USB Wireless Adapters

charlesread · n00b Joined: 03 Aug 2004 Posts: 17

Hi everybody,

I used Gentoo back in 2006, and I'm getting back into it for use as a server. "Back in the day" getting support for wireless cards was such a pain, there were virtually no drivers available and everybody was trying to reverse engineer them. Now I am looking to install Gentoo on an old desktop and I'd like to use a USB wireless adapter for my connection - can somebody please give me an update as to where wireless support sits these days? Which USB adapters are most widely supported? Are there any with which you've had particularly good or bad experiences?

Thanks!

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:17 pm Post subject:

charlesread,

Welcome back.

Ralink and intel and atheros chipsets are well supported.
Unless you already own one, don't buy broadcom.

IF you want to assess a USB dongle you already own, try it with System Rescue CD, which makes an excellent Gentoo install starting point.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

charlesread · n00b Joined: 03 Aug 2004 Posts: 17

Thank you very much - do you know which vendors use the Broadcom chipset so I can stay away? Conversely, do you know which vendors use the good chipsets?

Thanks again!

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:31 pm Post subject:

charlesread,

If only it were that simple. Vendors mix and match to suit themselves and the market place for the chip sets.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

Gusar · Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:55 pm Post subject:

Get a TP-Link device. They use Atheros chips that work with the ath9k_htc driver. They're pretty much the best choice right now.

I have the most basic one, WN721N, it has no external antenna and does 150Mbps, more than enough for my needs. Then there's WN722N which also does 150Mbps but has an external antenna for better reception. If you need more speed, there's WN821N (300Mbps, no antenna) and WN822N (300Mbps, antennas).

charlesread · n00b Joined: 03 Aug 2004 Posts: 17

Thanks everybody!

saellaven · l33t Joined: 23 Jul 2006 Posts: 655

when I was researching wireless adapters to set a computer up for my dad, http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Devices was priceless.
_________________
Ryzen 3700X, Asus Prime X570-Pro, 64 GB DDR4 3200, GeForce GTX 1660 Super
openrc-0.17, ~vanilla-sources, ~nvidia-drivers, ~gcc

charlesread · n00b Joined: 03 Aug 2004 Posts: 17

Success - just a driver issue - thanks again everybody!