wireless card compatibility with unupdated Ubuntu 9.10

[haplorrhine]

I want a usb wireless adaptor that will immediately work with Ubuntu 9.10 without requiring any updates from the internet.
From this page, I can access pages about card type compatibility. Example:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Ha...Netgear#PCMCIA
However, I don't understand the info on those pages. Supports network install is probably what I need, but I don't know if that will apply for older versions of Ubuntu. Maybe Works "out of the box" too?

[bakegoodz]

OK. Looked up your kernel on Distrowatch you have 2.6.31. I'm partial to Atheros chipset's Linux support. The following chipsets are supported by the well supported ath9k driver:
AR5008:

AR5418+AR5133 (>= 2.6.27) AR5418 = DB 11n PCIe, AR5133 = 3x3 DB 11n

AR5416+AR5133 (>= 2.6.27) AR5416 = DB 11n PCI

AR5416+AR2133 (>= 2.6.27) AR2133 = 3x3 SB 11n

AR9001:

AR9160 (>= 2.6.27) DB 11n

AR9002:

AR9220 (>= 2.6.27, an AR9280 card over PCI) 2x2 DB 11n PCI

AR9280 (>= 2.6.27) 2x2 DB 11n PCIe

AR9281 (>= 2.6.27) 2x2 SB 11n PCIe

AR9285 (>= 2.6.29) 1x1 SB 11n PCIe

This what I recommend is go to http://www.wikidevi.com/wiki/Special...?Brand=Atheros
Click on the type of adapter your looking for under "Interface:"
Then go through the adapters finding ones that have the chipsets listed in this post.

[kurt18947]

I do know the wifi adapters I'm using will NOT work on 9.10. The only adapter I've used that might work on a distro that old might be this Trendnet. It was my wifi adapter for updating fresh installs when I first started messing with Linux because it just worked, no additional firmware, software or tweaking required.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833156152

[bakegoodz]

Yes the 2.6.31 kernel has support for the Trendnet TEW-424UB It uses the RTL8187 module.

[kurt18947]

Yes the 2.6.31 kernel has support for the Trendnet TEW-424UB It uses the RTL8187 module.

I think it's an RTL8187B. Some plain 8187s had issues I believe. I found the 8187B kinda slow even for a G speed device but it was and is reliably plug 'n' play.

[haplorrhine]

Thank you for the responses, but an alternate solution was implemented by the time I could view this thread again. It was the work of someone else, but it looks like they just downloaded some packages and transferred them over to my laptop.

bcmwl-kernel-source_5.60.48.36+bdcom-0ubuntu3
http://packages.ubuntu.com/lucid/bcmwl-kernel-source

fakeroot_1.14.4-1ubuntu1_i386
http://packages.ubuntu.com/lucid/i386/fakeroot/download

patch_2.6-2ubuntu1_i386
http://packages.ubuntu.com/lucid/i386/patch/download