Mint 17.2 Wifi never sees USB NIC

[seahunt]

OK, been reading. Hopefully did prerequisites.
Mint 17.2 Cinnomen on I3 system. Mint OS installed on 32 GIG USB Jump drive with 4 Gigs of room for system updates and expansion.
Boot menu takes me right to Mint. It works great, except cannot get any kind of WiFi connectivity
Tried sudo /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintWifi/mintWifi.py - Response was "Command Not Found". Verified file is in that location. -rwxr-xr-x
Have no wifi connection, so the sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install mintwifi is not going to work.
I tried with 2 different Cisco USB dongle NICs and 1 WiPi dongle NIC for my Pi which by the way is its own painful experience, both 1 and 2.
OK.... First off, what would be nice would be a recommendation for a USB dongle NIC that will just work with Mint right out of the install. Maybe that is:
Asus USB-N13 Wireless-N Usb Adapter Ieee 802.11B/G/N Usb 2.0
But I figured I would try using what I found on the forum. Really, if you are going to put a locked topic at the top, it should include a little more than the one that is there. ie Is there a USB NIC that will dependably work with Mint, without needing to add drivers or settings? (why do I seem to be able to discover unique problems... and don't get me started on the Pi)

So anyway, I tried the mintWifi.py and got Command Not Found. If you could suggest the next step or maybe hardware that would allow me to bypass the problem...
Thanks much, Mike

[kukamuumuka]

Mostly the easy solution is to install new kernel like 3.13.0-37, because it includes newer driver for usb-wifis. Open Synaptic and the search words are linux-image and linux-headers. Install both of them (3.13 based).

PS. What is Mint 17.2 Cinnomen on I3 system?

[seahunt]

Mostly the easy solution is to install new kernel like 3.13.0-37, because it includes newer driver for usb-wifis. Open Synaptic and the search words are linux-image and linux-headers. Install both of them (3.13 based).

PS. What is Mint 17.2 Cinnomen on I3 system?

1. Mint 17.2 Cinnamon is the latest download of Mint Linux
2. I3 System - Intel i3 processor mentioned to say was running 64 bit. Could have been skipped.

OK... what you say. ... I got out my laptop so that I could hook up to the network with a Cat 5 cable.
I took images of the screen with a camera for documentation and post mortem.

I started the Software Manager and searched on Linux Images. Found 3.13.0-24 generic. Installed it.
Says linux-image 3.13.0-24 generic. Kernel for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
... Supports generic processors

It further says:
You likely do not want to install this package directly. Instead, install the Linux generic mets-package, which will ensure that the upgrades work correctly, and that the supporting packages are also installed.

It also said... Not Installed...

Then I searched on linux-header. Found 3.13.0-24 generic. Installed it.
It also said... Not Installed...

I re-started the system. It notified me that:
"Running in software rendering mode ... running without video hardware acceleration ... Could be driver problem ... Use this mode only for trouble shooting."
Mouse and keyboard were disabled as well. I used power off to shutdown.

Sew... After I re-install the OS, what might you suggest I try? I have to find it hard to believe that I am the first person to try to run Mint from a jump drive using a USB Wifi NIC.
I find it hard to believe that there is no USB Nic that reliably just works with a fresh Mint install.
I'd really appreciate any suggestions.
Thanks, Mike

[Pjotr]

This one should work out of the box in Linux Mint 17.x:
http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WN725N ... B008IFXQFU

However, before you spend any money, let's see if we can get your current wireless chipsets to work. Please generate an overview of your system like this:
- launch a terminal window and make it full screen, to avoid chopped lines;
- copy/paste this command into the terminal:

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inxi -Fxz

(if you type: the letter F is a capital letter)

Press Enter.

Copy/paste the output in your next message.

[ofb]

I find it hard to believe that there is no USB Nic that reliably just works with a fresh Mint install.

Mine works automagically.
D-Link System DWA-125 Wireless N 150 Adapter(rev.A2) [Ralink RT3070]

Just FWIW, sometimes (only sometimes) with NICs it helps to check the Driver Manager to see if any proprietary drivers are offered for your hardware.

