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Ever since Ubuntu 8.10 when I first started I couldn't get my old Linksys WUSB54G wireless card to work. At least in 11.04 it somewhat works only when you set a static IP, and even then speeds are pitiful (The ping time to my router is 10ms(!), DNS takes a while, and bittorrent is painful). Yesterday I bought a Linksys WUSB100 only to have the same problems.

With these two devices not working, do Linksys wireless cards or the Ralink modules that power them in general work well in Ubuntu? Or is this pretty much the standard experience?

Note: I know I can use ndiswrapper but at least with the WUSB54G its very flaky and causes lots of kernel panics in both Ubuntu and Fedora. Its also a workaround that I'd prefer not to rely on

Note 2: I'm asking this since I'm returning the WUSB100 I just bought and needing to know if I can use Linksys products in Linux

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I had problems, but, finally, I fixed them. You may find unix.stackexchange.com/questions/16329/…, askubuntu.com/questions/52441/… and unix.stackexchange.com/questions/16289/… useful. – daGrevis Jul 12 '11 at 17:38
@daGrevis I'm really looking for native out of the box support. I've learned after trying to get ndiswrapper up and running so many times that non-native support really sucks at installation time. – TheLQ Jul 12 '11 at 18:06
@TheLQ I have yet to see a Linksys Wireless Adapter (WUSB54G USB wireless dongle, for example) to work OOTB, because Linksys doesn't have any drivers for Linux. HOWEVER, there are some results if you follow tutorials or get support with setting up ndiswrapper with the Windows drivers, but I don't know the success/failure ratios with that (from what I hear though, it tends to work after a good deal of configuration; after that config is done though, it does indeed work) – The Lord of Time Jul 12 '11 at 18:18
I get my device working without ndiswrapper! I took few days, but I did it! =P – daGrevis Jul 12 '11 at 18:43

2 Answers

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The Ralink drivers can be downloaded from Ralink's site (http://www.ralinktech.com/support.php?s=2), and you'll need to know which Ralink chipset is used in the adapter (and it sounds like you do), but they need a bit of work to get them working. This site (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1630358&highlight=ae1000) has a thread about getting Ralink's drivers for the Linksys AE1000 to work, and might provide some useful information and guidance. In the end, I found that they worked with 32-bit Ubuntu but not with 64-bit Ubuntu (at least in my case).

[Edit 2 March 2012] The drivers for the 64-bit now work through the procedure found at this link. I know it's too late for you since you bought something else, but I'll put it here for others. It works in Oneiric and I just tested it in the Precise Beta and it works there, too.

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I was afraid of that. I'm really looking for native support as it makes moving between OS and installing so much easier. As followup, I returned the Linksys card I just got and bought a "Netgear WNA1100" card, which in my limited testing works much better (at least now pining my router is <1ms) – TheLQ Jul 13 '11 at 1:07
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if its a desktop you have, i would suggest edimax.

highly tweakable, highly compatable hardly has issues (there may be rare cases i do not know of) and reasonably priced.

they support open source, thats the kind of OOTB i think your referring to wanting, and for me i think this brand just works, just a suggestion :-)

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