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Robin’s Lab
Robin’s Lab

Playing With Powerlines

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Hardware Linux Technology Powerline Wol
Robin's Lab
Author
Robin’s Lab
Linux Technologist, 3D Designer, Maker, and Tradesman
Table of Contents

Playing With The Powerlines
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Intro
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There’s a part of any home network, especially in the UK, that not many people talk about. That’s Powerline adapters. Powerline adapters are little devices that use the existing power cables that zig-zag through your walls as network cables (admittedly inefficient ones). The great advantage about this is you don’t have to have trip hazards all over your home, just another wall-wart and a short Ethernet lead to your device!

Wake-On-Lan
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The other reason to have these is you can then use Wake-On-Lan on any machine that supports it. Wake-On-Lan seems like magic. Your powered-off computer will power itself up when something known as a “Magic Packet” gets sent across your network to your waiting computer’s Ethernet port. Then that computer powers on as normal. This is incredibly useful when you’re up at two A.M. and want to access files on the living room computer; this is truly a lifesaver when you fear waking your partner.

Hardware
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Whilst learning about these adapters, I found out that you don’t even need to stick to the same brand, just make sure they both support the same protocol. The protocol mine use is the “HomePlug standard”, developed by the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. For example, I have the TP-Link-PA4010 and a couple of TalkTalk PT200AV models, and they work great together for my needs. I simply connect one device into the home router and the rest into the devices I wish to wake.

TP-Link PA4010 and a TalkTalk PT200AV comparison.

TP-Link PA4010

  • Rated speed: AV600
  • Real-world: ~85 Mbps
  • Power draw: ~3W idle / ~5W load

TalkTalk PT200AV

  • Rated speed: AV200
  • Real-world: ~60 Mbps
  • Power draw: ~2–4W

In practice, they work together without issue, though the slower TalkTalk adapters do seem to cap overall throughput slightly. To be honest, this isn’t an issue, when the machine wakes, as the Wifi takes over. Just remember to connect one of the faster devices to your router so the system doesn’t bottleneck too much.

What I Do
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When I want to wake a computer from its deep slumber, I send a message using the terminal. Wakeonlan is the command I prefer to use, because of its simple syntax (you can use etherwake). Prefix it with sudo, and after that type the MAC address of the network device you’re trying to wake. Note that wakeonlan is an extensive application, and there are many things you can do with it, so the “man” pages are your bestie here!

sudo wakeonlan 00:11:22:33:44:55

To find the MAC address, type the command below and look for the string of six double numbers separated by colons next to your device name. Ethernet devices usually start with “e”, but not always!

ip addr

Have fun and remember, don’t stay up as late as me, it’s bad for your health.

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