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Suitable USB WiFi Adapter

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  Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Tim McDonough <tmcdonough@gmail.com> - 2015-10-28 21:10 +0100
    Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Sven Arvidsson <sa@whiz.se> - 2015-10-28 22:10 +0100
    Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Doug <dmcgarrett@optonline.net> - 2015-10-28 23:50 +0100
      Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter rlharris@oplink.net - 2015-10-29 00:10 +0100
    Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter rlharris@oplink.net - 2015-10-28 23:50 +0100
      Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2015-10-29 02:00 +0100
        Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter rlharris@oplink.net - 2015-10-29 03:20 +0100
          Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Tim McDonough <tmcdonough@gmail.com> - 2015-10-29 05:10 +0100
          Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2015-10-30 05:00 +0100
        Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Safwat <softwatt@gmx.com> - 2015-10-29 16:40 +0100
    Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter moxalt <moxalt@riseup.net> - 2015-10-29 06:10 +0100
      Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Doug <dmcgarrett@optonline.net> - 2015-10-29 06:30 +0100
        Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Tim McDonough <tmcdonough@gmail.com> - 2015-10-29 13:50 +0100
          Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Renaud (Ron) OLGIATI <renaud@olgiati-in-paraguay.org> - 2015-10-29 14:50 +0100
            Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Sven Arvidsson <sa@whiz.se> - 2015-10-29 16:30 +0100
              Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Jude DaShiell <jdashiel@panix.com> - 2015-10-29 18:00 +0100
                Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter moxalt <moxalt@riseup.net> - 2015-10-30 07:30 +0100
          Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Doug <dmcgarrett@optonline.net> - 2015-10-29 17:30 +0100
            Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Tim McDonough <tmcdonough@gmail.com> - 2015-10-29 19:10 +0100
        Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Sven Arvidsson <sa@whiz.se> - 2015-10-29 17:40 +0100
          Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Robert Crawford <webguytx@gmail.com> - 2015-10-29 17:50 +0100
      Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter rlharris@oplink.net - 2015-10-29 06:30 +0100
        Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter moxalt <moxalt@riseup.net> - 2015-10-29 10:00 +0100
          Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Doug <dmcgarrett@optonline.net> - 2015-10-29 16:40 +0100
            Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter rlharris@oplink.net - 2015-10-29 17:00 +0100
            Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Jude DaShiell <jdashiel@panix.com> - 2015-10-29 18:00 +0100
            Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter moxalt <moxalt@riseup.net> - 2015-10-30 07:20 +0100
    Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Darac Marjal <mailinglist@darac.org.uk> - 2015-10-29 17:40 +0100
      Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Tim McDonough <tmcdonough@gmail.com> - 2015-10-31 01:50 +0100
      Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2015-11-03 18:00 +0100
        Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter Curt <curty@free.fr> - 2015-11-04 11:40 +0100

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#159927 — Suitable USB WiFi Adapter

The older Dell laptop that I use for my mobile work has a broken 
internal WiFi adapter. I'd like to get a recommendation on a USB "stick" 
type adapter that plays well with Debian and Linux in general. Since I 
have nothing now I'd just as soon get one that covers as many WiFi modes 
as is practical... plan for the future.

Suggestions?

Tim

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#159931

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Wed, 2015-10-28 at 15:03 -0500, Tim McDonough wrote:
> The older Dell laptop that I use for my mobile work has a broken 
> internal WiFi adapter. I'd like to get a recommendation on a USB
> "stick" 
> type adapter that plays well with Debian and Linux in general. Since
> I 
> have nothing now I'd just as soon get one that covers as many WiFi
> modes 
> as is practical... plan for the future.

Just a tip, get a model that has a connector for an external antenna,
unless you know you will always be in a place with great reception. 

-- 
Cheers,
Sven Arvidsson
http://www.whiz.se
PGP Key ID 6FAB5CD5

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#159932

On 10/28/2015 04:03 PM, Tim McDonough wrote:
>
> The older Dell laptop that I use for my mobile work has a broken internal WiFi adapter. I'd like to get a recommendation on a USB "stick" type adapter that plays well with Debian and Linux in general. Since I have nothing now I'd just as soon get one that covers as many WiFi modes as is practical... plan for the future.
>
> Suggestions?
>
> Tim
>
>
I recently bought an adapter fro an old Dell that I couldn't get the Broadcom driver to work on. The adapter hardly stuck out above the surface where the USB port was. It worked, but it had very limited range.

If you just want to use it in the house, it will probably be OK, but to work with Hotspots out in the open a couple of blocks away, or whatever, it would not work. I don't remember the name of it, but obviously

it did not have sufficient antenna in such a small package. You should look for something about the size of  USB Flash dongle if you want to try for distance.

