it higher. A slight change of a foot or two can make a big difference in some situations. In top of that, most routers have antennas you can move around and angle differently.

You may not want to replace your router, but even that can make a big difference. Personally, I've had great experience with the nicer Asus routers, especially the ones with 3 or more antennas. The more antennas it has, the better it can run a type of interference compensation.

That reminds me, before you try a different router, you night consider trying a difference wireless channel. Look for the free version of Inssider 3 and use that on your laptop to "see" what the wireless competition is like in your area. I change the channel on the router so that it's the farthest away from the strongest interference. (In an ideal situation, you find a way to get your wireless network completely away from others. If you can't do that (which is quite common) you can still move your wireless network to a channel that has the least competition from other networks in terms of power / strength of signal.

There are wireless repeaters or extenders that can get a stronger signal to your PP machine, too. Those aren't very expensive.

There are also network extension boxes that provide a wired connection to your computer but the box connects to your router wirelessly. Those are sometimes called wireless wired bridges or bridged wireless gateways.


If you go the wired route, you should be able to just plug it in and the computer will be online. You shouldn't have to change any settings unless they've been changed from the default already. The default is "automatically detect" so it should pickup the connection and ip address info automatically when you plug in.

Do you have lots of options. Tuning the wireless network might be the cheapest, but if it's just too far away and/or through too many walls, the wireless extender or other options might be better.

That inssider 3 program running on a laptop near your mill can show you the effects of moving the antennas around or moving your wireless router around. That helps visually see how you're making the signal stronger. You want a strong signal with low interference. When looking at other networks in the area, you want minimal overlap. Wireless networks interfere with each other even if they aren't on the same channel but they are on near by channels. The type of wireless signal determines how close that overlap range is m

[kstrauss]

My workshop is a wooden building with metal studs and no windows facing my basement (the basement is a walkout with glass doors so there is clear sight between the router and the workshop). The studding makes a rather decent Faraday cage so WiFi fails even with a range extender; a direct cable is the only option.

[shred]

All you have to do is plug an ethernet cable into the PP box on that end. I use a wireless bridge which is an option if you aren't too far from a good wireless network, but still way flakier than just dropping a wire.

[Paul-JB]

Well heck I need to come to CNC zone more often! I've had the Edimax adapter in question from Tormach just sitting in a box of extra "stuff" doing nothing for 5 months. Its so small it got lost with all the papers etc and actually I forgot all about it. It was starting to become a pita inserting and removing the thumb drive 2 times for every program transfer. I saw this thread and was like HEY i bought one of those! Dug it out, plugged it in to the external usb jack, followed the instructions on the technical doc and it linked up perfectly first try. This was refreshing as I am a card carrying computer retard and nothing PC/network related ever seems to work for me first try. Used a short estension cable from back if the controller to the usb jack. The machine is in my basement about 80ft from the wireless router in our 1st floor office. Another good thing about this setup is you can organize folders and files much easier than on the PP machine. Anyway thanks to OP and the rest of you for this thread or I would still be clunking along with a usb stick.
Attachment 296454

[popspipes]

My experience here has been, an adapter ordered from Tormach, it worked if plugged directly into the usb port on the PP computer, it worked unreliably with a 6' extension cable. I wound up breaking the adapter (loose in my caliper and mic box), I reordered one off ebay, same number as the Tormach one, this one works perfect plugged into the PP computer, boots quickly.
I also used the pp computer- hard wired (cat 5 cable), just plugged it in and it worked without doing anything.

I thought it was too much hassle to share files between the computers, and a real pain to get it set up, it did work though, I eventually went back to the thumb drive, as file sharing wasnt something I wanted on my laptop as I use it for everything and not just cad cam g code files.

I am using the new adapter to connect to the internet for setting the clock and keeping the correct time after changing the setup to boot to the desktop instead of pathpilot and I can nose around in the files etc.

My router is close enough I get 100% signal but only if the computer compartment door is left open a bit, I plan to cut a neat hole in the door in front of the adapter and cover it with Lexan to keep the dirt out etc and I think it will work fine.

A good quality usb cable may solve the connection problems of the adapter as well, but I havent tried one yet.

[scott216]

Anybody use Dropbox with with PathPilot? I've got Dropbox on a bunch of my computers and it works really really well to sync files; and it's fast. Though none of them are Linux based PCs, just Windows and Mac.

[wtopace]

Anybody use Dropbox with with PathPilot? I've got Dropbox on a bunch of my computers and it works really really well to sync files; and it's fast. Though none of them are Linux based PCs, just Windows and Mac.

TL;DR: Dropbox should work just fine for you =) You'll need shell prompt access (ctrl+alt+x or boot to Gnome) to install it and some very basic Linux knowledge to install the packages.

There are quite a few people that have been running Dropbox under PathPilot for a while now, I think Tactical Keychains is one of the newer PathPilot users and posted a Youtube vid of his setup with steps.

