Linux supported wireless adapter

[Grabow]

I currently have a linksys usb wireless adapter model # WUSB6100M that I cant seem to get to work on Ubuntu.

 

I have tried a few different steps of installing the drivers from different websites and using the terminal to install a driver that is supposed to work with the modem in this adapter.

 

Nothing seems to work and it looks like it is supported on the ubuntu support page.

 

Anyone with experience in this area have some steps I can try to get this working?

[Bombastinator]

Drivers for a usb device?  

[kirashi]

41 minutes ago, Grabow said:

I currently have a linksys usb wireless adapter model # WUSB6100M that I cant seem to get to work on Ubuntu.

 

I have tried a few different steps of installing the drivers from different websites and using the terminal to install a driver that is supposed to work with the modem in this adapter. Nothing seems to work and it looks like it is supported on the ubuntu support page.

 

Anyone with experience in this area have some steps I can try to get this working?

You're going to want to check out the existing lists / databases from people who've tested adapters, as many manufacturers straight up don't support Linux since it makes up such a small slice of their marketshare. The real tricky part is that is doesn't matter so much what the manufacturer model number is (this is the number you'd see on retail packaging) so much as it matters what chipset is inside the unit, which manufacturers don't publish most of the time because they're stupid for some reason. I've linked some useful places you can check for compatible adapters below.

 

https://elinux.org/RPi_USB_Wi-Fi_Adapters

https://www.igel.com/linux-3rd-party-hardware-database/

https://wiki.debian.org/WiFi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_open-source_wireless_drivers

 

Sometimes you have to check the individual hardware revision of a model of USB WiFi adapter, as version 2.1b manufactured between April 2015 and Sept 2017 might contain a compatible chipset, but then hardware revision version 3.4a of the seemingly exact same model of the adapter could be released in Nov 2017, but with an incompatible chipset. It really is a crapshoot if you're picking a model that hasn't yet been tested, so make sure the retailer you buy from has a good return policy, or purchase one known to work with Linux already.

[WereCatf]

57 minutes ago, Grabow said:

Anyone with experience in this area have some steps I can try to get this working?

Your WiFi-device is supposedly supported by the ath10k_usb kernel-module, so you need to install kernel-modules-extra in Ubuntu. If it still isn't working after that, unplug it, plug it back in and paste any relevant messages here from dmesg after you plugged it in.

[Grabow]

1 hour ago, WereCatf said:

Your WiFi-device is supposedly supported by the ath10k_usb kernel-module, so you need to install kernel-modules-extra in Ubuntu. If it still isn't working after that, unplug it, plug it back in and paste any relevant messages here from dmesg after you plugged it in.

I am not seeing of how to install "kernel-modules-extra", and the one thing I did find had no files for me to download or install.

[Grabow]

[   57.745251] usb 3-10: new high-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
[   57.894057] usb 3-10: New USB device found, idVendor=13b1, idProduct=0042, bcdDevice=90.10
[   57.894059] usb 3-10: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[   57.894060] usb 3-10: Product: USBWLAN
[   57.894061] usb 3-10: Manufacturer: Qualcomm Atheros
[   57.894062] usb 3-10: SerialNumber: 12345678
[   57.918532] cfg80211: Loading compiled-in X.509 certificates for regulatory database
[   57.919370] cfg80211: Loaded X.509 cert 'sforshee: 00b28ddf47aef9cea7'
[   57.935138] usb 3-10: Warning: ath10k USB support is incomplete, don't expect anything to work!
[   57.935160] usbcore: registered new interface driver ath10k_usb
[   57.935299] usb 3-10: Unsupported hardware version: 0x5020001
[   57.935302] usb 3-10: could not get hw params (-22)
[   57.935304] usb 3-10: could not probe fw (-22)
 

@WereCatf

 

Ran sudo apt-get update and then sudo apt-get upgrade to make sure that everything installed correctly because this was a fresh install of ubuntu version 18.04.3 LTS.

[mr moose]

I had a similar problem getting USB wifi to work on Ubuntu. Even though I had a device that had Linux support,  I found that nothing responded regardless what I did.  I am sure with enough time and messing around it might work, but in the end I gave up and went back to windows.    Keep scouring the net for your specific device, I managed to find a thread on one of those weird Linux forums where someone else claimed to have gotten it to work. 

