Folks,
Initially trying out Pi-hole on a conventional Pi device with Ethernet connection.
Considering using a Pi Zero W at some stage, this has onboard WiFi but no Ethernet.
Assume this would work or am I wrong?
Geffers
I'm using a Pi Zero over wifi and it works extremely well. I do not notice any latency, and it's been completely stable. I use Raspbian Jessie Lite and the latest 3.0.1 version of Pi-Hole.
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As @sprocket has noted, yes the Pi-hole will work over the wireless interface. There may be issues with latency, so if you notice that, then it may be something to look at adding a USB Ethernet dongle.
Thank you - running Pi-hole on a Pi2 at the moment but intended running it on a Zero W
Geffers
Just a thought here. Because the Pi Zero W is so small, it may be tempting to just put it next to your router/wireless access point. I conjecture there may be a risk of overloading the Pi's wifi receiver's front end if the Pi is too close and the signal is too strong. (Could that be a source of reported latency issues? RF overload, high bit error rates.. ?)
SSH into your Pi and run sudo iwlist wlan0 scan . and look at the Quality / Signal level numbers.
My Pi previously was about 2 feet below my access point (on shelves in a closet) and was getting a signal of -27dBm. I wasn't experiencing any issues, but that signal level a bit high for my tastes, so I moved the access point to a higher shelf (making the separation about 5 feet). Now I'm seeing readings of about -40 dBm. Quality reading is still 70/70, and there's probably no chance of any RF overload.
Different access points have different radiation patterns so you may need to experiment to find a location that works best for you.
Never thought of those issues. Output from iwlist scan has always been a mystery to me, would have thought closer the better.
Why is quality shown as **/70
I know -40 dBm is ideal, -70dBm is OK for web browsing but -80dBm is getting dodgy but what is acceptable quality?
Geffers
From the askUbuntu site:
"The basic difference between Quality - link and Quality - level is that the first indicate how good the reception is (for example the percentage of correctly received packets) and the second how strong the signal is. The Quality - level is some directly measurable data that is likely to have the same signification across devices."
Apparently the denominator (70) may be different in other wireless drivers.
Thank you for explanation.
Strangely an Ubuntu Mate device gives scores out of 100 rather than 70 which is an odd number anyway.
Geffers