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MODEL S EXPERIMENT: Plug in a USB wifi adapter in the usb socket,?

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This might be an interesting experiment - plug in a USB wifi adapter, then reset the dash computer?

You could compare a network speed web site response before and after? I ask because some linuxes come with all the autodetecting drivers built-in, and it might just work off the rack... you'd probably not get a a pop-up allowing you to specify the access point or add a password... hmmmm...

Thoughts?
 
I tried just for giggles. No dice with my iPhone 5. (I confirmed I can share 'net over USB with my Windows 7 machine tied to it; the phone shows there's someone using hotspot in that case. It didn't show that with the Model S)
 
It would probably be better to try a wired ethernet adapter which doesn't require SSID setup, etc., to see if the networking stack activates. A simple Realtek-based wired USB adapter and the appropriate sniffer would show you if anything was working. :)
 
No, a wired ethernet adapter, connected to your home network. Wireless USB adapters require SSID to be set, etc. It'd be interesting to see if the Tesla picked up a wired USB ethernet adapter, then attempted to do DHCP on it.
 
No, a wired ethernet adapter, connected to your home network. Wireless USB adapters require SSID to be set, etc. It'd be interesting to see if the Tesla picked up a wired USB ethernet adapter, then attempted to do DHCP on it.

That's a great idea Z. I hadn't gone that far, wondering. Cinergi, you could just plug in a likely USB wired ethernet adapter to see if it comes up! It'd need a long ethernet cord to your router, to be sure.

I wonder if a knowledgeable Linux person would know the likely adapter manufacturer that's supported in recent builds? Then we could buy that adapter for the test?... I'm sure I could actually find someone closer to test it on...

David

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Oh, A USB cell-modem thingy? I was just doing hotspot-via-USB which requires no client setup.

No, it's a USB wifi adapter I was suggesting. Like this. But see my comments later that it probably won't start up with all the proper info boxes for access point selection and password...
 
Well, I got out my trusty Realtek USB wired ethernet dongle and watched the network... it doesn't do DHCP. That's not to say the model S doesn't load the driver or have a default IP -- I didn't do any of the work to see (pinging broadcast, etc.) But a quick 2-minute demonstration ruled out easy configuration of a network device attached to USB.
 
That's a great idea Z. I hadn't gone that far, wondering. Cinergi, you could just plug in a likely USB wired ethernet adapter to see if it comes up! It'd need a long ethernet cord to your router, to be sure.

I wonder if a knowledgeable Linux person would know the likely adapter manufacturer that's supported in recent builds? Then we could buy that adapter for the test?... I'm sure I could actually find someone closer to test it on...

David

Their kernel is likely bare-bones with either just a couple available modules or perhaps all statically-linked. We can obviously try but we'll be guessing at which modules are available to the kernel (or compiled in).

No, it's a USB wifi adapter I was suggesting. Like this. But see my comments later that it probably won't start up with all the proper info boxes for access point selection and password...

Brainfart. Right. Duh.

It's been a while since I've used Linux as a desktop ... I wonder what chipset (which driver) is the most common (and/or used in the most devices)? But even with a wide-open wifi, you'd still have to instruct the OS to attach to it and tell it it's DHCP, etc. There'll be no network profiles for the device even if the device does install & load the driver.
 
When does Wifi come to the Model S and when it does do we have to use our phones as hotspots or can we go the USB dedicted route? 4G in NY is really fast and would only use the 3G in the car for backup.

WiFi is not yet implemented. The hardware is there but the software hasn't been finished yet. It will be pushed in a update when it's ready.