[HN Gopher] Detailed list of USB WiFi adapters that work well wi...
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Detailed list of USB WiFi adapters that work well with Linux
Author : pkkm
Score : 50 points
Date : 2023-01-08 19:53 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| magixx wrote:
| Are there any newish chipsets/usb adapters that support both
| monitor and injection mode?
| fsflover wrote:
| I wonder why there is no separate section (or at least a link)
| for the adapters supporting free drivers and free firmware, FSF-
| certified: https://ryf.fsf.org/categories/wireless-adapters.
| cr3ative wrote:
| These appear to be dual band 802.11n at best unless I missed
| one. That's not good enough these days.
| fsflover wrote:
| They are far from useless, I'm writing this comment using one
| (inside Librem 15 laptop designed to run an FSF-endorsed
| distro).
| rektide wrote:
| Makes me excited to try &nsee how far AP mode can go these days.
|
| After running 802.11n OpenWRT on cheap-ish routers for many years
| (Netgear WGT634U), I started wanting to just run Debian, and was
| trying a bunch of different Alfa adapters. Supposedly really good
| chipsets & most would go into AP mode but some had quite frank
| limits (realtek would reject clients after the 7th), or reset
| semi-regularly even with really really well conditioned usb hub
| power. I spent probably 3 years trying to make it work &
| accepting some truly forsakenly bad wifi before finally going
| back & buying a netgear r7800 for AP.
|
| There's a lot more chipsets these days & it might be worth
| exploring again. The appeal of being able to add passable wifi
| APs via usb remains alluring to me. And alas the pcie addin
| market is also not well suited here either... there's only sparse
| & expensive exotic gear seemingly targetting APs, like Compex
| cards.
| Denatonium wrote:
| Intel cards in particular will flat out refuse to work in AP
| mode on the 5GHz band due to a poorly implemented regulatory
| domain check.
|
| On the other hand, my generic AliExpress Mediatek MT7612U works
| in AP mode. If I recall, it was passable, but it didn't perform
| that well compared to my dedicated AP; I think it was the range
| that wasn't as good (probably had something to do with my
| antennas). I also didn't test it with a lot of clients.
| flotzam wrote:
| Intel's Location Aware Regulatory sucks, but:
|
| "when LAR actually works, the real issue isn't LAR, but
| rather hostapd not scanning before setting up the AP."
|
| "after some trial and error, I was able to get [patched]
| hostapd to start in the 5GHz band on an Intel [AX210] card
| with LAR enabled"
|
| https://tildearrow.org/?p=post&month=7&year=2022&item=lar
| account-5 wrote:
| Thanks, now I just need the same but for motherboard connected
| choosers. Always my fear I'll but a motherboard or PCI card and
| the WiFi won't working properly.
| karlpoppery wrote:
| Thank you for this. It's hard to understate how frustrating it is
| to buy multiple wifi adapters, to struggle to find the correct
| drivers on a some github repo and to have all of them randomly
| stop working every six months. I gave up and bought a long
| ethernet cable.
|
| This problem is one of the main reason I wouldn't recommend
| having Linux as an OS for a personal PC.
| chasil wrote:
| It would be better to choose from OpenBSD's list, as that
| hardware is likely more open. Ralink and Realtek have been
| described as particularly friendly (if memory serves me).
|
| However, OpenBSD also supports older adapters that Linux has
| long abandoned, so choose something recent.
|
| https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq6.html#Wireless
|
| I am using a Realtek with Centos, and it's never been a
| problem.
|
| Edit:
|
| Avoid these - "There are not very many major vendors left. Just
| a few closed ones (TI ACX100/111, Connexant PrismGT, Broadcom
| crud)."
|
| https://undeadly.org/cgi?action=article;sid=20050317205152
| Latty wrote:
| I feel like this used to be a bigger issue, now virtually all
| motherboards have an M.2 A/E key slot for a wifi card and the
| Intel ones are pretty bulletproof and dirt cheap, in my
| experience.
| eric__cartman wrote:
| Most modern low end boards don't have this. And a very big
| chunk of desktop computers in use nowadays probably fall in
| the having a low end board category or being old enough for
| that to not be a feature. (my desktop is in the first
| category lol)
| Latty wrote:
| Fair, although given M.2 is just PCI-E, a quick search on
| aliexpress shows adapters for under a fiver, might be the
| best route to a known good option (assuming those adapters
| aren't problematic themselves, but they should be simple,
| also assuming most people have a free PCI-E slot these
| days, outside of ITX boards, but those not having an M.2
| for wifi seem unlikely).
| cosmotic wrote:
| So throw out the one the motherboard comes with and buy one
| to replace it?
| Latty wrote:
| I mean, my experience has been that they tend to come with
| ones that have good support, but I accept this may be a
| lack of familiarity with the low end of the market,
| although given how cheap the Intel ones are, I'd suspect
| the low end is more likely to just not ship one than ship a
| bad one.
| [deleted]
| traverseda wrote:
| Some wifi cards I've used in the past have supported only very
| limited number of clients in host mode. I'd love to be able to
| see something like "maximum supported hosts".
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(page generated 2023-01-08 23:01 UTC)