RESOLVED: Newbie Trying To Install USB Wireless Adapter

[soundchaser59]

This adapter I bought on the bay cheap, I believe the machine is at least seeing its presence. When I do lsusb it does show up as a Realtek device:

soundchaser@SC59 ~ $ sudo lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:0811 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 046d:c52f Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

But I have not been successful trying to install drivers. I do not know enough about Linux to find the drivers or rebuild the kernel for it, etc.
According to one web site this result should translate to a RTL8811AU chipset. The package it came in says it is compatible with Linux, but the little mini cd that came with it only contains files for Windows install.

Any tips/suggestions/etc....?

[JeremyB]

Try

Code: Select all

sudo apt install git dkms build-essential
git clone https://github.com/abperiasamy/rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux.git
cd rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux
sudo make -f Makefile.dkms install

Reboot, check BIOS to make sure Secure Boot is disabled

[soundchaser59]

Try

Code: Select all

sudo apt install git dkms build-essential
git clone https://github.com/abperiasamy/rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux.git
cd rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux
sudo make -f Makefile.dkms install

Reboot, check BIOS to make sure Secure Boot is disabled

Thank You!
Rebooted, went into BIOS but I don't see anything in there labelled as "Secure Boot" or anything resembling that.

[majpooper]

When you are in the BIOS look for "boot" boot order, something like that - it may be tricky to find so walk through all the menus - you are looking for boot order - It will be there. Then look for UEFI - that is secure boot. You want Legacy boot - hopefully that is a choice. Usually you can use the function keys and arrow keys to move the boot order around and to enable and disable the choices in the boot order.

EDIT: This is just the way I do things - I always disable UEFI (it is not always necessary but I do anyway) - Then I always move the HD to the top of the boot order - except when I am doing a fresh install then I put USB at the top - when the install is done then back to HD at the top (again not always necessary but in the past some of my external USB HD interfered with the boot process probably something I did or don't understand but my current way of doing things works so I stick with it).

[soundchaser59]

When you are in the BIOS look for "boot" boot order, something like that - it may be tricky to find so walk through all the menus - you are looking for boot order - It will be there. Then look for UEFI - that is secure boot. You want Legacy boot - hopefully that is a choice. Usually you can use the function keys and arrow keys to move the boot order around and to enable and disable the choices in the boot order.

Funny you should mention boot order. When I was in there I noticed the boot priority was still set for #1 "USB-HDD" from when I installed Mint from a USB stick image. I changed it to #1 = "Hard Disk" then rebooted. That's the only change I made in BIOS.

Then when the machine came back up I ran the script above posted by @JeremyB again. This time the script behaved differently, running more steps and taking longer to finish. Then I rebooted again.

This time it came back up and I saw a message on the screen that the wireless connection failed. I opened the network connections and clicked connect on my home wireless broadcast ID. Put in the password and it connected right away. I unplugged the ethernet cable and I still have internet via wireless USB. CoooooL!

That was easy. Thanks JeremyB and majpooper.

Now the only thing I'm missing is the increased speed. This USB adapter is supposed to be capable of 300mb speeds but I believe the bottleneck on that is simply this old hardware. I am guessing this old hardware can't handle those speeds, it may be limited to 100mb. When I do the various online speed tests that are available it consistently comes back at about 50mb down and 60mb up. (connection properties says it's connected at 72mb) This is a newly installed fiber connection from the ISP to the house, using the ISP's provided wireless router. When I do the speed test using the wireless via my phone, it comes in at 290mb down and up.

But I think it has almost doubled what I had before on this old machine. With the old cable provider connection the tests were consistently coming in at 20mb down and 30mb up, so it would appear between the new fiber and the new USB adapter my connection speed on this old hardware is about doubled. For example, I can now watch youtubes set at 480, where before I had to choose the lowest possible quality setting to avoid stuttering and buffering. So definitely a respectable improvement!

THANK YOU for the assist, and for making it so easy! I will keep this script handy, as it seems I will have to repeat this process if I ever run updates and the kernel changes.