On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 05:12:33PM +1000, Craig Sanders wrote:
i ended up getting a TP-Link TL-WN821N from MSY for $16.
http://www.linux-hardware-guide.com/2012-10-20-tp-link-tl-wn821n-wlan-usb-30... [...]
so, it's working fine.
i spoke too soon. everything seems to work OK, but client devices that connect to it keep on disconnecting and reconnecting. it works, but it's pretty annoying when viewing web pages or running an update, and makes CSIP (voip client) unusable. i should have broken the rule and read the comments on that page. i really hate it when manufacturers completely change the design and parts of a device but still give it the same product name. it's NOT the same fucking product, it's a completely new and different product. they can hide what they're doing in windows with their branded drivers but that doesn't work on linux which (mostly) uses generic chipset-based drivers. i don't want to have to maintain an out-of-mainline driver module or, worse, an ancient hacked up manufacturer-supplied version of hostapd. just to see if it helped, i compiled the module from https://github.com/pvaret/rtl8192cu-fixes.git and then downloaded the realtek version of hostapd and compiled it. the driver worked ok, or seemed to. it loaded and found the card, anyway. but the iw tools don't work with it (because it's not based on the standard mac80211 and cfg80211 stuff) but the hostapd kept on barfing on my hostapd.conf, probably because it's an ancient version. even if i could get it working, it's just not worth it - better to use the mainline kernel driver and hope it eventually gets fixed, putting up with the frequent disconnects. or, better yet, try a completely different adaptor which uses a different driver. so far i've had problems with realtek and ralink wifi, so i'll try atheros....the ath7k in my eeepc 701 worked perfectly for years before it died, hopefully the more recent atheros chips & drivers are as good. AFAICT, the only USB wifi adaptor that still uses an atheros chipset AND is in stock at MSY is the TP-Link TL-WN721N which they have for $12. I think I'll go back there today and get one. with any luck, it'll work without any hassle. https://wikidevi.com/wiki/TP-LINK_TL-WN721N
BTW, this is v3 of the device and uses the rtl8192cu driver.
Bus 003 Device 008: ID 0bda:8178 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8192CU 802.11n WLAN Adapter
interestingly, linux-hardware-guide.com says this is v3 of the device while wikidevi.com says it's v4: https://wikidevi.com/wiki/TP-LINK_TL-WN821N_v4 craig -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au>