 

 

[WereCatf]

3 hours ago, Grabow said:

[   57.745251] usb 3-10: new high-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
[   57.894057] usb 3-10: New USB device found, idVendor=13b1, idProduct=0042, bcdDevice=90.10
[   57.894059] usb 3-10: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[   57.894060] usb 3-10: Product: USBWLAN
[   57.894061] usb 3-10: Manufacturer: Qualcomm Atheros
[   57.894062] usb 3-10: SerialNumber: 12345678
[   57.918532] cfg80211: Loading compiled-in X.509 certificates for regulatory database
[   57.919370] cfg80211: Loaded X.509 cert 'sforshee: 00b28ddf47aef9cea7'
[   57.935138] usb 3-10: Warning: ath10k USB support is incomplete, don't expect anything to work!
[   57.935160] usbcore: registered new interface driver ath10k_usb
[   57.935299] usb 3-10: Unsupported hardware version: 0x5020001
[   57.935302] usb 3-10: could not get hw params (-22)
[   57.935304] usb 3-10: could not probe fw (-22)
 

@WereCatf

 

Ran sudo apt-get update and then sudo apt-get upgrade to make sure that everything installed correctly because this was a fresh install of ubuntu version 18.04.3 LTS.

Apparently you have a slightly newer version of the stick and it's not supported in Ubuntu 18 LTS. You could always try Ubuntu 19.10, since it has a newer kernel and therefore newer version of the ath10k_usb driver.

[Grabow]

@WereCatf that's what I was thinking. Didn't see that specific version on the list of supported devices! Any recommendations on where to look for Linux supported wifi adapter?

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, Grabow said:

@WereCatf that's what I was thinking. Didn't see that specific version on the list of supported devices! Any recommendations on where to look for Linux supported wifi adapter?

I've got some Ralink-ones that support 2.4GHz and 5GHz, I just can't remember the exact chipset at the moment. I'll check it in a few hours and report back, gotta make food and stuff mah face now.

[Sir0Tek]

15 hours ago, kirashi said:

...

 

Sometimes you have to check the individual hardware revision of a model of USB WiFi adapter, as version 2.1b manufactured between April 2015 and Sept 2017 might contain a compatible chipset, but then hardware revision version 3.4a of the seemingly exact same model of the adapter could be released in Nov 2017, but with an incompatible chipset. It really is a crapshoot if you're picking a model that hasn't yet been tested, so make sure the retailer you buy from has a good return policy, or purchase one known to work with Linux already.

This.

Sometimes you could think they're varying on purpose once a suitable solution has been found...

[Grabow]

@Sir0Tek Yeah it looks like my model number is supported but the revision number is either to new or of a different moden/chipset. Gonna have to look for a different one now.

[Grabow]

1 hour ago, WereCatf said:

I've got some Ralink-ones that support 2.4GHz and 5GHz, I just can't remember the exact chipset at the moment. I'll check it in a few hours and report back, gotta make food and stuff mah face now.

Stuff it good! Im gonna do some exploring on the web for some plug and play adapters!

[WereCatf]

23 minutes ago, Grabow said:

Stuff it good! Im gonna do some exploring on the web for some plug and play adapters!

I stuffed mah face so well I have trouble walking straight now!

 

Anyways, both mt7601u - based and RT5592 - based WiFi USB-sticks work fine out-of-the-box under Ubuntu, though they only support 2.4GHz WiFi. The third one I have, based on RT3572, supports 5GHz as well and also works out-of-the-box. Just search on eBay, Aliexpress or similar for RT3572 and you'll probably find plenty such sticks. They're usually just generic sticks with no manufacturer or brand mentioned anywhere, but they still work fine.

 

Hope this helps.

[Bombastinator]

Aha.  So most older low end USB wifi dongles work out-of-the-box but newer Wi-Fi doesn’t necessarily and requires stuff.  Much is explained.  I think.  Not sure.

[WereCatf]

2 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

So most older low end USB wifi dongles work out-of-the-box but newer Wi-Fi doesn’t necessarily and requires stuff.

Quite often, yes, and the reason is rather simple: manufacturers rarely release all the needed information the Linux-devs would need to write drivers for the WiFi-chipsets. Some devs then proceed to try and reverse-engineer all the bits needed to use the chipsets, but it's a fuckton of work, so it can take a decade to write actually useable drivers that way. Then there's also the thing where some manufacturers release some kinda-sorta-almost-working drivers, but only for some outdated kernel and they can't be arsed to keep those drivers up-to-date or fix issues with them, so that muddies things up and pisses people off.

 

It'd all be so much easier if manufacturers just released all the needed documentation to write open-source drivers for their stuff, but alas..