--doug

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#159934

On Wed, October 28, 2015 1:46 pm, Doug wrote:
> I recently bought an adapter fro an old Dell that I couldn't get the
> Broadcom driver to work on. The adapter hardly stuck out above the
> surface where the USB port was. It worked, but it had very limited range.

The antennas on WiFi routers typicaly are about six inches long; so a
physically compact dongle must compromise the antenna system.

A USB 2.0 cable can be up to ten feet long; use that and duct tape to
position the dongle for best reception; or put the dongle on a bookshelf
or over a curtain rod; or use a loop of twine and a thumbtack to position
the dongle on a wall.

With high frequencies, even a few inches difference in location can made a
significant difference in reception, so experiment.

Some ASUS adapters come with a six-inch semi-rigid gooseneck USB cable so
you can adjust the position of the dongle while keeping it close to the
computer.

Russ

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#159933

On Wed, October 28, 2015 3:03 pm, Tim McDonough wrote:
> The older Dell laptop that I use for my mobile work has a broken
> internal WiFi adapter. I'd like to get a recommendation on a USB "stick"
> type adapter that plays well with Debian and Linux in general. Since I
> have nothing now I'd just as soon get one that covers as many WiFi modes
> as is practical... plan for the future.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1114662-REG/asus_90ig01c1_ba0000_wireless_ac1300_usb_adapter.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1025036-REG/asus_usb_ac56_wireless_ac1200_db.html

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#159938

> http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1114662-REG/asus_90ig01c1_ba0000_wireless_ac1300_usb_adapter.html

> http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1025036-REG/asus_usb_ac56_wireless_ac1200_db.html

Any word on how well they work on GNU/Linux?  E.g. is the driver fully
supported in the mainline kernel, or in the kernel but in "staging", or
...?


        Stefan

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#159942

On Wed, October 28, 2015 7:59 pm, Stefan Monnier wrote:
>> http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1114662-REG/asus_90ig01c1_ba0000_
>> wireless_ac1300_usb_adapter.html
>
>> http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1025036-REG/asus_usb_ac56_wireles
>> s_ac1200_db.html
>
> Any word on how well they work on GNU/Linux?  E.g. is the driver fully
> supported in the mainline kernel, or in the kernel but in "staging", or
> ...?

About a year ago, I purchased a Asus RT-N66U and a USB radio (I think it
is a N53) for a project which now is postponed.  The USB radio "just
worked" in two or three machines, but I do not recall whether they were
i386 or amd64; I have both, and was running "straight out of the box"
Lenny.

No guarantee, but in my experience, WiFi "just works" in Debian Squeeze
and Jessie.  (I jumped from Squeeze to Jessie; I did not like the Gnome in
Wheezy.)  And ASUS typically is very good.

An external radio can be useful even if the radio in a laptop still is
functional, because a WiFi network is limited by the speed of the slowest
machine (B, G, N, AC); so it may be possible to keep an older laptop in
service merely by plugging in a faster radio.

Russ

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#159950

On 10/28/2015 9:15 PM, rlharris@oplink.net wrote:
> On Wed, October 28, 2015 7:59 pm, Stefan Monnier wrote:
>>> http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1114662-REG/asus_90ig01c1_ba0000_
>>> wireless_ac1300_usb_adapter.html
>>
>>> http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1025036-REG/asus_usb_ac56_wireles
>>> s_ac1200_db.html
>>
>> Any word on how well they work on GNU/Linux?  E.g. is the driver fully
>> supported in the mainline kernel, or in the kernel but in "staging", or
>> ...?
>
> About a year ago, I purchased a Asus RT-N66U and a USB radio (I think it
> is a N53) for a project which now is postponed.  The USB radio "just
> worked" in two or three machines, but I do not recall whether they were
> i386 or amd64; I have both, and was running "straight out of the box"
> Lenny.
>
> No guarantee, but in my experience, WiFi "just works" in Debian Squeeze
> and Jessie.  (I jumped from Squeeze to Jessie; I did not like the Gnome in
> Wheezy.)  And ASUS typically is very good.
>
> An external radio can be useful even if the radio in a laptop still is
> functional, because a WiFi network is limited by the speed of the slowest
> machine (B, G, N, AC); so it may be possible to keep an older laptop in
> service merely by plugging in a faster radio.
>
> Russ

Thank you to everyone who replied. I believe I will try one of these 
ASUS models. In general I've had good success with a variety of ASUS 
products in the past.

Tim
Central Illinois, USA

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#159991

> No guarantee, but in my experience, WiFi "just works" in Debian Squeeze
> and Jessie.

