• Re: USB-Ethernet for Pi Zero W

    From The Natural Philosopher@3:770/3 to Kyonshi on Sat Jan 27 11:33:26 2024
    On 27/01/2024 10:52, Kyonshi wrote:
    I just installed a pihole (and a leafnode server) on a Pi Zero W I
    just got. The Zero of course has only Wifi, but I was thinking if for
    network stability it might not be better to just use a USB to
    Ethernet converter to connect it directly to the router. Does that
    make sense? I mostly am thinking it might be more stable than having
    my local network DNS run over Wifi.

    I wouldn't want to run anything that is critical to the whole network
    over wifi.

    Id be tempted to substitute a Pi4 B or similar By the time you have
    added all the extra hardware to the Zero....


    --
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  • From Theo@3:770/3 to Kyonshi on Sat Jan 27 12:58:30 2024
    Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:
    I just installed a pihole (and a leafnode server) on a Pi Zero W I just
    got. The Zero of course has only Wifi, but I was thinking if for network stability it might not be better to just use a USB to Ethernet converter
    to connect it directly to the router.
    Does that make sense? I mostly am thinking it might be more stable than having my local network DNS run over Wifi.

    Don't see why not, prevents you from being affected by wifi interference.

    One thought though, if you want an Ethernet Pi it could be worth upgrading
    to a fullsize Pi with Ethernet included. The cost of a used Pi 1/2/3 might
    be in the same ballpark as buying a USB ethernet adapter: a 2 or 3 would
    give you better performance and you get spare USB ports where the ethernet would block the Zero's single USB (and you need an OTG cable for the Zero on top of the ethernet dongle).

    A counterpoint though is that the Pis before the 3+ only have 100Mbit
    ethernet, whereas a gigabit USB dongle would get you about 300Mbit. I'm not sure what bandwidth you get out of the Zero W wifi, but perhaps more than 100Mbit. So it depends if you're going to be bandwidth limited or not.

    Theo

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  • From The Natural Philosopher@3:770/3 to Theo on Sat Jan 27 14:28:10 2024
    On 27/01/2024 12:58, Theo wrote:
    Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:
    I just installed a pihole (and a leafnode server) on a Pi Zero W I just
    got. The Zero of course has only Wifi, but I was thinking if for network
    stability it might not be better to just use a USB to Ethernet converter
    to connect it directly to the router.
    Does that make sense? I mostly am thinking it might be more stable than
    having my local network DNS run over Wifi.

    Don't see why not, prevents you from being affected by wifi interference.

    One thought though, if you want an Ethernet Pi it could be worth upgrading
    to a fullsize Pi with Ethernet included. The cost of a used Pi 1/2/3 might be in the same ballpark as buying a USB ethernet adapter: a 2 or 3 would
    give you better performance and you get spare USB ports where the ethernet would block the Zero's single USB (and you need an OTG cable for the Zero on top of the ethernet dongle).

    A counterpoint though is that the Pis before the 3+ only have 100Mbit ethernet, whereas a gigabit USB dongle would get you about 300Mbit. I'm not sure what bandwidth you get out of the Zero W wifi, but perhaps more than 100Mbit. So it depends if you're going to be bandwidth limited or not.


    #iwconfig wlan0
    wlan0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"xxxxxxx"
    Mode:Managed Frequency:2.457 GHz Access Point:
    30:46:9A:A2:89:F6
    Bit Rate=65 Mb/s Tx-Power=31 dBm
    Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
    Power Management:on
    Link Quality=42/70 Signal level=-68 dBm
    Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
    Tx excessive retries:56 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

    It for sure is no match for Ethernet

    I get more from my laptop against the same access point
    Theo

    --
    "In our post-modern world, climate science is not powerful because it is
    true: it is true because it is powerful."

    Lucas Bergkamp

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  • From The Natural Philosopher@3:770/3 to Kyonshi on Sat Jan 27 14:25:08 2024
    On 27/01/2024 11:38, Kyonshi wrote:
    On 1/27/2024 12:33 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
    On 27/01/2024 10:52, Kyonshi wrote:
    I just installed a pihole (and a leafnode server) on a Pi Zero W I
    just got. The Zero of course has only Wifi, but I was thinking if for
    network stability it might not be better to just use a USB to
    Ethernet converter to connect it directly to the router. Does that
    make sense? I mostly am thinking it might be more stable than having
    my local network DNS run over Wifi.

