Arch Linux

MXI

Member

Registered: 2016-09-25

Posts: 5

[SOLVED] TP-Link - Archer T1U & Archer T4U

Hello,

Having decided to move to ArchLinux, I am currently trying to install it. So far, I have booted from the usb drive (created via Rufus), and happily partitioned my drives; fooled around a little bit & eventually found how to move from us layout to UK layout.

However, I am now struggling to get the internet. For various reasons, I am currently stuck with Wi-Fi. I bought an Archer T4U, as they were advertising Linux support. However, it was not recognised. After having browsed a little bit, I found it was using the chipset RTL8812AU  (thx, wikidevi). I then proceed to download drivers from various sources (rtl8812au_rtl8821au-4.3.20, rtl8812au-master, rtl8812AU_8821_linux-master) and tried to execute as advised (transfer from laptop using windows to the one I am trying to get up and running via USB key):

make
make install

However, for all downloads, the answer is invariably: "make will not execute and completion _make exists"

Could not go any further. I then bought the Archer T1U, as I read in the beginner's guide that rtl8192cu was supported out of the box and thought this was the thing's chipset, alas did not work - exact same story (not recognised, same message when trying make - make install with downloaded drivers)

So, I am stuck, cannot get any further in installing Arch as I need access to the internet. Any help would be greatly appreciated; consider me as very noob but happy to spend a few hours reading  if pointed in the right direction (already done so).

If it helps, the information I find (using uname-r and lsusb):
Linux archiso 4.7.2-1-ARCH

Devices' ID (no desc.):
2357:0101
2357:0105

Thanks,

MXI

Last edited by MXI (2016-10-04 18:06:48)

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,772

Re: [SOLVED] TP-Link - Archer T1U & Archer T4U

May I offer a completely different tack?

I strongly suggest USB tethering an smartphone.  The smartphone will appear to Linux as a wired network card.  All you need to do as to start the dhcpcd daemon.  The phone will provide an address and then will do NAT forwarding of whatever wireless network it is using.   You can use carrier data if you wish, have the bandwidth, and won't get dinged for data usage. If, on the other hand, the phone is using wifi it is moot. The phone will (*) use the wifi connection and forward it. 

Install Arch, get it booting, and then install the drivers from the AUR.   You can use the tethered phone in your installed system as well.

(*) Some carriers (I am looking at you T-Mobile) force you onto carrier data when you enable USB tethering and force a disconnect from wifi.  This makes sense for a wireless hotspot where you need the wifi for the access point.  Fortunately alternate ROMs such as Cyanogenmod do not have this silly restriction.   Point is, if the carrier data is going to cost money and you want to use wifi, verify that you really are using wifi.

---

Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

frank604

Member

From: BC, Canada

Registered: 2011-04-20

Posts: 1,212

Re: [SOLVED] TP-Link - Archer T1U & Archer T4U

When you say you downloaded the driver and it failed to compile, were you talking about https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/8192cu-dkms/ or did you go to Realtek's site and was trying to manually compile their driver?

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 50,983

Re: [SOLVED] TP-Link - Archer T1U & Archer T4U

Don't try to do that from the installation system, but from the installed medium.

To bootstrap the system, try to connect the system to the internet differently (the core installation is rather sparse, you do not want to do this carrying packages by usb key - I once did ...), install yaourt and the driver from AUR.

The error output usually refers to an out of sync kernel and I assume the intallation medium doesn't carry kernel headers at all.

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

MXI

Member

Registered: 2016-09-25

Posts: 5

Re: [SOLVED] TP-Link - Archer T1U & Archer T4U

Hello,

Thank you all for your input. The idea to use the phone worked brilliantly; I was then able to install before using yaourt to download the driver. All set now, I am starting to learn a bit more about linux and to tinker :-)

For the sake of completeness if someone faces the same problem: I though for a while that the phone was not working, although I read everywhere it was plug and play, as my "ping www.google.co.uk" was failing.

Well, the only thing I had to do was to run ping forcing the IPv4 to get the desired result (that and specifying a number of pings -- "ping  -c3 -4 www.google.co.uk") to have confirmation connection was working. Lost a couple of hours on this silly thing :-D

Edit: title of topic edited.

Last edited by MXI (2016-10-04 18:07:05)