That was more or less true back in the 11n days.  Nowadays we're back to
having trouble: most chipset have some kind of support, but many of them
have support that's not integrated in the kernel, i.e. you need to
compile the kernel module separately, and it only works for some
versions of the kernel and there's no guarantee that it'll still work
5 years from now.

If you search the web for comments about using those Asus 11ac dongles
it seems they don't "just work".


        Stefan

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#159968

On 10/29/2015 02:59 AM, Stefan Monnier wrote:
>> http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1114662-REG/asus_90ig01c1_ba0000_wireless_ac1300_usb_adapter.html
> 
>> http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1025036-REG/asus_usb_ac56_wireless_ac1200_db.html
> 
> Any word on how well they work on GNU/Linux?  E.g. is the driver fully
> supported in the mainline kernel, or in the kernel but in "staging", or
> ...?
> 
> 
>         Stefan
> 

Also, do they require with non-free drivers?

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#159951

On Wed, 28 Oct 2015 15:03:10 -0500, Tim McDonough <tmcdonough@gmail.com> wrote:

> The older Dell laptop that I use for my mobile work has a broken 
> internal WiFi adapter. I'd like to get a recommendation on a USB "stick" 
> type adapter that plays well with Debian and Linux in general. Since I 
> have nothing now I'd just as soon get one that covers as many WiFi modes 
> as is practical... plan for the future.

https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-dual-band-usb-adapter-gnu-linux-tpe-nusbdb

https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-usb-adapter-gnu-linux-tpe-n150usb

https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-g-usb-adapter

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#159952

On 10/29/2015 01:05 AM, moxalt wrote:
> On Wed, 28 Oct 2015 15:03:10 -0500, Tim McDonough <tmcdonough@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> The older Dell laptop that I use for my mobile work has a broken
>> internal WiFi adapter. I'd like to get a recommendation on a USB "stick"
>> type adapter that plays well with Debian and Linux in general. Since I
>> have nothing now I'd just as soon get one that covers as many WiFi modes
>> as is practical... plan for the future.
> https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-dual-band-usb-adapter-gnu-linux-tpe-nusbdb
>
> https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-usb-adapter-gnu-linux-tpe-n150usb
>
> https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-g-usb-adapter
>
>
I would get the first of these, _if_ your Linux is on the list. (Mine is not.)
I would not get the second--it is too small to have much of an antenna.
I would wonder about the third--it appears that it has a little antenna under the blob, but it's still smaller than the first item pictured.

Are you sure you can't get a replacement part for your laptop? Taking it apart and replacing the WIFI unit would be a pain, but would probably work the best,
assuming that you can get the proper driver for it. I eventually got a driver to work with my old Dell. And then I reinstalled Linux to a new drive, and forgot how I
got the damned Broadcom to work--but when it did, it worked quite well. Also, are you sure your WIFI doesn't work? Do you have Windows on the machine, and
does it work in Windows? If it works in Windows, it will work in Linux, but you may have a devil of a time getting the right driver! Good luck!

--doug

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#159962

On 10/28/2015 8:22 PM, Doug wrote:
> Are you sure you can't get a replacement part for your laptop? Taking 
> it apart and replacing the WIFI unit would be a pain, but would 
> probably work the best,
> assuming that you can get the proper driver for it. I eventually got a 
> driver to work with my old Dell. And then I reinstalled Linux to a new 
> drive, and forgot how I
> got the damned Broadcom to work--but when it did, it worked quite 
> well. Also, are you sure your WIFI doesn't work? Do you have Windows 
> on the machine, and
> does it work in Windows? If it works in Windows, it will work in 
> Linux, but you may have a devil of a time getting the right driver! 
> Good luck!

The laptop is a Dell Latitude D620. Because of its age I'm not inclined 
to buy anything specific to that model. When I first installed Debian on 
it if I recall there was a message with the name of the missing driver. 
I did an Internet search and although the driver is proprietary I was 
able to download it at no cost.

A couple people suggested off-list I replace the older laptop. The Dell 
only supports 32-bit Linux but since my portable work is mostly email 
and web that's not a limitation. I have a 120GB solid state drive in it 
so what it may lack in processor speed it makes up for with quick I/O.

I like the idea of fixing my problem with an external adapter that is 
supported by free software. Also, the attraction of getting an adapter 
that supports USB 3.0 and the newer WiFi specifications/modes is 
attractive. I'm not opposed to spending the money, I just like to be 
frugal and get the most value for what I spend.

Thanks again,

Tim

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#159964

This dongle, which has a long aerial, works out of the box on my raspbian Raspberry-Pi, no driver needed.

