Re: WiFi adapter recommendations

[Greg Troxel <gdt%lexort.com@localhost>]

Andreas Gustafsson <gson%gson.org@localhost> writes:

> Can anyone recommend a WiFi adapter that meets the following criteria?
>
>  - Works reliably for you with WPA2 in NetBSD 8.0 or -current
>  - Connects to USB or CardBus
>  - Is currently being sold (anywhere - retail, eBay...)

I am unfamiliar with current CardBus devices.

My impression is that reliability is a combination of 1) supported by a
driver and 2) doesn't end up with lockup/timeouts and that it's not so
much about wpa2.  Meaning that my belief is that if you find something
that works with an open network, it should work with WPA2, and if you
have trouble, it will be about timeouts.

I have one of these in a RPI3, netbsd-8:

  urtwn0 at uhub1 port 4
  urtwn0: Realtek (0xbda) 802.11n WLAN Adapter (0x8176), rev 2.00/2.00, addr 5
  urtwn0: MAC/BB RTL8188CUS, RF 6052 1T1R, address [redacted]
  urtwn0: 1 rx pipe, 2 tx pipes
  urtwn0: 11b rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps
  urtwn0: 11g rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps

and it basically works.  I have one of these in a very old mac, netbsd-7
i386:

  urtwn0 at uhub4 port 2
  urtwn0: Realtek 802.11n WLAN Adapter, rev 2.00/2.00, addr 2
  urtwn0: MAC/BB RTL8188CUS, RF 6052 1T1R, address [redacted]
  urtwn0: 1 rx pipe, 2 tx pipes
  urtwn0: 11b rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps
  urtwn0: 11g rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps  24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps
  port 2 addr 2: high speed, power 500 mA, config 1, 802.11n WLAN Adapter(0x7811), Realtek(0x7392), rev 2.00(0x0200), serial


I am pretty sure the first one had the same adafruit part number as this:

  https://www.adafruit.com/product/1012

but the chipset is different (8192 now vs 8188).

I think the second one is:

  https://www.edimax.com/edimax/merchandise/merchandise_detail/data/edimax/global/wireless_adapters_n150/ew-7811un/

which I suspect is out of production in favor of an 8192-based device.




I say "basically works" because both of my adaptors flake occasionally
with some kind of device timeout, and the one in the RPI3 does not
recover with ifconfig down/up.  But I think a reboot (without power
cycle) fixes it.  With better-quality APs it seems to be more reliable.
But something is not quite 100% right.  Still, it's quite usable.

Many of our drivers have lists of working adaptors.  See urtwn(8) and
perhaps rum(8).

I am not aware of things with a RTL8188 or RTL8192 chipset that don't
owrk with our urtwn driver.   But it wouldn't surprise me to have to add
vendor ids.

My impression is that pretty much any usb wifi that uses a chipset
listed in urtwn(8) is likely to work ok, as it is basically a chip wired
up to a USB connector and an antenna.  I am not clear on the source of
the timeouts, but they have been only an annoyance, and I now have a
watchdog script to reboot.  I would say flakes are at the once/month
level.

With devices from adafruit, I would be confident that it works on a RPI
with raspbian and/or noobs.

These things are pretty low cost compared to shipping, you may want to
just order 3 different ones that claim to have chips that our drivers
support from someplace with low/no shipping cost, and hope at least one
is ok.