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I'd like to assemble a device that could accomplish the following:

  • Connect to my home wifi (WPA2-Personal)
  • Connect to my home PC with via Ethernet cable
  • Able to send WoL signal to the PC when getting a signal over wireless connection
  • The whole set up needs to be less than 45USD, desirably much less, otherwise I'd just buy a wireless bridge.

The goal is both to have a useful device (that will allow me to wake up my pc remotely) but also have fun learning something new (arduino).

I have no background in Arduino or Electronics in general. I program well though and learn fast.

Do you think Adruino is adequate for the above? Is soldering required (I'd rather not, or at least not a lot)?

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    Raspberry Pi sounds like the more appropriate option for you, as said by Mr Kim below. A useful thing about the Raspberry Pi is that you can put a lite operating system on it which makes it a lot easier to do networking stuff and run by itself. It's not that Arduino can't do it in theory, but in practice it isn't designed for that purpose. The latest Rasp Pi (2B+ or something) also has a decent amount of ram, and in general you use an SD card for memory so is more flexible in that sense.
    – bladepanthera
    Commented Aug 12, 2015 at 8:35
  • Why do you need both wifi and ethernet. Just connect the arduino via ethernet to your router. You can send WoL packet from anywhere inside the network. You don't need a direct connection to the PC.
    – Gerben
    Commented Aug 12, 2015 at 14:37
  • @Gerben the PC is connected to the router wirelessly. So will be the device. But the device will be also connected to the PC physically via ethernet, so it will be able to send WoL. Make sense?
    – Andrew Savinykh
    Commented Aug 13, 2015 at 23:43
  • Why not send the WOL via wireless as well. That way you don't need an ethernet shield. Also, why does the device need to be near the PC?
    – Gerben
    Commented Aug 14, 2015 at 17:51
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    @Gerben To receive WoL on wireless, PC need to be powered up. It's the PC that does WPA, not the wireless network card. If PC is shutdown there is nothing that can actually receive and decrypt the wireless signal. Even if you take decryption out of equation (which in any practical set up you really can't) it's still not workable, because unlike Ethernet card a WiFi card need actively "scan" for wireless signals to receive them, and as a rule they do not do this when PC is powered off.
    – Andrew Savinykh
    Commented Aug 14, 2015 at 19:26

3 Answers 3

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The Arduino might not be a choice for you. The reason why microcontroller boards(like Arduino) become popular is the simplicity and the easiness of control peripherals through GPIO pins, like output PWM signal to control motors, reading sensors through SPI or I2C, reading analog voltage, and etc. Most microcontrollers on Arduino boards itself, however, is not designed for networking features and does not have even enough performance for it. This means that it would cost you much more money on additional networking devices like WIFI shield, Ethernet shield and microprocessor for networking (Arduino Yun).

So, if you are looking for just a pure networking device like what you have in mind, I would highly recommend you Raspberry Pi(2 Model B for $39 and 1 Model B+ for $30), which has enough capability of networking itself. All you need is a USB WIFI dongle($9) with the Raspberry Pi, I guess. I am pretty sure you won't have a cheaper option using Arduino.

You can use the raspberry Pi as a web server, a NAS, a media server along with the features you mentioned.

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The Raspberry Pi is definitely the easiest way to do this, however it will use more power.

You can do it within your budget by using Arduino clone hardware from places like AliExpress.

If you don't mind the extra effort, it certainly can be done using the Arduino and a wireless and ethernet shield.

A WiFi shield is around $17, an ethernet shield is less than $6 and an Arduino Uno clone is around $3. Make sure you can combine these shields (I haven't checked). There's also a combined Linux, Ethernet + Wifi Yun shield for around $30.

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I doubt if you will do it in that price range. Buying genuine products (as opposed to clones from eBay) you would be paying something like:

  • Arduino Uno: $US 25
  • WiFi shield: $US 40
  • Ethernet shield: $US 45

Prices from Adafruit - other suppliers would have the same or similar for similar prices.

I see there is a Arduino Ethernet which combines the Uno and the Ethernet shield for $US 65.

The whole set up needs to be less than 45USD, desirably much less ...

Maybe someone else can suggest a cheaper option, but I think you will be pushing it here.

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