[SOLVED] Need suggestion for wireless adapters

[jrdavis4]

Hi Everyone,

So I am on the market for a wireless adapter and want to get one that is known to work well with Linux Mint 19. USB or PCIe doesn't matter, but I am looking for something small (like nano usb) if possible.

What devices do you use and like that are compatible without too much hassle?

Thanks!
Justin

[AscLinux]

https://wikidevi.com/wiki/List_of_Wi-Fi ... s_in_Linux

You do understand in general smaller the antenna weaker the connection?

[srq2625]

I've found both of these to work well with LM 19:

• https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JN ... UTF8&psc=1
• https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B4 ... UTF8&psc=1

I know it's out of scope but, to be complete, the first on did not work so well with Debian Stretch. Thus, it may not work well with LMDE 3 either - just haven't tested them with that distro yet.

Oh, and the comment from AscLinux is dead on-target. It's all about how many of those RF photons you can capture! More antenna means more of the signal captured - more signal is always a good thing.

[jrdavis4]

I'm not set on getting the smallest, so scratch the nano comment. I'm fine with antennas but this PC won't be doing any gaming or much HD streaming. My main goal is to find a card or dongle that is plug and play or not too difficult to install (I'm 2 days in using Linux).

Thanks for the suggestions so far. If any others have wireless cards or usb dongles that are working well with LM19 please let me know!

Justin

[phd21]

Hi jrdavis4,

Welcome to the wonderful world of Linux Mint and its excellent forum!

I just read your post and the good replies to it. Here are my thoughts on this as well.

It would help to know more about your system setup. If you run "inxi -Fxzd" and "lsusb" from the console terminal prompt, highlight the results, copy and paste them back here, that should provide enough information.

USB Wifi network adapters work very well and they are super easy to install just by plugging it into a USB v2 or v3.x port. I would highly recommend getting one that is at least 300mbps or higher. If you are connecting to a "dual-band" AC hardware router, then getting a WiFi adapter that is "dual-band" AC compatible will provide much faster speeds. Currently, the "Panda" adapters are well known for being "plug-n-play" with Linux. Read descriptions and user comments for Linux compatibility. Most WiFi adapters using the "Realtek" chipsets are compatible.

Amazon.com: usb wifi adapter linux - 4 Stars & Up
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_72 ... 2661617011

Amazon.com: Panda N600 Dual Band (2.4GHz and 5.0GHz) 300Mbps Wireless N USB Adapter - Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10, Mint, Ubuntu, openSUSE, Fedora, CentOS, Zorin, Kali Linux and Raspbian Jessie: Computers & Accessories
https://www.amazon.com/Panda-2-4GHz-300 ... 2661618011

Amazon.com: Panda Wireless PAU09 N600 Dual Band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) Wireless N USB Adapter W/ Dual 5dBi Antennas - Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10, Mint, Ubuntu, openSUSE, Fedora, CentOS, Kali Linux and Raspbian: Computers & Accessories
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LY35HGO/re ... 27002&sr=2

* From what I can tell most of the super highspeed 1200mpbs or higher speed adapters are not "plug-n-play" and require connecting to a highspeed AC router and installing a Linux driver which in some cases is fairly easy, but whenever you update the Linux Kernel, you may have to re-install the driver again.

Hope this helps ...

[jrdavis4]

Here is the inxi -Fxzd...

Code: Select all

System:    Host: green-machine Kernel: 4.15.0-34-generic x86_64
           bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.8.9 (Gtk 3.22.30-1ubuntu1)
           Distro: Linux Mint 19 Tara
Machine:   Device: desktop System: Gigabyte product: B360M-DS3H serial: N/A
           Mobo: Gigabyte model: B360M DS3H v: x.x serial: N/A
           UEFI [Legacy]: American Megatrends v: F3 date: 03/01/2018
Battery    hidpp__0: charge: N/A condition: NA/NA Wh
           model: Logitech Wireless Mouse M310/M310t status: Discharging
           hidpp__1: charge: N/A condition: NA/NA Wh
           model: Logitech K520 status: Discharging
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i3-8100 (-MCP-) 
           arch: Skylake rev.11 cache: 6144 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 28800
           clock speeds: max: 3600 MHz 1: 800 MHz 2: 800 MHz 3: 800 MHz
           4: 800 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Device 3e91 bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 )
           drivers: modesetting (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@59.93hz
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (Coffeelake 3x8 GT2)
           version: 4.5 Mesa 18.0.5 Direct Render: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel Device a348 driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-34-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCIE Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 3000 bus-ID: 01:00.0
           IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Belkin F5D8053 N Wireless USB Adapter v3000 [Ralink RT2870]
           driver: rt2800usb v: 2.3.0 usb-ID: 001-002
           IF: wlx0022753ce207 state: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1000.2GB (2.6% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD10EZEX size: 1000.2GB
           Optical-1: /dev/sr0 model: N/A
           rev: N/A dev-links: cdrom,cdrw,dvd,dvdrw
           Features: speed: 62x multisession: yes
           audio: yes dvd: yes rw: cd-r,cd-rw,dvd-r,dvd-ram state: N/A
Partition: ID-1: / size: 916G used: 25G (3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 41.0C mobo: 27.8C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 205 Uptime: 1:55 Memory: 1861.2/7838.7MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 7.3.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.4.191) inxi: 2.3.56 

and Isusb...

Code: Select all

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 2109:0700 VIA Labs, Inc. VL700 SATA 3Gb/s bridge
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 050d:815c Belkin Components F5D8053 N Wireless USB Adapter v3000 [Ralink RT2870]
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Disregard the Belkin Wireless adapter - It was truly plug and play but it sits on top of the PC and I'd like a PCIe card to place inside.

Thanks for the suggestions so far! I don't know if I need N or AC - I'm looking into the difference now.

[MintyBaby]

Compatible for sure? It seems that realtek wifi cards don't work with lixux or at least Mint?

[GS3]

I have been running RTL8187 on Windows and Linux and never had a problem so I keep buying them and using them.

It may be that they are older and only do 802.11g and now there are better and faster things out there but I keep using the RTL8187 because it just works well and reliably, both windows and assorted flavors of Linux.

[jrdavis4]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I just wanted to close the loop on this for anyone else looking for a wifi card. I did a lot more research and decided that Atheros would be ideal since they are Linux friendly (9x drivers anyway - apparently 10x causes issues). This fits the budget and is purely plug and play. It worked immediately and recognized both 2.4 and 5g networks. Speed seems great so far...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071N ... UTF8&psc=1

Thanks again for the feedback!
Justin