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Inexpensive 802.11n Wifi USB with Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

June 18, 2010 Leave a comment Go to comments

UPDATE: it may be possible to get this working with two simple lines. Tested as working under Ubuntu 10.10 “Maverick Meerkat”.

In a terminal window try the following and then reinsert the USB wireless N adapter.

cd /lib/firmware
ln -s RTL8192SE RTL8192SU

END UPDATE

 

I bought this relatively cheap USB wireless N adapter online but it did not work when initially inserted using Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx.

Now I cannot determine the speed as my Wireless Access point is actually on Wireless g (54Mbps) but this is what I did to get it working.

From the CD that came with the adapter, I copied off the file containing the Linux driver and then copied only the firmware to the appropriate location for Ubuntu to be able to utilise it.

(Assuming the CD is visible at /media/WLAN_6.58/)

Open a terminal window (from the Applications menu, Accessories), then type each line as shown below followed by Enter key each time.

mkdir ~/tmpwifidriver

cd ~/tmpwifidriver

cp /media/WLAN_6.58/USB-11N_RTL8191\&8188/Linux/rtl8192su_linux_2.6.0002.0708.2009.tar.gz ~/tmpwifidriver/

tar xvf rtl8192su_linux_2.6.0002.0708.2009.tar.gz

sudo cp -r ./rtl8192su_linux_2.6.0002.0708.2009/firmware/RTL8192SU/ /lib/firmware/

Just delete the temporary folder now to cleanup

rm -rf /home/tony/tmpwifidriver/

Then just insert the wifi USB adapter and click on the icon for Network Manager in the top right of the screen.  You should be able to see any nearby wireless hotspots.

For the record, my wifi adapter looks like this when queried with lsusb

Bus 001 Device 010: ID 0bda:8172 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.

A bargain for only $16!!

Categories: GNU/Linux, hardware with linux, Lucid Lynx Tags: , , ,
  1. Laurynas
    November 17, 2010 at 02:46
    Reply

    Hey, thanks a lot!!!! Your post finally saved my friend from buying new card. As you said, just copied firmware and default ubuntu driver r8192s_usb works perfectly!

    Ubuntu currently wouldn’t load kernel driver automatically, so we added to /etc/modules:
    r8192s_usb

    To load manually by hand:
    sudo modprobe r8192s_usb

    Works on Ubuntu Maverick 64bit with following cards:
    Canyon wireless LAN USB adapter 150N CNP-WF518N2 (rtl8188su)
    Delock USB 2.0 wlan_n Stick 300 Mbps (rtl8191s)

    • gurrier
      November 17, 2010 at 21:38
      Reply

      Great.
      Thanks for including the adaptors that worked so others can find the solution.

      Cheers,

      gurrier

  2. Ederson L. Bueno
    January 22, 2011 at 07:34
    Reply

    Thanks, works fine.

    • gurrier
      January 22, 2011 at 20:09
      Reply

      My pleasure 🙂

  3. Mark D
    March 13, 2011 at 04:09
    Reply

    Thanks for this buying tip and instructions. You mentioned that you were using this with a G router. Has anyone successfully configured this usb adapter to work with an n-router, using the n-protocol? I have wifi g built into my notebook, I am trying to upgrade to take advantage of a new n-router (dlink dir655) that we have.

    • gurrier
      March 13, 2011 at 22:01
      Reply

      I’ve bought a wireless N router since posting this and this USB wireless N adapter works fine with it.
      I have not done any speed tests though to check throughput.

      The router I bought was a TPLINK TP-WR-1043ND

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