this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2023
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Recommendations for wifi antenna, preferably from Alfa (iusearchlinux.fyi)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by promitheas@iusearchlinux.fyi to c/archlinux@lemmy.ml
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Hey everyone! I currently have an antenna which is a realtek chipset (yuck) that I had to load the drivers myself. Even though I loaded the drivers from this github repo and keep them updated, I'm still getting issues like constant common disconnects, slow speeds (even though on my mobile connected to the same network I may get 6 times the speed), etc... I think I'm ready to pay up and get an antenna that has proper support in Linux, and I found this one after a little bit of searching online: official alfa link.

My question is if this is actually well supported, or even if there is something better I could get (without making me even poorer). What do you guys think, and what are your experiences?

Thanks!

Edit: came back here after a while to edit in case someone comes upon this in the future. I ended up ordering this one: AWUS036NHA fron Alfa. It has the ath9k chipset which is included in the kernel, so it seems like a good choice. Will try to remember to come back after I get it and try it put to give my comments.

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[–] zjaume@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It is tedious but you can search devices by driver in here: https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers

In my opinion, Qualcomm Atheros (atleast ath9k) have been the best ones apart from intel.

Edit: they are included in the kernel btw.

[–] promitheas@iusearchlinux.fyi 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I checked it out and (correct me if im wrong) it seems that ath9k doesnt have any deices using it which are USB?

Also, all drivers in the list you sent are included in the kernel?

Thanks

[–] zjaume@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

I'm not sure if they all are included.

AFAIK ath9k is ik usb antennas and there's also a mini pci for laptops. Haven't checked pci for desktops.