    I wouldn't want to run anything that is critical to the whole network
    over wifi.

    Id be tempted to substitute a Pi4 B or similar By the time you have
    added all the extra hardware to the Zero....



    Part of why I want to do it with the Zero is to make it as low spec and
    low cost as possible. Of course now I have checked for USB-to-ethernet connectors, and it turns out micro usb ones are 5 times as expensive as normal ones.

    That was sort of my point...

    --
    "In our post-modern world, climate science is not powerful because it is
    true: it is true because it is powerful."

    Lucas Bergkamp

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  • From Computer Nerd Kev@3:770/3 to Theo on Sun Jan 28 07:45:36 2024
    Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
    A counterpoint though is that the Pis before the 3+ only have 100Mbit ethernet, whereas a gigabit USB dongle would get you about 300Mbit.

    Ah but that's assuming that the Pi Zeros are quick enough to run
    the USB network interface at the maximum possible speed.
    Unfortunately benchmarks show that's not the case. Here they only
    get 56Mbits/s to 111Mbits/s on a RPi Zero W using a USB Ethernet
    adapter:
    https://notenoughtech.com/raspberry-pi/raspberry-pi-internet-speed/

    I'm not sure what bandwidth you get out of the Zero W wifi, but
    perhaps more than 100Mbit.

    The built-in WiFi is even worse, 38.8Mbits/s max., and they also
    say that its performance depends on the orientation of the board.

    --
    __ __
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  • From David Higton@3:770/3 to Kyonshi on Sun Jan 28 14:14:44 2024
    In message <g6nh8k-p1m.ln1@moria.erebor.sync.net>
    Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 1/27/2024 10:45 PM, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
    Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
    A counterpoint though is that the Pis before the 3+ only have 100Mbit ethernet, whereas a gigabit USB dongle would get you about 300Mbit.

    Ah but that's assuming that the Pi Zeros are quick enough to run the USB network interface at the maximum possible speed. Unfortunately benchmarks show that's not the case. Here they only get 56Mbits/s to 111Mbits/s on a RPi Zero W using a USB Ethernet adapter: https://notenoughtech.com/raspberry-pi/raspberry-pi-internet-speed/

    I'm not sure what bandwidth you get out of the Zero W wifi, but perhaps more than 100Mbit.

    The built-in WiFi is even worse, 38.8Mbits/s max., and they also say that its performance depends on the orientation of the board.


    In any case, in this case I want it for DNS resolution and some nntp
    feeds. It even has more or less acceptable speeds on wifi (microseconds),
    I just want a more stable connection. I don't think that should make much
    of a difference.

    Nothing beats the stability of a wired connection.

    David

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  • From Scott Alfter@3:770/3 to gmkeros@gmail.com on Tue Jan 30 23:22:28 2024
    In article <8j6f8k-c9e.ln1@moria.erebor.sync.net>,
    Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:
    Part of why I want to do it with the Zero is to make it as low spec and
    low cost as possible. Of course now I have checked for USB-to-ethernet >connectors, and it turns out micro usb ones are 5 times as expensive as >normal ones.

    Amazon seems to charge about the same for both. I found plenty of options
    for MicroUSB Ethernet adapters in the $10-$15 range:

    https://www.amazon.com/s?k=micro+usb+ethernet+adapter

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    (IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
    \_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

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  • From Lars Poulsen@3:770/3 to The Natural Philosopher on Wed Jan 31 15:14:04 2024
    On 1/28/2024 2:46 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
    On 28/01/2024 10:34, Kyonshi wrote:
    In any case, in this case I want it for DNS resolution and some nntp
    feeds. It even has more or less acceptable speeds on wifi
    (microseconds), I just want a more stable connection. I don't think
    that should make much of a difference.

    Used to do that over a 9600kbps modem back in the day
    ^^^^^^^^
    That should be 9600 bps (9.6 kbps)

    Certainly fine on 10Mbps Ethernet


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