Topic: Improve wireless connection
My chumby one has a link quality between 45% and 60% near my bed. If the link quality drops below 50% sometimes the music stream stops or my chumby needs to reconnect to my wireless network.
I was looking for a way to improve the connection. My access point has no connector for an external antenna and changing the position of the AP is not an option. But I found a wireless USB module with an external antenna that has the same chip as the wireless module inside the chumby one (RT2571WF). And the USB-ID (0x148f,0x2573) is supported by the driver of the chumby (http://files.chumby.com/source/). This wireless module is sold as LogiLink WL0025 or BIGtec BIG106. The price in Germany is 17 Euro.
To replace the internal module I had to remove the black plastic cover of the new wireless adapter and to open the back cover of the chumby one (see this excellent site: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/chumby-o … down/1614/). The internal USB card can easily be removed and replaced by the new wireless card. And the external antenna that was included with the wireless module fits perfectly into the case of the chumby one! No soldering is necessary, and no hole needs to be drilled in the case.
With this modification my link quality is now between 55% and 65%. That is good enough for me. It is also possible to add a longer WIFI antenna (R-SMA) with a better gain. In this case you need a hole in the top of the chumby one, the antenna will then be in a vertical position.
I've uploaded some pictures of the mod:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/einfachpri … 87/detail/