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Suggestions for inexpensive, Linux-friendly USB wifi dongle

Started by fox, February 16, 2018, 11:33:38 AM

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fox

I'm getting sick of having to connect to Ethernet every time I want to try or install a distro on one of my computers with Broadcom wifi cards, so I would now like to buy an inexpensive dongle that plugs into a usb port and gives me wifi. Any suggestions from those of you who have one? Also, should I worry about whether it's USB 2 or 3, and what speed it is? The cheapest I've seen on the internet seem to be 150 mbps.
Ubuntu 23.10 on 2019 5k iMac
Ubuntu 22.04 on Dell XPS 13

ssfc72

I have just bought the following.  It should be arriving in the mail, shortly.
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/1200Mbps-802-11AC-USB-Dual-Band-2-4G-5GHz-Wireless-WIFI-Network-Adapter-Q8X1/401478186783?hash=item5d79f6f71f:g:ZCAAAOSwW9RaXvTi

Looks like it should work with Linux and it appears to be USB 3.
It is also WIFI AC, but if your router is not wifi AC, then you won't get that wifi speed.

I will post a message on the Forums, when I get to try this wifi adapter.

Update July 21 - I have now also purchased the Edimax N150 for use on my older desktop computer running Mint 17.3 (Mint 18.3 won't work the page scanner on my old Kodak ESP 5250 printer scanner)

The Edimax usb wifi dongle does not work properly with Mint 17.3 and this is a known problem with older Ubuntu based Distros.  The Edimax works for about a minute and then drops the wifi connection.
My Mint 17.3 is using a 3.x kernal, so I went into the Update Manager and select the 4.4 kernal and now the Edimax seems to be working well!  Update July 22, the Edimax is again, dropping the internet connection on the Mint 17.3 desktop computer. :-(
Mint 20.3 on a Dell 14" Inspiron notebook, HP Pavilion X360, 11" k120ca notebook (Linux Lubuntu), Dell 13" XPS notebook computer (MXLinux)
Cellphone Samsung A50, Koodo pre paid service

Jason

#2
Your pick sounds like a steal. I just have a lowly D-link DWA-125. It does protocol N at 150 Mbps max. For me, that's fine because originally I bought it just for internet use and nowadays I don't have to use it much at all. My internet is only 40 Mbps.

Btw, USB 3.0 tends to be more power efficient which is a big deal with you, Fox, but USB 2.0 is plenty fast enough unless you're using your laptop to do a lot of large file transfers (it goes up to 480 Mbps). I'm not sure if I've ever seen network dongles sold saying they're USB 2 or 3.0 though. The ac protocol has a maximum multi-station speed of 1 Gbps and a single link max of 500 Mbps, so it's probably using USB 3 but might be just USB 2 - says it's compatible with both, so that suggests USB 2 to me. If your internet connection is faster than 500 Mbps, I'm insanely jealous of you!
* Zorin OS 17.1 Core and Windows 11 Pro on a Dell Precision 3630 Tower with an
i5-8600 3.1 GHz 6-core processor, dual 22" displays, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB Nvme and a Geforce 1060 6 GB card
* Motorola Edge (2022) phone with Android 13

ssfc72

Dumb computer, touch pad!   Creates typos when my palm accidentally touches it. :-(
Mint 20.3 on a Dell 14" Inspiron notebook, HP Pavilion X360, 11" k120ca notebook (Linux Lubuntu), Dell 13" XPS notebook computer (MXLinux)
Cellphone Samsung A50, Koodo pre paid service

Jason

Aw. I've had the same problem with the touchpad, though it's usually just moving my mouse around while I'm typing and changing focus. I turn my touchpad off entirely and use a mouse.
* Zorin OS 17.1 Core and Windows 11 Pro on a Dell Precision 3630 Tower with an
i5-8600 3.1 GHz 6-core processor, dual 22" displays, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB Nvme and a Geforce 1060 6 GB card
* Motorola Edge (2022) phone with Android 13

