Suggestions for inexpensive, Linux-friendly USB wifi dongle

[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.

[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. :-(

[Jason]

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!

[ssfc72]

Dumb computer, touch pad!   Creates typos when my palm accidentally touches it. :-(

[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.

[William Park]

Asus and TP-Link seem to be Linux-friendly.

[cod3poet]

$16 CAD  works with a raspberry Pi + linux and you can just leave it plugged in.

https://www.amazon.ca/Edimax-EW-7811Un-150Mbps-Raspberry-Supports/dp/B003MTTJOY/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1518806611&sr=8-6&keywords=wifi+linux

[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.

[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).

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[fox]

In case you're interested, here is the link to the item on Newegg's site.

[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.