Netgear A6100 USB WiFi Adapter

[Mark the Auditor]

I just installed Linux Mint 18.3 last night on a 12-year-old Dell Dimension E521 desktop that was SLOOOOOOOOWLY running Windows 10 Home; so far, it's running very well - and fast. I am extremely satisfied.

My question specifically relates to Netgear's A6100 USB WiFi adapter. The Dell PC does have an Ethernet port in the rear, but I don't have a cable long enough to reach where my ISP's router is located in the house (and I would prefer not moving the PC closer to the router if possible, due to how the PC and its related cords & cables are placed & laid out). I also have a Raspberry Pi running Debian Stretch 9.4 that IS connected to the router, so I thought that I could download the 8812AU driver on the Pi, save it to a USB stick, eject it from the Pi [3 B+], plug it in the Dell, & everything for WiFi would be working.

I thought incorrectly.

I JUST STARTED using Linux about a week ago. Any and all guidance - in a beginner's level of understanding, please, due to my newness with this what I know to be fantastic OS - would be greatly appreciated to help me get WiFi working on the Dell PC. Thank you in advance for the assistance. I've heard - and seen - that the "Linux community" is a helpful and useful one; I hope, as my experience with Linux grows, to help others myself.

ALSO, if I may, I have 1 other question:
It is my understanding that Linux Mint and Ubuntu Linux are direct "descendants" of Debian Linux; IF that is correct, then, does that mean that any instruction for a Debian Linux OS will work for Linux Mint (& Ubuntu Linux, even though I don't have Ubuntu Linux)?

Mark the Auditor
Edmond, Oklahoma, United States of America

[Ken Parkes]

Download the zip file for the device on your Pi. Drag and drop onto a memory stick or cd. move to your laptop and drag and drop the .zip file to your /home directory, NOT a sub directory such as dowmloads or documents. Click on the file and tell it to unzip "here". It will be listed as rtl8812AU-driver-some version number. Now follow the instructions below which I have lifted from https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... /reserve-7 which has a large set of options. :

f. Now you're going to compile the required kernel module from the driver packages. Copy/paste this line into the terminal, in order to enter the folder with the driver packages:

cd rtl8812AU-driver-5.2.20

And then run this command:

make

g. Now install the compiled module with this command:

sudo make install

h. At this stage you'll need to tweak Network Manager. Copy/paste the following line into the terminal:

gksudo xed /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf

Press Enter.

In that text file, add the following two lines (use copy/paste):

[device]
wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=no

Save the changes and close the file.

i. Reboot your computer.

j. Plug in your wifi adapter. It should work now.

Note: do NOT install kernel updates or new kernels, because then you'll probably lose the driver again! So in Linux Mint I advise to disable the visibility of kernel updates in Update Manager (panel: Edit - Preferences - section Options). In Ubuntu I advise to pin Ubuntu to the current kernel (item 7, left column).

Hope this helps.

Ken

[Ken Parkes]

It has just hit me that I'm not sure what Mint installs natively - I tend to add lots of other programs as a matter of course when changing OS.
If you've been getting problems, or haven't yet tried the installation, first do the following:

Open a terminal, type sudo apt-get install synaptic and press Enter. You will be asked for your password, give it and Enter again. Synaptic is an easy superior installer if you know what you want. It will appear in the Menu under Administration. Click on it, give your password and in the search box type gcc. The gcc box will come up, if it has a coloured box and circle next ti it it is installed, if not right click and click on Mark for installation. Now type coreutils in the search box and do the same. If both sets are already installed, fine, otherwise click on Apply to install them. They are needed to run make and make install. If you have a problem with the make command precede it with a ./configure not sure why this is absent on the website, I would use it anyway but it may not be necessary,

HTH Ken

[Hoser Rob]

...It is my understanding that Linux Mint and Ubuntu Linux are direct "descendants" of Debian Linux; IF that is correct, then, does that mean that any instruction for a Debian Linux OS will work for Linux Mint (& Ubuntu Linux, even though I don't have Ubuntu Linux)?...

NO. Absolutely not, debian is a lot more restrictive. You need to be careful with Ubuntu sources too. Esp. the release number. You want to apply solutions for the Ubuntu point release that your Mint is based on. This is because there's actually very little backwards or forwards compatibility in Linux.

ANother common example with Ubuntu is updating. Don't do sudo apt-get upgrade in the terminal or (especially) sudo apt-get dist-upgrade. You'll end up pulling in things from the Ubuntu repos that shouldn't be in a Mint install at some point. You should always use the MInt Update GUI program.

[Mark the Auditor]

Ken Parkes - I FINALLY got the Netgear A6100 USB Wi-Fi Adapter working. Thanks VERY MUCH for your direction and guidance to me as a Linux newbie; it's greatly appreciated, especially by my 2 daughters and my wife since I'm not in the bonus room with the now-in-my-office-again Dell desktop PC with all of its cords and cables making the room look like a tech repair shop! But, connecting the Dell desktop PC into the bonus room's 65" HDTV did make me long greatly for a larger monitor since the monitor in my office is only 20"; as a glasses wearer with a very strong (& thick) prescription, a 20" monitor requires refocus periodically (having some blurriness in my right eye from a severely-detached retina correction surgery last August certainly doesn't help, either).

Hoser Rob - Thanks for the clarification re. Ubuntu/Debian, etc. & the "lineage". I'll be extremely cautious about installing packages/updates/programs; until I'm a LOT more comfortable in the Terminal, I'll use Mint's Synaptic Package Manager (that Ken Parkes referenced) and Software Manager. Being a Windows user since the days of Windows 3.0, I'm a "GUI guy", so I prefer the GUI over a command-line interface - at least for now. But, as my learning of Linux increases, I'm sure I'll grow more accustomed to the Terminal method of doing things.

I've always heard that the Linux Community was extremely helpful; I've witnessed and experienced that first-hand, thanks to the two of you. I'm sure that I'll be posting in other forums as I continue figuring everything out. I've noticed that many questions are answered - and even marked as [SOLVED] - in shorter periods of time than it would take to contact a company's technical support, wait on hold forever, & have someone get back to you after someone else "looks into the issue". I hope, one day, that I'll be able to be a question-ANSWERER instead of just a question-POSTER!

Mark the Auditor in Edmond, OK, USA