USB Wireless Adapter

[n2ize]

Okay, I have a system in the next room that has no wi-fi and used a wired connection to the router. It was the last remauining non-wireless workstation on my network. In an effort to reduce the number of wires and cables running all over the place I decided to make it wireless. So I bought a Panda 300 Mbps USB wireless adapter for under 15 dollars. Plugged it into the USB port and Fedora picked it right up. At that point all I had to do was connect to one of my wireless routers and viola' it connected and works flawlessly right out of the package.

[K4PIH]

Outstanding. I have a windoz10 box that is a pain and I'll soon wipe it and put Ubuntu or Mint on it. There is a microcenter close by and everytime I go they have a bin with those USB wireless dongles, usually $10 or less and I pick one up. The Panda ones work well. Amazing that wireless a few years ago was so expensive!

[WA4GSD]

It's so nice when it works "out of the box"... no I'm not going to use that "other phrase", although the latter part of it was colorful at times.

I guess some would say I've reverted... I had most of my network wireless and have been working to get everything possible back to wired. This has meant setting up several switches (still need a cable run and switch downstairs), but no problem. We still have several wireless devices (phones, kindles, mac, etc.) that number close to the router list max. However, the daily pc, work machines when booted, and streaming boxes are all wired.

[n2ize]

It's so nice when it works "out of the box"... no I'm not going to use that "other phrase", although the latter part of it was colorful at times.

I guess some would say I've reverted... I had most of my network wireless and have been working to get everything possible back to wired. This has meant setting up several switches (still need a cable run and switch downstairs), but no problem. We still have several wireless devices (phones, kindles, mac, etc.) that number close to the router list max. However, the daily pc, work machines when booted, and streaming boxes are all wired.
The only funct part of my local network that is still wired is a Linux (Fedora) system in the basement that functions as a router/gateway, firewall nameserver, part time server, http server, part time ftp server, fax server, mailserver for local mail and a few other things I'm not thinking of at the moment. It is fed by a wireless access point upstairs and then directly wired to the Verizon FiOS router also down there (although I can also connect the Linux box directly to the ethernet connector on the ONT should the need arise. So basically I have 3 Internet access points...The Linux server (both wireless/wired), the Verizon router, and the VOIP router/adapter. Then there are the various portable/mobile devices that float on and off the network from day to day...i.e. smart phones, printers, tablets, laptops, devices belonging to visiting guests, etc. I remember when I first set up the network. There were just 2 workstations i.e. my 166 mhz Pentium and a 166 mhz Pentium I set up for my folks. Soon after my Mom got a wireless laptop so I had to add it wireless connectivity. In those days everything ran through a single dialup connection that automatically dialed out on demand via a daemon on the gateway system that would bring up the connection whenever it saw traffic destined for the outside world. Then came broadband, higher speeds and the network topology rapidly expanded from there.

[n2ize]

Outstanding. I have a windoz10 box that is a pain and I'll soon wipe it and put Ubuntu or Mint on it. There is a microcenter close by and everytime I go they have a bin with those USB wireless dongles, usually $10 or less and I pick one up. The Panda ones work well. Amazing that wireless a few years ago was so expensive!Before I ordered the Panda adapter I did some online research and it was the only brand that specifically mentioned Linux support. It comes with a small CD that comes with a Linux driver that you can compile and install. But that was so 2011 and I didn't have to do any of that. New versions of Fedora Linux (and probably other distros as well ) have everything already built in so all I had to do was plug it in to a free USB port. Ypu'll like going with Ubuntu or Mint. Fedora is very good as well, lot of new bleeding edge stuff included in every new distro. Only thing with Fedora is that you have to get used to a frequent upgrade schedule as new versions are released every few months.

[K4PIH]

I have one NIB that I'll be using on that machine when I put win10 out to pasture. There's enough good ham programs out now that are designed for a linux system.

[koØm]

It's so nice when it works "out of the box"... no I'm not going to use that "other phrase", although the latter part of it was colorful at times.

I guess some would say I've reverted... I had most of my network wireless and have been working to get everything possible back to wired. This has meant setting up several switches (still need a cable run and switch downstairs), but no problem. We still have several wireless devices (phones, kindles, mac, etc.) that number close to the router list max. However, the daily pc, work machines when booted, and streaming boxes are all wired.

I'm with you.

I run one computer as a DVR and stream video to my desktops that have static IP addresses (*preferred) in the middle of my DHCP range. All of my machines are hanging off a Cisco Catalyst Managed switch (connected to the cable gateway) and I still have 40+ Ethernet ports available.

My kids wireless network is through a Apple Airport in bridge mode; I have a timer on it and then, I have my own wireless network.

.

[n2ize]

Yesterday water poured over my wireless access point causing it to go out. Luckily I have two other wireless points of access so all I had to do is connect to one of those. Today the wireless access point that got drenched and went down is back up and running. All it needed was a chance to dry out overnight and it's fine today.