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H95C0A2
 
Cheers,
 
Ron.
-- 
       Whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty
      by close application thereto, it is worse executed by two persons
       and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein. 
                                                   -- George Washington
                                    
                   -- http://www.olgiati-in-paraguay.org --
 

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#159966

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Thu, 2015-10-29 at 10:43 -0300, Renaud OLGIATI wrote:
> This dongle, which has a long aerial, works out of the box on my
> raspbian Raspberry-Pi, no driver needed.
> 
> www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H95C0A2

I have something similar, quite like the possibility to use an external
antenna. 

But it's Ralink, so it has proprietary firmware right?

-- 
Cheers,
Sven Arvidsson
http://www.whiz.se
PGP Key ID 6FAB5CD5

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#159978

It may have, but the proprietary software is unnecessary if you use 
archlinux to install it and get it up and running.  You need 
wpa_supplicant; iw, dialog and netctl packages installed.  Now I have an 
rt2780 usb wifi adapter and have this working.  Once those packages are 
installed, you run netctl list and the first string that returns will be 
at least one wifi possibility.  The next thing to do is type netctl 
enable network string from netctl list.  Then reboot the computer and 
watch your wifi network come up.  What I just described I have no idea 
how to do with any form of debian.  Earlier I documented what happened 
with the firmware debian disk on an acer 5003 notebook which is an amd 
clone and my real amd k8 athelon machines.

On Thu, 29 Oct 2015, Sven Arvidsson wrote:

> Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2015 11:28:45
> From: Sven Arvidsson <sa@whiz.se>
> To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
> Subject: Re: Suitable USB WiFi Adapter
> 
> On Thu, 2015-10-29 at 10:43 -0300, Renaud OLGIATI wrote:
>> This dongle, which has a long aerial, works out of the box on my
>> raspbian Raspberry-Pi, no driver needed.
>>
>> www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H95C0A2
>
> I have something similar, quite like the possibility to use an external
> antenna.
>
> But it's Ralink, so it has proprietary firmware right?
>
>

-- 

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#159994

On Thu, 29 Oct 2015 12:53:10 -0400 (EDT), Jude DaShiell <jdashiel@panix.com>
wrote:

> It may have, but the proprietary software is unnecessary if you use 
> archlinux to install it and get it up and running.

It doesn't matter what distribution of GNU/Linux you use- if there is no free
firmware available for the device, there is no free firmware available for the
device. wpa_supplicant is just a program used to authenticate with
WPA-encrypted networks over a wireless LAN interface. It still requires
underlying firmware for the operating system to be able to control the device.

The reason it worked out of the box in Arch is because the Arch kernel is
mainline Linux, which has proprietary blobs, unlike Debian's de-blobbed kernel
or Linux-libre.

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#159973

On 10/29/2015 08:39 AM, Tim McDonough wrote:
> /snip/
>
> I like the idea of fixing my problem with an external adapter that is supported by free software. Also, the attraction of getting an adapter that supports USB 3.0 and the newer WiFi specifications/modes is attractive. I'm not opposed to spending the money, I just like to be frugal and get the most value for what I spend.
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Tim
>
>
I don't know why you'd spend anything extra for USB3--your old Dell doesn't support that, and if you get a new laptop, the wifi will be built-in and working. The little $6 adapter that I mentioned
earlier worked fine with PCLinuxOS for the short distance that it worked over. It "just worked."

--doug

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#159983

On 10/29/2015 11:21 AM, Doug wrote:
> I don't know why you'd spend anything extra for USB3--your old Dell 
> doesn't support that, and if you get a new laptop, the wifi will be 
> built-in and working. The little $6 adapter that I mentioned
> earlier worked fine with PCLinuxOS for the short distance that it 
> worked over. It "just worked."
I didn't specifically look for USB 3.0 for the reason you mentioned. But 
the other modes, etc. will be useful.

I have a tiny, inexpensive USB adapter that has fairly poor range and 
does not work in some places where I attend meetings, etc. even though 
it works fine in others.

Tim

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#159976

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Wed, 2015-10-28 at 21:22 -0400, Doug wrote:
> > https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-dual-band
> > -usb-adapter-gnu-linux-tpe-nusbdb
> > 
> > https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-usb-adapt
> > er-gnu-linux-tpe-n150usb
> > 
> > https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-g-usb-adapt
> > er
> > 
> > 
> I would get the first of these, _if_ your Linux is on the list. (Mine
> is not.)

Just check if the driver is in the mainline kernel, and it should be
supported on any Linux, unless the distribution for some reason decides
to strip it out.

In this case it seems to be covered by the ath9k_htc driver:
http://www.linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/ath9k_htc/

-- 
Cheers,
Sven Arvidsson
http://www.whiz.se
PGP Key ID 6FAB5CD5

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