Raspberry Pi Zero W 1.1

[redcoffee90]

Hi all,

I'm in the process of setting up Dreampi on my Raspberry Pi Zero W v1.1.

I'm able to load the DreamPi image (1.7) to the SD card without issue. Where i'm struggling is getting it to connect to Wifi in a headless operation (I don't own a microUSB keyboard and typically setup all my Pi Zero's as headless using config files, I then SSH for settings).

DreamPI image doesnt seem to like this. I typically enable SSH by placing an empty file named "ssh" on root of the drive, followed by a file named wpa_supplicant.conf containing the following information

country=US
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

network={
ssid="NETWORK-NAME"
psk="NETWORK-PASSWORD"
}

I've also tried the new method provided in the official Raspberry Pi Imager v1.7.2 where you can configure SSH and wireless settings using a GUI. This also doesnt connect.

Am I missing a major compatibility issues that has been discussed when using a wireless pi zero w as the primary system?

[pcwzrd13]

Have you tried using it on one of your other Pi Zero W's? There's no compatibility issue with the Zero W. I've used this exact same method on my own Zero W and it's worked fine. My only guess is that your Pi's Wi-Fi is defective. Either that or you're too far away from your router to connect.

[redcoffee90]

I swapped it out with another Pi Zero and the same issue. After creating both of these files on the root of the drive the bootloader process for dreampi auto deletes the wifi configuration script and the ssh enablement. Unsure how to report a bug for this.

I was able to take the same card in a (wired) new Raspberry Pi 4B model and it worked out of the box for most games. I'm currently struggling with an issue seeing Alien Front Online lobby's (or having others join my game).

Once I have a USB to Micro USB convertor i'll manually log into the Pi Zero with keyboard/mouse and troubleshoot futher. But headless operation from scripting is a common setup approach for Raspberry Pi that does not appear to work with DreamPi out of the box.

[pcwzrd13]

Ok, so I see why it doesn't work. In addition to the configuring the wpa_supplicant.conf file, you also need to add the following to /etc/network/interfaces. I'm not sure if this can be done without a keyboard.

Code: Select all

auto wlan0

allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet manual
wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
iface default inet dhcp
dns-nameserver 127.0.0.1

Edit: I've updated the 1.7 image on the DC Live Downloads page to include this by default. Just write the new image, configure the Wi-Fi as you did before, and it should work.

[Thepolicenaut]

I have a similar question if anyone can help,il try my best to explain.

I have 2 dreampis which I made myself from pi zeros ,however I constructed them in such a compact way where everything is hard wired in that I can't connect them to a monitor like a regular pi to access the dreampi settings to set the WiFi code.

If I want to change the WiFi i would have to use a seperate raspberry pi to set the WiFi settings and then swap sd cards back over ,this set up worked great until we changed internet provider and I never got around to buying the third raspberry pi,of course now raspberry pis are impossible to buy so I'm unable to change the WiFi settings.

To summarise is there any way of setting up the dreampi WiFi settings on an sd card without actualy using a raspberry pi? Maybe I could load dreampi with a virtual console on the pc? , Or can it be done remotely somehow?

[redcoffee90]

Ok, so I see why it doesn't work. In addition to the configuring the wpa_supplicant.conf file, you also need to add the following to /etc/network/interfaces. I'm not sure if this can be done without a keyboard.

Code: Select all

auto wlan0

allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet manual
wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
iface default inet dhcp
dns-nameserver 127.0.0.1

Edit: I've updated the 1.7 image on the DC Live Downloads page to include this by default. Just write the new image, configure the Wi-Fi as you did before, and it should work.

Thanks for doing this! It will save someone a little bit of time out there, although honestly, I needed the micro USB to USB adaptor to get the modem working anyway. I'm sure someone out there though is willing to chop wires on their USB side of the modem to avoid the adaptor, ha!