List of wireless adapters that "just work" with Ubuntu 11.10

Question

There are various resources out there, from the official Ubuntu Documentation to many forum topics and Askubuntu questions, all seeking to answer the same question: which adapters work with Ubuntu? But, as is usual in such situations, much of the existing material is messy and/or outdated.

I'd like to know which ones work with Ubuntu 11.10 specifically -- the latest, "out of the box" version, with no kernel modifications or additional drivers to manually mess with. I believe that this will be a very useful resource when deciding to buy an adapter.

Solution 1

You can find a list of Ubuntu-certified wireless chips at the Ubuntu website. When you buy a product, make sure it features any of the listed chips.

http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/catalog/category/WIRELESS

You may also find the following websites useful:

• http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers
• http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Devices/USB
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_open-source_wireless_drivers

Solution 2

I bought this one LM Technologies LM006 Wi-Fi USB Nano Adapter N on someones recommendation that it "just works", and it does just that.

Solution 3

I'm not an expert on Ubuntu or wireless adapters, and I was looking for the same information. I bought a TP-Link TL-WN721N adapter, and it "just worked" with Ubuntu 11.10 (64 bit). I didn't have to install anything, just plugged it in.

Solution 4

TP-LINK TL-WN821N just works out of the box on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.

$ uname -a
Linux ubuntu 3.2.0-24-generic-pae #37-Ubuntu SMP Wed Apr 25 10:47:59 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
$ cat /etc/lsb-release 
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=12.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=precise
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 12.04 LTS"

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Comments

[laurent]

Link is not working

[duffydack]

The link works for me.

[laurent]

works for me now too (was going to an amazon dead page before)

[pbhj]

Same for me with TP-Link WN722NC, blogged about it here alicious.com/working-ubuntu-wifi-adapter (includes lsusb, iw list and similar output).