William Park


cod3poet

Arch, Windows, Ubuntu, MacOS. In that order. (Definitely 04/2023)
Ryzen9 5950x/128gb/2tbNVME/8TB(Current)Win11
8th gen i7/32gb/1tbNVME(Current)Arch
Macbook Pro 16/2021 m1/32gb(Current)Work
Comptia CNSP / Azure Devops Eng Expert / VMware Certified/ Sec Automation Engineer / Senior SRE

fox

Thanks, folks. I see that Amazon carries both a TP and the Edimax model for about the same price. They're both small and have the same specs. This is not something I would expect to use on a regular basis, as all the Broadcom wifi cards in my xps and my iMac work perfectly well with Linux - once you get the driver in. But for $16-20, I think it's worth having a dongle that I can use as needed in any computer, and gives me internet access with any distro without having to move the computer to an ethernet outlet. A good example is our PLUG meeting. My Dell gets wireless there with the installed Ubuntu and Arch, but put in a live usb from almost any distro and I get nothing. What is it with Broadcom anyway, that its driver can't be included? I have nothing against their wifi cards, except that.
Ubuntu 23.10 on 2019 5k iMac
Ubuntu 22.04 on Dell XPS 13

fox

I ordered the Edimax, as I found it on Newegg.ca site for a few dollars less and several of the reviews mentioned that it works out of the box with various Linux distros. Some of the negative comments point out its limited range, but I don't think that will be an issue for me the way I plan to use it (mainly in a laptop).
Ubuntu 23.10 on 2019 5k iMac
Ubuntu 22.04 on Dell XPS 13

Jason

Cool. Bill's and cod3poet's options look great. That'd be hard a choice for me. I like the idea of increased range but the tiny size of the Edimax is attractive.
* Zorin OS 17.1 Core and Windows 11 Pro on a Dell Precision 3630 Tower with an
i5-8600 3.1 GHz 6-core processor, dual 22" displays, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB Nvme and a Geforce 1060 6 GB card
* Motorola Edge (2022) phone with Android 13

cod3poet

Sometimes there is Research indecision AKA "Nerd's Block" sometimes you just need to make the leap. 2x ~$15 attempts is better than a ~$40 nope. Also you can sell the non-working one for $10 on Kijiji and there you go.
Arch, Windows, Ubuntu, MacOS. In that order. (Definitely 04/2023)
Ryzen9 5950x/128gb/2tbNVME/8TB(Current)Win11
8th gen i7/32gb/1tbNVME(Current)Arch
Macbook Pro 16/2021 m1/32gb(Current)Work
Comptia CNSP / Azure Devops Eng Expert / VMware Certified/ Sec Automation Engineer / Senior SRE

fox

Edimax wifi dongle was delivered today. Seems to work very well, at least anywhere in my house. I tried it with Pop!_OS live disk and it detected the dongle.
Ubuntu 23.10 on 2019 5k iMac
Ubuntu 22.04 on Dell XPS 13

Jason

Nice! Let us know if you try it with other Linux distros. I may just have to get one. I like it's small size and if it has sufficient range for you, should work for me alright, too. My place is smaller :D
* Zorin OS 17.1 Core and Windows 11 Pro on a Dell Precision 3630 Tower with an
i5-8600 3.1 GHz 6-core processor, dual 22" displays, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB Nvme and a Geforce 1060 6 GB card
* Motorola Edge (2022) phone with Android 13

fox

In case you're interested, here is the link to the item on Newegg's site.
Ubuntu 23.10 on 2019 5k iMac
Ubuntu 22.04 on Dell XPS 13

fox

Just for fun I tried it with openSUSE Tumbleweed and it worked OK. I didn't know until now that Tumbleweed has a live version, as openSUSE Leap does not. Now that I know, I'm curious whether it will boot up on my Late 2015 iMac without that 4-5 minute delay.

Incidentally, I made the Tumbleweed iso into a live USB using Etcher. Etcher is really excellent; there is no live USB I have tried to make with it that didn't succeed, and I always do it while booted into a Linux distro, not Windows or Mac.
Ubuntu 23.10 on 2019 5k iMac
Ubuntu 22.04 on Dell XPS 13