Thanks, then I think I’ll buy & test the TP-Link Archer T3U (RTL8812BU)
EDIT: I bought the dongle, unfortunately doesn’t work out-of-the-box.
I can see the new USB WiFi dongle is detected, but Volumio is still loading the b43 driver for the built-in unsupported wifi adapter
dmesg:
[ 2.464187] usb 1-7: new high-speed USB device number 6 using xhci_hcd
[ 2.612982] usb 1-7: New USB device found, idVendor=2357, idProduct=012d, bcdDevice= 2.10
[ 2.612989] usb 1-7: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 2.612993] usb 1-7: Product: 802.11ac NIC
[ 2.612996] usb 1-7: Manufacturer: Realtek
[ 2.612999] usb 1-7: SerialNumber: 123456
…
[ 23.874495] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4360 WLAN found (core revision 42)
[ 23.875095] b43-phy0 ERROR: FOUND UNSUPPORTED PHY (Analog 12, Type 11 (AC), Revision 1)
[ 23.875104] b43: probe of bcma0:1 failed with error -95
[ 23.875484] Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PNLS ]
I wish I had known, but the TP-Link Archer T3U is pure garbage. It doesn’t even work with macOS, even though they write on the box that it has Mac Support. The drivers aren’t even possible to find on the TP-Link webpage for T3U.
I will be returning this one for sure… \rant
The kernel discovers a bcm4630 device and loads the driver, this is expected behavior and will not be changed in our Volumio image.
But, because the bcm4360 is not compatible, you can make an installation-specific modification by blacklisting the driver. This modification will survive Volumio OTA updates.
As for the RTL8812BU, implementing the driver into the kernel would be another option.This way we would not need to install a driver package.
I would need more than one user request though, otherwise my efforts won’t be worth it.
Plus I need a tester, I don’t owe this dongle.
Thanks, I moved over to a Lenovo PC, where I don’t have any WiFi issues.
Perhaps I’ll play around with the Mac and drivers later, but for now I just want to have a music streamer up and running asap 
Thanks again!
I have Volumio version 2.916 installed on an old IBM Thinkpad T41 having wired connection to Internet. My subscription plan is Virtuoso. I have my CD collection saved on the hard disk under folder INTERNAL. This arrangement has proven to a practical solution except the fact that Wi-Fi connection is not working (worked earlier with Lubuntu).
Now I would like to update to Volumio 3 and continue my present Virtuoso subscription. However I cannot implement the updating from Volumio interface. I am able to start update checking, but after a while the OS gives the messages “No updates available” and “You’re already on the latest version”. Could somebody inform me if updating from Volumio 2 to Volumio 3 is not possible in this way or am I doing something incorrectly?
Naturally I could install Volumio 3 using a new OS image, but I expect that I would then clean up the whole hard disk including the copies of my music collection. In addition I don’t know what happens to my Virtuoso subscription.
I would welcome propositions how to update in this case to Volumio 3 so that I can continue my Virtuoso subscription and retain my music collection on the hard disk.
On x86 you can’t update from v2 to v3, for technical reasons.
This would not have made a big difference to your installation, even with an update you would have lost the contents INTERNAL.
The best thing you can do is to backup the contents of INTERNAL.
Once you verified the backup, flash V3 to a USB device and boot from it.
No need to go through the wizard (unless you wish to configure the USB device). You can close, go to the System menu and choose InstallToDisk to copy Volumio to the internal HDD (takes up to a minute).
Reboot from HDD, configure and restore to INTERNAL.
Your WiFi connection should also be fixed with Volumio 3.
Your Virtuoso subscription will still be valid, you can continue to use it as long as you wish.
I discovered a working prototype of an RTL8812BU (used for a custom solution) in my scrap box and will use this to test RTL8812BU driver support on x86.
I can’t say when this will be done, but it is on top of my to-do list for x86.
A few other Realtek AC1200/ AC1300 dongles will be added at the same time.
Great thanks to you for your rapid, clear and compherensive answer! Now it seems fully clear how to proceed with updating to Volumio 3.
I would encourage other Volumio users to consider using an old laptop with a decent DAC (in my case Topping E30 or ESI U24XL) connected to it. The arrangement is very practical, you need for music listening only one, rather compact main device, which includes a display and hard disk. You can operate the system as well as listen to your own music saved on the internal hard disk, music from streaming services and web radios with a single device. If I did not have it already, I would consider buying a compact old laptop for Volumio use.
Or, instead of a laptop, use a re-purposed Intel Atom based Thin Client like this Dell Wyse. 2nd hand you get them for less than 50€ on ebay and other auction platforms. There are more of those thin clients (HP, Fujitsu, Igel), some of them have an AMD processors, others have an Intel. Powerful enough to run Volumio 3 without any issues. Onboard audio can be reasonable, but as you mentioned, a USB DAC does the trick.
OK, TP-Link Archer TU3 is now working, so will other dongle’s with an RTL8812BU chip.
Super fast link to my router, 876 Mbps
I will add this to the next x86 version.
Now there are more Realtek devices to add.
The driver sources are there, I lack further dongle’s to test with, so it is up to the community.
For your info, going dead cheap, nearly cost price for community members.
Dell Wyse 3040 opportunity
I just found that the image Volumio-3.179-2021-12-20-x86_amd64.zip cannot be installed on an old 686-laptop, although that could be expected on the basis of the information on Volumio download webpage (one of the download alternatives is for PC (X86/X64)) and the name of the zip file includes x86. The laptop gives an error message about a unsuitable version. Is this a permanent situation or will there be a Volumio 3 version, which can be installed on x86 computers? In case such version will not be available, it would be nice to have the last Volumio 2 version still downloadable for older computers.
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Sorry, i386 has been adandoned for good, there is not going to be a 32bit version of Volumio 3.
The small number of 32bit devices left does not justify the maintenance work we would have.
You can install Volumio 2 for x86 if you wish, but it is unsupported and may stop working at one point (certificate issues etc.).
You will find the version and download information you need when you click on the blue banner at the top of the community forum pages
Thank you for useful and clear information! In fact for me it is no surprise that i386 machines are no more supported. It just the same as with Lubuntu. We must accept the fact that an i386 machine will run only Volumio 2 and obsolete Lubuntu versions (v. 12.04 or older) and without support as long as everything works. Anyway it is an alternative to find practical use for old equipment.
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It does now, some realtek ac1200/1300 drivers have been added the last few days. TP-Link Archer T3U works like a charm.
Available with any version >= 3.195
Sorry for the sudden disappearance, I’ve had some RL matters to attend. I’ll try with the latest volumio image, or if you still want me to test that pre-version, I can do that too
I definitely got the UI at some uncomfortably small resolution over vga, but I don’t remember if I set nomodesetting manually
Meanwhile it has already been integrated in the Volumio 3 release, so you can use x86 version 3.179 or later.
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Networking with tigon still does not work (I wager because broadcom module is missing still). Sound, uh, works, but only after putting device to sleep and waking it back up, does not work straight after boot. Running 3.179
Perhaps this is as “good” as it gets, dissapointing but there is not much else that can de done I’m afraid.
Could you create a log as a last ressort?