Question about panel applet not working

[Bret Busby]

On 01/01/2023 23:40, Aaron Rainbolt wrote:
> 
> On 1/1/23 09:22, Bret Busby wrote:
>> Hello.
>>
>> I am running Linux Mint Mate 21.1 on a computer that has a USB WiFi 
>> dongle thingy. I believe that this problem is a problem involving 
>> Ubuntu or Ubuntu Mate utilities.
>>
>> Control Center -> System Reports -> System Information shows the 
>> network device to be
>>
>> "
>> Device-2: Realtek 802.11ac NIC type: USB driver: rtl8821cu bus-ID: 
>> 3-14:6 chip-ID: 0bda:c811
>>   IF: wlx90de8039844b state: up mac: <filter>
>> "
>>
>>
>> Now, the problem is this; the network interface works okay, but, in 
>> the panel, in the Mate Netspeed applet, whilst the information of the 
>> device can be displayed by doing a mouseover of the applet, or, right 
>> clicking (using the non-dominant mouse button) on the applet, the 
>> applet displays receive and transmission rates of zero, whatever rate 
>> is occurring, even when it is in the MB/s. The applet had worked okay, 
>> when USB tethering was used, showing the connection as an Ethernet 
>> connection, but, using the USB WiFi dongle, it will not show data 
>> transmission speeds.
>>
>> The System Monitor (GUI thing) shows receiving and transmission 
>> speeds, for the USB WiFi dongle, but, the Netspeed applet does not.
>>
>> Is it possible for a simple person like me, to get the Netspeed applet 
>> working for the USB WiFi dongle, and, if so, how (stepwise, for 
>> simplicity), or, is this a systemic problem that needs the developers 
>> to resolve it (if they would be inclined)?
> Having never used MATE for any significant amount of time, this might be 
> totally wrong, but have you checked to see if there's anything in MATE 
> Netspeed that allows you to select the device it listens to? USB 
> tethering would probably show up as a "usb0" interface or something 
> similar, while a USB WiFi dongle would more likely show up as something 
> more like "wlp0s20f3". You may need to specifically set which device 
> Netspeed looks at. I have to do this with a small network usage monitor 
> that Lubuntu comes with.
>> Thank you in anticipation.
>>
>> ..
>> Bret Busby
>> Armadale
>> West Australia
>> (UTC+0800)
>> ..............
>>
Hello.

I have selected the device via the Netspeed applet, and, the device 
shows with its (DHCP) IP address.

The device shows in the Netspeed applet as the identifier above; 
wlx90de8039844b

Also, in the information about the device, that I provided above, I 
should have included, in addition to the Network device specification, 
the USB device specification;

"
Device-5: 3-14:6 info: Realtek 802.11ac NIC type: Network driver: 
rtl8821cu rev: 2.0
     speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 0bda:c811
"

The problem is that the Netspeed applet sees and recognises the WiFi 
dongle, as the network interface, and, shows the modem/router beyond it, 
but, does not retrieve and display the data transmission rates.

..
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
(UTC+0800)
..............