Is the dongle that’s included in the kit useful on its own? Does it have drivers baked-in? Can I use it in one of my other Raspberry Pi’s that’s running the 64bit Debian Bookworm OS with Desktop. I have a number of WiFi dongles that have the extra radio built-in so the pi can broadcast 2 wireless networks. They don’t come with an app, but they do allow me to receive faster WiFi speeds while also allowing me to attach a monitor to my Pi, enabling use as a normal computer while broadcasting an AP for my guest users. It just feels like I’m not maximizing the use of my hardware when the RPi is only being used as a dedicated Dongle host and router. I may be missing something though. Please advise.
There are no restrictions from our end in terms of using it wherever you like.
However — we don’t test and/or provide support for using it on any third-party firmware.
A quick note on linux compatibility for other Raspberry Pi operating systems - at the moment, highly unlikely.
A key reason why PiFi offers any hardware whatsoever was because linux compatiblity (across all Raspberry Pi products) for WiFi adapters is not great. This is especially true for OpenWrt / router software but also true for other operating systems too.
A good thing to note is that the linux kernel is evolving to incorporate more drivers for WiFi adapters and as this happens the USB adapter will gain broader support across more linux-based operating systems on Raspberry Pi.
In addition to that, PiFi will also add support for docker and third-party software running directly on PiFi which again will extend where the dongle support can be used (and as always PiFi will be the most robust and tested for this specific dongle vs another linux installation which is less tested for it).
So third-party support is something that will evolve over time, it is dependent on the evolution of linux in general and not something that’s too much under my control. There are linux-compatible USB wifi adapters out there but they are not USB 3.0, AC1300 - more like USB 2.0 150Mbps so performance would be drastically lower.