Setting Up Wireless Networking - Part 2

Now you should have all the software you need to connect to and manage wireless networking on your Raspberry Pi, but you need a WiFi adapter. Cut Price Cables supply a very small WiFi adapter for the Raspberry Pi:

This WiFi adapter is certified to 802.11n and capable of data transfer speeds of up to 150Mbps. It also has very low power consumption making it ideal for use with the Raspberry Pi.

With your Raspberry Pi turned off, insert the WiFi adapter in to one of the USB sockets and then power up your Raspberry Pi. Go to the LXDE GUI and double click on the "Wifi Config" (or "wpa_gui") icon to launch the application.

Notice that "wlan0" should appear in the "Adapter" box. If this box is blank then you may need to check your setup as detailed in my previous post. Click on the "Scan" button to display the "Scan results" window:

Click on the "Scan" button on the "Scan results window". Details of your WiFi network should appear at the top of the window. If there is more than one WiFi network available then there should be multiple entries in the "Scan results" window. Double click on the WiFi network you wish to join. This will display a window where you can enter security details for the WiFi network of your choice.

Enter the necessary details and click "Add". Then click "Close" on the "Scan results" window. The name of your chosen WiFi network should now appear in the "Network" box on the main "wpa_gui" window:

Click on the "Connect" button to connect to your chosen network. After a few seconds the "wpa_gui" window should show full details of your chosen WiFi network:

Save the current settings by clicking on "File>Save Configuration" and then close the "wpa_gui" application by clicking on "File>Exit". Logout of the LXDE GUI and shut down your Raspberry Pi. Disconnect any wired network connection you have before rebooting. Once back into the LXDE GUI open an "LXTerminal" window and type "ip address show" at the command line prompt and pressing Enter:

In my case this shows that the wireless network "wlan0" is connected with an IP address of "192.168.1.106" and that the wired network "eth0" is not connected. You may also want to open your favourite web browser and check that you have access to the internet.