[seahunt]

OK, I'm taking the easy way out. I checked the Ubuntu forum and it seems that the TP-LINK Archer T4UH AC1200 High Gain Wireless Dual Band USB Adapter, 2.4Ghz 300Mbps/5Ghz 867Mbps, USB 3.0, WPS Button - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TQD235C?psc=1 should do the trick. I hope, I hope, I hope!
Thanks for the suggestions, Mike

[phd21]

HI seahunt,

USB wifi NIcs will work with Linux and Linux Mint, not all, but a whole lot of them will. I have two different USB Wifi network interface cards (NICs) that worked perfectly without any setup at all (sometimes some do require a driver). Below is a link to Amazon.com which has numerous USB WiFi Network adapters that work on Linux, for really good prices too ($9 - $20+us), including the ones already mentioned by other posters... These WIfi adapters can probably be bought locally too, like "linksys". I would highly recommend getting ones that are 300 mbps or faster.

It would help to have more information, please run "inxi -Fxz" and "lsusb" with the device pugged in, and post the results back here.

Depending on what kind of wifi router you have (G, N, newer AC), whether you have USB 3 or USB 2 ports, etc... will determine which Wifi NiC adapter to get, because if you have a newer "AC" router, then you should get a newer "AC" adapter to get the most speed and performance... Also, I found that my USB adapter with an external antenna does get better reception and performance compared to the one without, but they both work well.

Why didn't you try "pjotr"'s suggestions? The card you have might work. You can check your Mint Update Manager to see if you have the latest recommended "kernel" installed, check "view" options, Linux Kernels, and if not install the newest recommended one while your are in there, and reboot.

Amazon.com wifi network adapters for Linux $9 - $20, and more ... search for "usb wifi adapters linux" - read the reviews ..
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_72_ ... 2661617011


Note: I just checked your link to the adapter "TP-LINK Archer T4UH AC1200 High Gain Wireless Dual Band USB Adapter" you want to get from Amazon.com, but I did not read any reviews there that said it worked on Linux, and usually there are. But, if you said you read somewhere on the Ubuntu forums that it was working, then maybe it does.
Hope this helps ..

[phd21]

Hi seahunt,

I just read another post that might help you get this existing wifi adapter working, check out the last couple posts by user "JeremeyB" on the link below:

http://forum.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=202449

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sudo apt-get install linux-firmware && sudo modprobe rt2800usb 

[seahunt]

OK, I've learned some, I have a lot more to learn, but let me tell you what I found.

To make it short, I was told to get a TP-Link USB NIC and was told it would work. I got a Model TL-WN8222N, because I wanted high performance.
Note that I was also recommended to get a D-Link System DWA-125 Wireless N 150 Adapter(rev.A2) [Ralink RT3070]
My guess is that it would work as well.
The documentation for the TP-Link went on and on about standard protocols. That is the key I am pretty sure and why Mint could talk to it without any more in the way of drivers. As far as I know it is all about that protocol, but apparently it is implimented by some manufacturers and not by others. It can be different by chipset as weell.
Why there is not a list of a few NICs that will work with Mint "out of the box" in that silly post at the top "Before you post in here" is a mystery to me.

That said... it only stays connected for moments. Now, there are posts about that problem and it sounds like I need to turn off a power saving feature... Sounds like.
What I am going to do first is list the hardware using

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 inxi -Fxz

Instructions on another forum post say that from that list, pick your network entry and disable it thus. Let me show part of the post. It is enough for me to make enough sense from to try it. Notice the user failed the first time, but when he did it to the second card it worked. It is the procedure I am going to try.

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The posted solution showed an output from that that included:
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller 
           driver: r8169 ver: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 4000 bus-ID: 09:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8188EE Wireless Network Adapter driver: rtl8188ee port: 5000 bus-ID: 08:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter>

The responder said to use:
echo "options rtl8188ee fwlps=0 ips=0" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8188ee.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u

The user said it failed, so the next response was:

Try to disable power save wireless module options for Card 2 this way
echo "options rtl8188ee fwlps=0 ips=0" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8188ee.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u

It made sense to me when I looked at it carefully. I'll give an update on it when I follow the procedure myself, but with my hardware..