[Replicant] Useful scripts for Libre WiFi on i9100

[Fil]

Hi everyone,

my name is Fil, and this is my first email to the list.
I am proud to announce that I have written some scripts that will make Libre WiFi management a lot better on i9100 phones running Replicant.

I have published the scripts and instructions on how to use them on Replicant's forum: http://redmine.replicant.us/boards/9/topics/13932

Here is a short summary of the features (as written on my post in the forum):

the basic instructions are the same provided on Tehnoetic's wiki https://wiki.tehnoetic.com/doku.php?id=tehnoetic_wifi_replicant
A BIG TANK GNU to Tibi for releasing all the necessary patches to Replicant and the fundamental scripts for wpa_supplicant!

The HUGE difference I discovered is that it is not necessary to format the /data partition in order to recover from a system crash.
Instead, it is sufficient to chmod the /data/misc/wifi folder and all its contents to 777.
Maybe some less privilege is sufficient, but I haven't tried yet. I only tried 777, and it works.
If someone finds out that less privilege is needed, please let me know, as "least privilege" is always the best philosophy!

Other improvements I was able to achieve are:
1) the ability to scan for available networks, and connect to the one of interest by simply choosing a number from the list, and providing the relative WPA password.
2) a better management of the connection, with both connect and disconnect scripts.
3) an automated way to write the configuration file for wpa_supplicant.

During my tests, I have found that a rough 90% of the crashes must be due to a lack of current to the external dongle.
In fact, crashes tend to occur when the device battery is low (below 40%) or when doing CPU-intensive operations (e.g. playing 720p videos while being connected).
But I've been able to play 480p network video streaming in VLC almost without troubles.
I'm going to try and use a "Y" cable together with an additional power supply ("power bank"), and see if the situation gets better.
Apart from this, regular web browsing (no heavy graphics or scripts) should work like a charm.

I'll be glad to provide more information if asked.
Any improvements and corrections are very, very, very welcome so, please, if you find a bug, or have any suggestion, don't hesitate to write me!

If you find this whole wifi-thing useful enough, I offer to update the wiki page about wifi: http://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/WiFi
How can I do that?

Also:
My idea was, and still is, to write an application to provide a GUI around these scripts, so that wifi management would become as easy as clicking on the network name.
But, as of now, I still haven't been able to overcome the numerous troubles I encountered in trying to get Replicant's SDK work in Eclipse.
That's to say: if someone wants to help, we can join efforts and do The Right Thing to make Replicant even better then now!
I opened a thread on Replicant's forum, but still haven't got any feedback: http://redmine.replicant.us/boards/21/topics/13931 

I hope many of you will find my work useful and enjoyable!

Please get back with comments and suggestions!

A nice week to you all,

Fil






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