I haven't found anything that will run in Ubuntu 10.04, but not PathPilot. I am running a customized set of cron jobs that pull down from my private Subversion server every minute, so when I post g-code from any computer, commit it to my source control system... it automatically shows up on the Tormach. Very similar to dropbox, except that I use branch / merge strategies for hand written code a lot of times, so Dropbox doesn't quite cut it.

[quarky42]

My experience here has been, an adapter ordered from Tormach, it worked if plugged directly into the usb port on the PP computer, it worked unreliably with a 6' extension cable. I wound up breaking the adapter (loose in my caliper and mic box), I reordered one off ebay, same number as the Tormach one, this one works perfect plugged into the PP computer, boots quickly.
I also used the pp computer- hard wired (cat 5 cable), just plugged it in and it worked without doing anything.

I thought it was too much hassle to share files between the computers, and a real pain to get it set up, it did work though, I eventually went back to the thumb drive, as file sharing wasnt something I wanted on my laptop as I use it for everything and not just cad cam g code files.

I am using the new adapter to connect to the internet for setting the clock and keeping the correct time after changing the setup to boot to the desktop instead of pathpilot and I can nose around in the files etc.

My router is close enough I get 100% signal but only if the computer compartment door is left open a bit, I plan to cut a neat hole in the door in front of the adapter and cover it with Lexan to keep the dirt out etc and I think it will work fine.

A good quality usb cable may solve the connection problems of the adapter as well, but I havent tried one yet.

I had problems with a crappy extension cable. (Length and gauge of wire makes a difference). I bought a higher gauge wire extension cable and my adapter worked great.

Not that you need to go back because you have a working solution, but for the same of understanding / info for others there is a batch script that I use instead of mapping a drive letter. In a simple text file named so it ends with .bat instead of .txt I put:

@echo off
net use \\<IP-HERE>\gcode /user:workgroup\operator pcnc
start \\<IP-HERE>\gcode

Be sure to change <IP-HERE> to the IP address of your mill on your network.

The first line creates a "session" with the file share. (Temporary connection that goes away when you reboot. Then you just run the batch script again.)
The second line actually launches the path and opens a browse window. So I double click the batch file any time I want to bring up the file share on the mill without logging in, without mapping the drive on my system... I like it this way.

Dropbox is great too and I'll eventually install it on mine as well, but this was quick for me to setup.

[quarky42]

My workshop is a wooden building with metal studs and no windows facing my basement (the basement is a walkout with glass doors so there is clear sight between the router and the workshop). The studding makes a rather decent Faraday cage so WiFi fails even with a range extender; a direct cable is the only option.

Metal studs aren't a problem for wifi signals. However if there is a aluminum skin on the insulation or wire mesh, that could be blocking the signals.

There are still several ways to solve the problem using wifi, such as putting an antenna just outside the building. They make weatherproof ones. You can even use directional antennas that you can aim / point at eachother, but you'd need something picking up the signal at the other side...so a wireless network bridge perhaps.

Doing buried cable is possible, up to 300 feet, but I would save the time and look into a wireless solution. If the building is really blocking the signal, getting an antenna outside of the building isn't too bad. Heck, a good quality router with wireless bridging mode and good antennas might do the trick also. You could remote the multiple antennas to the outside and get a good signal that way.

[scott216]

I ditched the little wireless adapter and hooked up an old Cisco WET200 wireless bridge I had laying around. The bridge connects to the local WiFi signal and then supplies the PathPilot PC a LAN connection via an Ethernet cable. It's working great so far - very reliable.

[quarky42]

I ditched the little wireless adapter and hooked up an old Cisco WET200 wireless bridge I had laying around. The bridge connects to the local WiFi signal and then supplies the PathPilot PC a LAN connection via an Ethernet cable. It's working great so far - very reliable.

Definitely. A wireless / wired network bridge will get a stronger connection. One with multiple external antennas, even better! (I've seen some bridges that don't have external antennas, so anyone going this route, if they are buying something, should look for ones that have the external antennas.)

[scott216]

Metal studs aren't a problem for wifi signals. However if there is a aluminum skin on the insulation or wire mesh, that could be blocking the signals.

There are still several ways to solve the problem using wifi, such as putting an antenna just outside the building. They make weatherproof ones. You can even use directional antennas that you can aim / point at eachother, but you'd need something picking up the signal at the other side...so a wireless network bridge perhaps.

Doing buried cable is possible, up to 300 feet, but I would save the time and look into a wireless solution. If the building is really blocking the signal, getting an antenna outside of the building isn't too bad. Heck, a good quality router with wireless bridging mode and good antennas might do the trick also. You could remote the multiple antennas to the outside and get a good signal that way.

This worked great at first, but then it stopped working. I think the problem is my path pilot PC wasn't setting an IP address, not sure why. So I just set a static IP and DNS, now it's working again. Hopefully it will keep working.

These are the instructions I followed to set the IP and DNS:
https://www.howtoforge.com/linux-bas...c-ip-on-ubuntu