[koØm]

Yesterday water poured over my wireless access point causing it to go out. Luckily I have two other wireless points of access so all I had to do is connect to one of those. Today the wireless access point that got drenched and went down is back up and running. All it needed was a chance to dry out overnight and it's fine today.

Maybe, lower voltage devices (without LCD Displays) have a better chance of surviving being submerged in water; I had a knock-off i-Pod go thru the wash and dry cycle; the display was never the same but the device functioned in-spite of a commercial wash cycle and a hot dryer.

In hindsight, the hot dryer (along with the other clothes for padding) was exactly what the soaked device needed.

.

[HUGH]

Yesterday water poured over my wireless access point causing it to go out. Luckily I have two other wireless points of access so all I had to do is connect to one of those. Today the wireless access point that got drenched and went down is back up and running. All it needed was a chance to dry out overnight and it's fine today.

I have to ask why you took it into the shower?

[n2ize]

I have to ask why you took it into the shower?It needed a cleaning. :)

[KG4CGC]

Anyone here ever use a wifi repeater? Is there such a thing?

[WZ7U]

I would be surprised if there weren't.

[WA4GSD]

Anyone here ever use a wifi repeater? Is there such a thing?

Sometimes called an 'extender' too.

I have briefly, but it wasn't reliable in my case. I couldn't see any signal coverage improvement with the device I was trying connect with. So, I must have been doing something wrong. :dunno:

Part of the reason I'm reverting to more wired connections.

[n2ize]

Part of the reason I'm reverting to more wired connections.Nothing wrong with wired connections either. In many regards they are faster and more secure. Here are home I've been switching to wireless mainly to reduce the number of cable runs all over the house. That and the bulk of the network devices on the network today are portable devices (i.e. phones, tablets, laptops) that benefit from, and/or require wireless connectivity. My 2 non-portable stationary workstations (desktop systems) were wired until recently but are now wireless, However, everything from the wireless access point down to the main server/router is wired and will remain so for the foreseeable future. I also have an ethernet switch that will remain wired in the event there are any wireless problems I can always run a cable to a device (i.e. workstation , etc.) should he need ever arise. It's always a good idea to have a backup means of connectivity,

[n2ize]

Sometimes called an 'extender' too.

I have briefly, but it wasn't reliable in my case. I couldn't see any signal coverage improvement with the device I was trying connect with. So, I must have been doing something wrong. :dunno:

Part of the reason I'm reverting to more wired connections.Not that I need one but I was always curious as to whether those "wifi extenders" work and if so how well. Do they actually boost power levels of do they provide an antenna with improved gain ?

[KC2UGV]

Outstanding. I have a windoz10 box that is a pain and I'll soon wipe it and put Ubuntu or Mint on it. There is a microcenter close by and everytime I go they have a bin with those USB wireless dongles, usually $10 or less and I pick one up. The Panda ones work well. Amazing that wireless a few years ago was so expensive!

Oddly enough, Windows 10 is the first Windows OS I loved since XP SP2. Win7 was... Ok. Win 10 has Bash-On Ubuntu-On Windows. Love it.

[KC2UGV]

Not that I need one but I was always curious as to whether those "wifi extenders" work and if so how well. Do they actually boost power levels of do they provide an antenna with improved gain ?

They are basically repeaters. They will halve your speed (On average).

[K7SGJ]

My experience with those extenders is that when they work, they do indeed give much better coverage. I've used TP-Link, Asus, and one other that I can't remember the make. At some point in time, they would all drop and required a reset of the extender, the router, and the device(s) it fed. The trade off of distance vs speed and reliability wasn't worth it, to me. I ended up just getting a router with good performance and distance. I haven't tried any of them in the last couple of years or so. They may now offer better reliability and speed over longer distances than the ones I tried.

[WØTKX]

Anyone here ever use a wifi repeater? Is there such a thing?

Yes, I have configured some of our WiFi links at work that way, using Ubiquity stuff.

All of the ones I've done are hard wired between the two radios that "repeat" with CAT5.

Ubiquity WiFi 'effin' rocks.

[n2ize]

My experience with those extenders is that when they work, they do indeed give much better coverage. I've used TP-Link, Asus, and one other that I can't remember the make. At some point in time, they would all drop and required a reset of the extender, the router, and the device(s) it fed. The trade off of distance vs speed and reliability wasn't worth it, to me. I ended up just getting a router with good performance and distance. I haven't tried any of them in the last couple of years or so. They may now offer better reliability and speed over longer distances than the ones I tried.I was browsing around at Microcenter yesterday and I was looking at some of those repeaters among other things like routers, access points, etc. I wound up buying an ASUS Wireless N router / access point / extender. I'm running it as an access point since I have a Linux box down the line that already functions as a router (among other services). I still have my old Linksys Wireless G access point attached to the same subnet so now there are two wireless points feeding the same network.

[n2ize]

Just testing a cheap generic USB wireless dongle I picked up a week or so ago. It too worked right out of the box on Fedora 25.