Reliable USB wireless adaptor

**samuel16** · July 8th, 2014

Hi,
I am newbie to Ubuntu & Linux. I want to setup my Windows 7 PC for Ubuntu. This machine will run both Windows 7 and Ubuntu 14.04 (booted from a USB drive), when i finally set it up. During my preparation, i noticed that there are lot of questions on the net about USB wireless adapters not working with Ubuntu. I want to buy a wireless USB adapter that will

be compatible and has been tested on Ubuntu 14.04.
not only compatible, but more importantly, will work reliably without dropping connection everyday.
will run in N300 or N150 (second choice) protocol.
currently my other machines are on WPA2-PSK (AES encryption). So i would like the same in this new USB stick.
also work reliably when the machine boots in Windows 7 mode.

I tend to run this machine continuously; so i need a wireless USB stick that will run for atleast a few days , without disconnections. If you have come across a USB for 14.04, that meets the above 5 criteria, please let me know. I have to buy this USB (hopefully from local Frys store) as soon as possible. I am using a NetGear (N 300 speed) router, and so it would be nice if i can find a Netgear USB wireless adapter. From past experience i know that it would be a safer bet, when the router and desktop receiver are paired from the same company. So, i am leaning towards NetGear, but am not tied to the brand, if i can find a reliable USB dongle that works on both Windows and Ubuntu 14.04.

Looking forward to preparing my Ubuntu bootable USB drive tomorrow.
Thanks for any leads.

**samuel16** · July 9th, 2014

No replies so far.

Meanwhile, my reading indicates that compatability depends mostly on the chipset used by the wireless adapter.

Also, i found that there exists a list of chipsets on which Ubuntu has tested on, and hence the official chipsets. Does anyone know where i can find such a list of 14.04 ?
I found thinkpenguin.com which claims that their products have been tested on Ubuntu (11.04, 11.10, 12.04, 12.10, 13.04, 13.10, 14.04). Does anyone have good or bad experiences with their products ? Specifically, i am looking at their USB wireless model (TPE-N150USB) and wonder if anyone has tried this.

Thanks for any input.

**Bucky Ball** · July 9th, 2014

Thread moved to Recurring Discussions.

Welcome. There are a ton of threads and info here and elsewhere regarding this.

You could start here:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=best+wireless+adapter+ubuntu

Broadcom, Ralink, Realtek, Atheros. If it is very new chipset it may not work (like brought out last week), but quite probably will eventually.

**Mike_Walsh** · September 2nd, 2014

Hi, Samuel.

I use Ethernet on my Compaq desktop. However, I also have an ancient Dell laptop, on which I run Lubuntu, because of its low hardware requirements. This Dell refuses to run a wireless adapter, but is quite happy with Ethernet.

On the occasions I'm running both machines at the same time, I use a TP-Link TL-WN725N (v.2) wireless adapter on the desktop. When I first switched to Ubuntu, back in May, the original Ubuntu kernel that was pre-installed in the .iso image ( the 3.13-0.32 kernel) wouldn't run the adapter. However, over the next two kernel upgrades, sometime between the 3.13-0.33 and the 3.13-0.34 kernels, it now runs very well indeed.

Obviously support has been brought in for the Realtek RTL8188EUS chipset that it uses. It worked fine under XP, and, according to the box, ought to work fine for Windows 7.

If you visit the website:-

http://uk.tp-link.com/products/detai...odel=TL-WN725N

it will tell you all you need to know.

You may also find this of interest:-

https://wikidevi.com/wiki/TP-LINK_TL-WN725N_v1

One caveat; this IS only an N150 adapter. However, unless you're playing very graphics-intensive online games, there's no reason why it shouldn't do what you require of it. It also works superbly at streaming video and online radio stations.

Hope that helps.

Regards,

Mike.

**kurt18947** · September 2nd, 2014

In the early days of WiFi it's true that having the router/wireless access point and adapters from the same company was helpful. I'm not sure that's true today. You are correct that in linux world chip sets matter, rather than manufacturer. Netgear has an Atheros based adapter - WNA 1100 - that has a pretty good rep. I have a couple RealTek RTL8192SU based adapters - TEW-649UB - that seem faster and has been very reliable. The caveat with the RTL8192SU based adapters is that they may have a problem with suspend/resume. There's an easy fix if you choose to go that route.

**Mike_Walsh** · September 2nd, 2014

Originally Posted by kurt18947

In the early days of WiFi it's true that having the router/wireless access point and adapters from the same company was helpful. I'm not sure that's true today. You are correct that in linux world chip sets matter, rather than manufacturer. Netgear has an Atheros based adapter - WNA 1100 - that has a pretty good rep. I have a couple RealTek RTL8192SU based adapters - TEW-649UB - that seem faster and has been very reliable. The caveat with the RTL8192SU based adapters is that they may have a problem with suspend/resume. There's an easy fix if you choose to go that route.

I don't wish to hijack the OP's question, but it's interesting that you mention the suspend/resume problem. My TP-Link, using that RTL 8188 chipset, does exactly the same. If I remove the wireless adapter, so the system is Ethernet only, it'll happily wake up from suspend, every time.

If the adapter is plugged in, and I suspend the system, it'll wake up if I do so within about a minute; otherwise, I get the black screen and a warning about the 'rtl 8188 chipset failed to initialize'.....followed by a string of numbers, and a Launchpad bug report reference.

Regards,

Mike.

**Bucky Ball** · September 2nd, 2014

Well old thread, and it is in recurring discussions for a reason. Difficulties with specific wireless adapters should perhaps be addressed in new threads, but thanks for sharing.

Thread closed.