I have a desktop PC that only has classic built-in LAN network connector where UTP cable connector is connected to. I have Blufin 40 installed on it and working well.
But now I need to move this PC to another room where I have no LAN cable available and Wifi router is only 2 meters away. I am thinking of buying Wifi USB A adapter like this one:
I have looked at on-line store and I see description is Windows supported and CD is included in package. I haven’t seen CD players like for a decade and my PC does not have one. And… if it had CD player, probably there are no Linux drivers Wifi drivers on there.
Questions:
Has someone bought any Wifi USB A adapter? Any experience?
What should I be careful when buying Wifi USB A adapter that will work with Blufin 40 (and beyond)? I am afraid I will buy Windows only device that will not work on Blufin (or any other Linux e.g. Ubuntu, if I decide to switch back to my old good friend).
Can you point me to some known to work Wifi USB A adapter web page, so I can get part number so I can search for it in my local store or some local on-line store.
I’ve had good experiences with adapters made by Panda Wireless, such as this one. This page also has a list of some other supported adapters.
Also, for a desktop pc, you might want to look into a pci-e WiFi card if you have free slots because these tend to provide better speeds and compatibility.
I have a TP-Link USB WiFi adaptor that works ok under Linux. The manufacturer is TP-Link but the chip itself is RealTek RTL 8188EU chip. On some distributions like Debian I had to install an additional linux-firmware package to get the necessary firmware file to make it work. If I remember correctly, the firmware was included by default under Bluefin so the adaptor worked out of the box.
This was the exact model but I guess any reasonably old adaptor will work. Avoid very news ones since their firmware files may not yet be available under Linux or the drivers may not be written yet.
Like I have red there are two kind of devices. First with kernel build-in Linux driver devices and second out-of-kernel driver devices. First one are plug and play without any hassle and second one requiring to download driver from manufactuar web page. Second one can get complicated, because when kernel upgreades (and with Blifin we can expect this a lot) drivers also must be updated, but manifactuer may not have interest to update them. Long term solution is to use kernel build in driver devices.
Like stated on web page posted by @GrandpaRes author suggests to avoid all of TP-Link and D-Link devices because they are out-of-kernel devices.
Author suggest to use Panda and Alfa devices.
What I have seen, on those web pages offering this devices that device is in range of 30$ and shipment to Europe is also around 30$ range plus custom plus taxes and ir gets to 70+ $. I need to find something cheeper. No local on-line stores have Panda or Alpha devices. Now I am in search of how to get reasonable price…
Thing is, where I am I don’t get any USB Wifi adaptor other than Tp-link and D-link (plus some minor brands). I wish those drivers would also be made in-tree.
