Can one suggest a wireless adapter for an AmigaOne?

[kolla]

I just realized that in trying to "tether" my Internet connection to my AmigaOne I
got an error message from the Macintosh OS that it was not permitted due to
802.1x

Doesn't sound like you are using an ordinary "home" wifi, but rather an "enterprise" network, or federated wifi like eduroam.

Would that prevent me from using this?

Yes, I can imagine 802.1x policy doesn't allow for tethering.

So you need to find a wifi-ethernet bridge that can do 802.1x... from experience I know that the old airport extremes from Apple can do this.

[kolla]

So, my best bet is to find an old Airport Extreme.

I don't know if it your best bet, but I can tell that they are capable of 802.1x - ideally you should perhaps find something newer and more actively supported.

Wouldn't that have to be compatible with my MacBook Pro's OS, which is the newest, 10.15?

Unsure what you ask about here, the airport extreme is pretty much autonomous and the software to set it up exists for many operating systems, I have the "airport" app on my iPhone and macOS. Old OSX 10.15 sure.

[kolla]

Connecting the Amiga directly to the wifi is no-go since the wifi is set up with 802.1x authentication, something the Amiga supplicants never supported. Considering the error message when trying to connect via the mac, it seems that policy is set to not allow "tethering" wired devices behind an authenticated device. Depending on where this policy is implemented it may or may not be possible to use a wifi/ethernet "bridge" capable of 802.1x authentication.

This is what you see as the "enterprise" alternative to "pre shared key" (PSK) in the wifi setup, hardly anyone use it with home access points, but it’s used extensively in more professional environments.

[kolla]

Are you sure of this?

Quite, as the person responsible to have eduroam operational at national level through two decades, it was like the first thing I tested (and I used to have a lab for testing out equipment that claimed to 802.1x support).

When doing 802.1x, the supplicant needs to validate the x509 certificate it receives from the radius server to establish the TLS connection over wpa+radius (over which the real authentication takes place, for example with EAP-PEAP, with MS-ChapV2), and in case of EAP-TLS, also the client certificate it sends to the server for authentication. From what I recall, enabling 802.1x support in old wpa_supplicant was a matter of having "configure" detect openssl includes when creating the Makefile. Was WirelessManager ever "linked" against AmiSSL?

EDIT: I just quickly checked the WirelessManager for 68k with vim (are the sources somewhere?), and it does indeed have a lot of strings in it related to EAP and certificate validation, but no reference to any ssl libraries.

On the one hand I've never tested 802.1x, but on the other I can't recall disabling it in WirelessManager. If it's complied in, maybe it will work with the right config file?

Sure, and yes, however... I suspect it predates AmiSSL v5? I would love to see 802.1x support added for both OS4 and OS3, so if you feel like digging deeper and add support, that would be superb!

So the Mac connects to the "central/upstream" router, but won't connect to the local travel router? What's the purpose of the travel router then if no connected clients are allowed to use the network?

Most wifi networks targeting random public users, such as hotel guests etc, are not using 802.1x and rely on PSK - I suspect the "travel router" also doesn't do 802.1x authentication and isn't connected to "upstream".

Without going into details, but such tiny "embedded" systems face several challenges when it comes to 802.1x and SSL/TLS, challenges for which work-arounds exists, but the most obvious solution is either just not support it, or to not do any validation and just accept whichever certificate is presented... which is not at all ideal. (imagine a system without RTC booting into 2015, and being presented certificate only valid from September 2024... for example)

@garyg You haven't confirmed if the travel router has Ethernet ports or its exact model, which may be useful in solving the problem :-)

He kinda did, I'm quite confident it is this one - https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-sft1200/

[kolla]

What does an Airport Extreme do that other devices don't

As mentioned - 802.1X, aka "WPA Enterprise"
And it is not just Airport Extreme, ofcourse there are others too, I just happend to know about Airport Extreme since I have a few.

yet will search for available wi-fi networks for me to log into and display them?

Yes, precicely - networks that are announced as requiring _log ins_ will be selectable, not just networks that just require a pre-shared key (PSK).

Rememeber, wifi client devices that don't support 802.1x like your Opal, will not be able to connect to 802.1x protected networks anyways, and hence may chose to not list them.

I've e-mailed Amedia asking if they can sell or recommend any wi-fi network
cards since the X5040 doesn't have a built-in wi-fi capability.

But it will not help - the supplicant of OS4 is still an old port of wpa_supplicant that lacks 802.1x support!

Really though - why don't you just create PSK "hotspot" on your phone and let the Opal connect to that instead?

[kolla]

Geh… Airport express that is!!

https://support.apple.com/112421

[kolla]

Neither Airport Express nor Extreme is made any more, but I found this on Apple Discussions:

Apple engineers designed the "extend" function on the AirPort Express to only work with other Apple routers.

Sorry, but the Express will not be able to wirelessly extend a 3rd party network.

If.....you can leave the Express permanently connected to your EX400 router with an Ethernet cable connection.....the Express can likely be configured to provide more wireless signal coverage that way, although it may not be a good match for the EX400 wireless.

Exteding the wireless network was never the “case” here though, the point was to use it as wireless _client_, bridging to ethernet - I know this works because I’m doing it here my home, and my router and access point is the one from my provider and certainly not an apple product (if it didn’t work, we’d not be able to watch TV). Only thing is that this wifi is using PSK now.