Help make my wifi adapter work!

[chizz]

Hello everyone,

First off, I'm an absolute Linux noob. Please bear with me as I ask questions of my level

I've recently taken possession of a few older i3 HP PC's, and I'm trying to use Linux Mint to both make things zippy and to learn more on the tech side.

Anyway... I purchased a wifi adapter off Amazon Canada, but I now realized drivers are a lot different in the Linux world compared to Windows and Mac.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01DBD ... UTF8&psc=1

Any ideas on how to get this to work? Or should I simply return it and get something compatible with Linux because it will be too much effort? If so, do you know if this will be a good (and cheap) option?
https://www.amazon.ca/Heiyo-AC600Mbps-N ... +for+linux

Thanks in advance

[jimallyn]

Most wifi stuff works in Linux these days. Did anything happen when you plugged it in? Did you look in Driver Manager to see if it showed a driver for it? Let's see if Linux recognizes the device: Open a terminal and enter lsusb. Copy/paste what that spits out in your next post. There are some other commands that will tell us which chipset is in your wifi device, and one of the more knowledgable forums members will probably show up here soon and give you some other commands to enter.

[FreedomTruth]

This part of the product description doesn't look good:

Note
Please visit AUKEY's official website for the latest driver and user manual
Does not support Linux

But, before giving up, do what jimallyn suggested and see if the device is recognized at all.

[chizz]

This part of the product description doesn't look good:

Note
Please visit AUKEY's official website for the latest driver and user manual
Does not support Linux

But, before giving up, do what jimallyn suggested and see if the device is recognized at all.

I know... I originally bought it for Win10, but then it was too slow for the machine so I thought about using Linux. The wifi adapter driver was definitely not on my mind at all The worst thing is, after I thought I successfully dual-booted Linux, I can't get into Win10 at all! Not in the UEFI, not in the boot menu, nada! I can see the default Win10 files in the "File Manager" in Linux though.

Most wifi stuff works in Linux these days. Did anything happen when you plugged it in? Did you look in Driver Manager to see if it showed a driver for it? Let's see if Linux recognizes the device: Open a terminal and enter lsusb. Copy/paste what that spits out in your next post. There are some other commands that will tell us which chipset is in your wifi device, and one of the more knowledgable forums members will probably show up here soon and give you some other commands to enter.

Thanks jimallyn for trying to help! I just retried plugging the adapter in and nothing happened.
Opened up Driver Manager -- "Drivers cannot be installed. Please connect to the Internet or insert the Linux Mint installation USB."
I have no internet (or rather, I haven't lugged the PC out to the TV room where the router is), so I plugged in the installation USB.
"Updating cache... finished"
"Failed to download repository info. Check your Internet connection."
Then subsequently, the Driver Manager shows the adapter as an "Unknown" device and says "This device is using an alternative driver." -- "intel0microcode (open-source) Version 3.20151105.1 - Processor microcode firmware for Intel CPUs"

But then, using the lsusb command, I see the adapter being listed as "MediaTek Inc."
Specifically:
"Bus 003 Device 008: ID 0e8d:7610 MediaTek Inc."

Is there good news?

[JeremyB]

If you can plug the machine into the router for an internet connection, do

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sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install git build-essential

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git clone https://github.com/ulli-kroll/mt7610u.git

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cd mt7610u

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make

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sudo make install

Reboot

[jimallyn]

I see the adapter being listed as "MediaTek Inc."
Specifically:
"Bus 003 Device 008: ID 0e8d:7610 MediaTek Inc."

That's the kind of information we need! Just because the manufacturer says THEY don't support Linux, that doesn't mean that the chipset doesn't work with Linux. It just means that the manufacturer couldn't be bothered to take the time and trouble to see if it would work with Linux. It's mostly the chipset that matters, not the brand name of the device the chip is built into. When I said in my earlier post that somebody more knowledgeable than me would likely show up to help, it was JeremyB that I had in mind. He is our local wifi wizard. If you can get to a wired connection to run the commands JeremyB gave, I'd bet you'll be up and running in no time.

Things work differently in Linux than they do in Windows. When the Linux gurus write drivers, it's usually kind of a generic driver for the chipset, not the specific branded device, and it basically doesn't matter which manufacturer used that chipset in their device. As long as that chipset is supported in Linux, then whatever device it gets built into will work with Linux. Sometimes the manufacturers really don't know if it will work with Linux. For example, the maker of the chip may have a "reference design", which is basically a "here's how to use our chip." And some manufacturers will directly copy that reference design, knowing that it works with Windows, and start cranking them out by the millions. If it works with Windows, why should they bother with anything else? (A poor way of thinking, to me, but that's the way some people/manufacturers are.) Anyway, if you are getting ready to buy a new piece of hardware, it doesn't hurt to check the manufacturers website and see if they support Linux. But even if they say they don't, that doesn't necessarily mean that it won't work in Linux. A Google search for something like 'wifi-tronics model xyz-123 Linux' will often turn up useful information.

[chizz]

You guys are absolutely amazing people! Thank you! I'm so glad there are awesome communities like these to counter those that are abrasive!

I'm still stuck at one point though. Right after I type in "sudo make install", it says
>>make: *** No rule to make target 'install'. Stop.

I still followed through and rebooted and under Driver Manager I still don't see anything. Am I doing anything wrong?

[JeremyB]

OK, the Makefile doesn't have the install option

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cd mt7610u

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sudo cp mt7610u.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/

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sudo depmod -a

Reboot