Anyone know of a wifi adapter that just works with Linux?

[Axis]

Anyone know of a wifi adapter that just works with Linux? (Solved!)

I've given up trying to get the TP-Link to work. I even got a Netgear WNA 3100 from Incredible and that didn't work either. Thankfully I can return it and get my money back.
If you know of a wi fi adapter (Preferably Wireless N) that just works out of the box please let me know.

 

[koffiejunkie]

You need to not look at the brand and model name, but rather find out what sort of chipset it uses. A quick google search suggests the WNA3100 uses a broadcom chip of sorts. Now, if you're running something reasonably modern (say, Ubuntu 10.04 or later), it should do all this automatically for you, but if not, these are your options for broadcom chips:

1. Try the linux drivers (b43 module). For this you need the card's firmware, which your distro should have, but if it doesn't, you can extract it from the windows drivers with fwcutter.

2. Use ndiswrapper with the Windows driver. In my experience, this works better for broadcom chips.

See this thread for more information on it (ndiswrapper on a new distro should be new enough, so ignore the installing from source as far as you can): http://newyork.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1549190

Pretty much anything with an Atheros chip in. From what I can tell, the Netgear WN111 v1 uses a Marvell chip (avoid this) and the WN111 v2 uses an Atheros chip, which should work out of the box, provided your madwifi-ng drivers are newer than the chip revision.

Point is, before you buy, write down the model number, and version number if it's written on the box, and do two google searches: "<model> chipset" and "<model> linux"

 

[stricken]

check out ndiswrapper. works every time. you'll have to roll your sleeves up a bit though. perhaps a little script triggered from /etc/rc.local to init it on boot.

 

[Cadavre777]

You might find the following wikipedia page helpfull in selecting a wireless adapter.
Comparison of open source wireless drivers

 

[Axis]

Found a TP-Link TL-WN553AG at the Hillfox Flea Market. Installed it...nothing. Upgraded to Kubuntu 10.04 and my wireless connection to the router came to life.Very chuffed.

 

[milomak]

Visit http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/index.php/cat/10

 

[Bismuth]

I've had not problems with DLink that use the Atheros chipset.

B

 

[kingrob]

I've had not problems with DLink that use the Atheros chipset.

B

Yes, Atheros chipset works a treat. My notebook has a Atheros wireless adaptor and never had problems with Ubuntu.