Manually install driver on TS-251+

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Gamja76
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Manually install driver on TS-251+

Post by Gamja76 »

Hi,
I looking for some advise on how to install a USB WIFI driver on my TS-251+
I would like to know how to do the the following:
1. How do find what OS my TS-251+ is running
2. How do I install a downloaded driver
Thanks
Terry
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dolbyman
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Re: Manually install driver on TS-251+

Post by dolbyman »

if you have to ask like this..(what os is the nas running?) then don't even think about that task

make your life easy (if you absolutely have to use wifi) and get a wifi bridge... nothing to do on the nas, as it gets connected via lan to the bridge

most range extenders support bridge mode
Last edited by dolbyman on Wed Sep 16, 2020 7:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
Gamja76
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Re: Manually install driver on TS-251+

Post by Gamja76 »

Thanks for the reply.
I have 20 yrs exp working in IT beginning on a Help Desk right up to Managing large IT projects. I know IT and am very fimilar with Windows and MAC to a lesser extend however I am not fimilar with this NAS OS hence the question 'What OS is it running?' if I am going to download a driver and try to manually install it I need to know which driver to download. I kept the question simple to avoid any confusion.
I want to use a USB WIFI adapter to get rid of LAN cable running across my new wooden floor. I had a cable installed under the floor when it was being installed but it was damaged so I cannot use or replace it.
I did look at a wifi bridge option but they are somewhat expensive and I am limited in my power outlets and I only transfer files occassionaly so a smaller, cheaper USB wifi is a better solution.
I checked the compatbility list and purchased a listed usb wifi adapter but it is the wrong version and sellers websites don't list the version number so how do you know if you are buying the right one. QNAP do not keep support for the listed devices up to date so here I am on the QNAP support forums trying to figure out what OS this NAS is running and how to manually install a driver on his NAS so I can see if this option is going to be the solution I need it to be.
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OneCD
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Re: Manually install driver on TS-251+

Post by OneCD »

Gamja76 wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 7:16 am Thanks for the reply.
... however I am not fimilar with this NAS OS hence the question 'What OS is it running?' if I am going to download a driver and try to manually install it I need to know which driver to download. I kept the question simple to avoid any confusion.
Installing a driver into your NAS isn't as simple as it is in Windows.

You're very experienced (no-question about it), however, installing a device driver into *nix is a specialised task. It's something you shouldn't even attempt until you've spent a few years getting to know the OS. You can't just copy-paste commands to do this, and there's no point-and-click interface either.

I agree with @dolbyman: that you don't know how to find which OS is installed on your NAS is a big-red-flag you're not ready to tackle device-drivers yet. Because installing device-drivers is about 1,000 times harder than finding the OS. :wink:

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dolbyman
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Re: Manually install driver on TS-251+

Post by dolbyman »

it's pretty easy to find out that the NAS is running on Linux(limited embedded version), sorry but even without 20 years of IT management you could have found that out.

if you want to catch the dmesg output for your stick do the following.

===========================
enter the NAS via SSH

Clear the dmesg log

Code: Select all

dmesg -c > /dev/null
Insert your USB stick

read out the dmesg log

Code: Select all

dmesg
with the output you could ID the wifi chip used, then learn how to compile a driver for the (limited) QNAP Linux variant.

done

===========================


You see how appealing a simple wifi bridge becomes ?
Gamja76
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Re: Manually install driver on TS-251+

Post by Gamja76 »

I suspected the OS is a version of Linux but I was curious and wanted to know which variant and version of Linux.
I opened a SHH connection to the NAS and run the commands and got the output
After looking into the how to compile a driver etc yes, I am seeing how it might be a better and easier solution to go with a wifi bridge solution
I like learning new technologies and about the systems I have at home but going down this path just does not seem worth it.
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jaysona
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Re: Manually install driver on TS-251+

Post by jaysona »

Gamja76 wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 10:28 am I suspected the OS is a version of Linux but I was curious and wanted to know which variant and version of Linux.
I opened a SHH connection to the NAS and run the commands and got the output
After looking into the how to compile a driver etc yes, I am seeing how it might be a better and easier solution to go with a wifi bridge solution
I like learning new technologies and about the systems I have at home but going down this path just does not seem worth it.
QNAPs implementation of Linux which they call QTS is Ubuntu based, but it is an extremely crippled implementation of Ubuntu.

You will need to install the required compiler, libraries and blobs to get the network stack, USB interface and wireless driver to work properly, or you could just purchase one of the QNAP supported USB WiFi devices.
https://www.qnap.com/en/compatibility/? ... ategory=12
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