Ethernet to Wifi adapter

[Karl_Jacobsen]

Okay folks, here an interesting one.... I have a public wireless network in my Meraki environment that is in NAT mode using Meraki DHCP. I have a few business class multifunction copiers I'd like to use on this network as a printer. I've seen Ethernet to wireless adapters from companies like Netgear and IO but they rely on WPS which isn't supported under Meraki. Has anyone done something like this? I know it's a little unorthodox but this is for use maybe a handful of times a year. 

[NolanHerring]

We've dabbled with some of the IO gear, not sure what you mean by WPS being required. We set it up on a WPA2/PSK network just fine.

However the device sucked and we ended up using a Raspberry Pi instead, much better and more robust. Used it to connect some Arlo cameras to the wireless since they didn't have Wi-Fi support if I remember correctly.

[kYutobi]

I would do what @NolanHerring suggested because you do not want WPS as a method of authentication.

[Karl_Jacobsen]

Thanks Nolan... Do you have a link to info on the Raspberry Pi you used?

[Nash]

Just a quick question, is there a reason why you're not wiring the printers in and then smacking them on the same vlan as the wireless?

[Karl_Jacobsen]

There's no wired connections close to where they need to go. There's one or two WAPs there and nothing else.

[NolanHerring · Accepted solution]

As far as model, a 3b or better will work just fine.

This was all the information I could find regarding how it was done (a while ago):

Setting up a Raspberry Pi as a Wi-Fi <---> to <---> Ethernet Bridge:

• Configure wireless settings to connect to your SSID
  • Edit the wpa_supplicant.conf 

Sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
Country=US
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
network={
ssid="<your_SSID_here>"
key_mgmt=NONE  #My SSID in this example is OPEN​

• Download script from:
  • https://github.com/arpitjindal97/raspbian-recipes/blob/master/wifi-to-eth-route.sh
    • You can also create a new file named wifi-to-eth-route.sh in this location
      • /home/pi
        • Paste the code from the link above into this file
• Edit crontab file to start the script at boot

Sudo crontab -e #if asked use nano
@reboot sh /home/pi/wifi-to-eth-route.sh &

• Restart raspberry pi

[Kamome]

I'm using old Buffalo 54G router with dd-wrt firmware as wireless bridge to connect my old HP laser printer equipped with wired Jetdirect addon into home wireless network. If you have some old wireless router supports dd-wrt, how about recycle it as useful bridge?

- Supported devices : https://dd-wrt.com/support/router-database/ (Search your router model name)
- Tutorial for wireless bridge : https://forum.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Wireless_Bridge