Hi,
I’m using
Linux 3.4.11-2.16-desktop x86_64
openSUSE 12.2 (x86_64)
KDE: 4.8.5 (4.8.5) “release 2”
and i’m looking for advice, my computer, a Del Dimension C521 desktop doesn’t have a wifi card, so am looking at getting a USB wifi that would work out of the box or at least be configurable for 12.2. I came across this one https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-g-usb-adapter and wondered if anybody has tried it? It’s $44 so also wondered if anybody new of a cheaper one? Thanks for any help.
On 01/01/2013 04:16 PM, siouxzy wrote:
>
> Hi,
> I’m using
> Linux 3.4.11-2.16-desktop x86_64
> openSUSE 12.2 (x86_64)
> KDE: 4.8.5 (4.8.5) “release 2”
> and i’m looking for advice, my computer, a Del Dimension C521 desktop
> doesn’t have a wifi card, so am looking at getting a USB wifi that would
> work out of the box or at least be configurable for 12.2. I came across
> this one
> https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-g-usb-adapter
> and wondered if anybody has tried it? It’s $44 so also wondered if
> anybody new of a cheaper one? Thanks for any help.
That device has a Realtek RTL8187B chip, which is well supported and does not
need any external firmware. That price is pretty high. For example, if you
search on E-bay for RTL8187, you will find a number of listings for the ALFA
AWUS036H, which has the RTL8187L chip (nearly the same as the RTL8187B) with a
strong antenna to pick up weak signals at $25.83 with free shipping. Other
RTL8187L-based devices in a form-factor similar to the ALFA device are available
for as little as $15 with free shipping.
If you want the higher throughput of 802.11n, then E-bay has the TP-LINK
TL-WN722N at $17 with free shipping. This one uses the ath9k_htc driver, which
is part of the kernel. It does use external firmware, but it is part of the
standard kernel-firmware package in openSUSE.
Many thanks lwfinger, just what i needed, great advice 