USB Wireless adapter that will work on Ubuntu?
June 7, 2018 2:25 AM Subscribe
I have a Ubuntu desktop computer. It had a generic wireless USB adapter that I took from a Raspberry Pi, which worked well until it failed. Since then I have tried four different adapters; three have had driver or installation issues (even the one actually saying Linux-compatible), while the fourth's signal was just too weak to use.
Have you used an adapter that was just plug-and-play on Ubuntu? What was it?
Installation difficulty of "apt-get some drivers" is acceptable, but I do not know how and don't want to (say) compile a kernel.
Installation difficulty of "apt-get some drivers" is acceptable, but I do not know how and don't want to (say) compile a kernel.
And regarding the weak signal, there are RTL8188 based adapters with an external antenna. Those small dongles that just have a tiny blob protruding outside the computer case may be convenient for laptops, but behind your desktop and jammed against the wall they just lack sensitivity. A short USB extension cable could also help to better position the adapter.
posted by Stoneshop at 4:02 AM on June 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Stoneshop at 4:02 AM on June 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I got tired of fighting wireless issues with my desktop Linux box and stumbled into what I think is a better solution. Buy a wifi range extender with an ethernet port on it. Plug the range extender in near your Linux box. connect it to your network, then you can get online with an ethernet cable plugged into the range extender. You can buy one on Amazon for $20.
posted by COD at 4:50 AM on June 7, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by COD at 4:50 AM on June 7, 2018 [5 favorites]
Just last week I sold my old desktop that used a Buffalo wifi-adapter. I installed Ubuntu 18.04 and wifi worked straight away, no tomfoolery with drivers required.
One thing you could try if you are having weak signal issues is putting the adapter on the end of a USB extension cable. That way, you can position it wherever the signal is strongest.
posted by Juso No Thankyou at 5:03 AM on June 7, 2018
One thing you could try if you are having weak signal issues is putting the adapter on the end of a USB extension cable. That way, you can position it wherever the signal is strongest.
posted by Juso No Thankyou at 5:03 AM on June 7, 2018
My own solution to this issue, regardless of OS, is to skip the USB adapters and instead pick up an m.2/mini-PCI to PCI-e WIFI adapter (eg) and then outfit that with whatever the latest intel chipset is. My wife's machine being the newest one in our home, has an Intel 8265 and in combination with a relatively recent router it is really very good. She chooses to run Fedora 28, but Ubuntu should work the same. Yes this approach costs more, but cheap and unreliable USB wifi adapters just aren't worth the hassle IMHO.
posted by Poldo at 7:28 AM on June 7, 2018
posted by Poldo at 7:28 AM on June 7, 2018
My company makes an Ubuntu-based product which uses a Buffalo N150, the same model linked above by Juso No Thankyou.
posted by Sunburnt at 8:46 AM on June 7, 2018
posted by Sunburnt at 8:46 AM on June 7, 2018
Wireless networking sucks. If it's a desktop, the Right Thing is to wire it.
If that's impracticable, I've always had good results from these little Edimax dongles.
If the design of your computer's casing surrounds one of those micro dongles with too much metal to let it work properly, just hanging it off a USB extension cable usually helps quite a lot.
posted by flabdablet at 10:50 AM on June 7, 2018
If that's impracticable, I've always had good results from these little Edimax dongles.
If the design of your computer's casing surrounds one of those micro dongles with too much metal to let it work properly, just hanging it off a USB extension cable usually helps quite a lot.
posted by flabdablet at 10:50 AM on June 7, 2018
Best answer: Buy a wifi range extender with an ethernet port on it.
One of these cheap TP-Link devices should work just fine if you're going to go that way.
posted by flabdablet at 10:59 AM on June 7, 2018
One of these cheap TP-Link devices should work just fine if you're going to go that way.
posted by flabdablet at 10:59 AM on June 7, 2018
Response by poster: What I did was I bought a TP-Link TL-WA855RE range extender, and got an appropriately lengthy Ethernet cable. I bought this extender particularly because I live in Australia; hence A: Amazon is pretty limited, and B: I bought it from Officeworks here, who are not the cheapest but are usually reasonable and have a -very- generous return policy (I assume they make significant margins importing from China so I feel no guilt using it to the fullest.)
It works and it works well; I'm typing now on my desktop. It's maybe a little slower than I'd prefer but I imagine if I bought up the price range a bit that wouldn't be an issue; and I mainly use this computer for browsing and coding so I'm not going to worry.
Bonus: It improves the signal in my house.
Thanks for the suggestions.
posted by solarion at 2:52 AM on June 14, 2018
It works and it works well; I'm typing now on my desktop. It's maybe a little slower than I'd prefer but I imagine if I bought up the price range a bit that wouldn't be an issue; and I mainly use this computer for browsing and coding so I'm not going to worry.
Bonus: It improves the signal in my house.
Thanks for the suggestions.
posted by solarion at 2:52 AM on June 14, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:50 AM on June 7, 2018 [1 favorite]