Best way to source a USB wifi adapter for master mode?

[Matt Melvin]

Pluggers,

I need to find a decent USB wifi adapter, with either a high gain or
detachable antenna, that supports master (AP) mode in Linux. Also,
signal strength is much more important than throughput, so I don't
care whether it's G, N, or AC. The problem seems to be that many
products on Amazon or Newegg don't list the actual chip in their
specifications, so it's difficult to figure out what's really in them.
SOME products list this, so in the case that I find some decent
adapters, what's generally the best brand of chip to look for? I've
heard good things about the Atheros drivers in general, Realtek has
been hit or miss for me, and Ralink seems to be more miss than hit.
My mPCI-E Intel chip in my laptop has worked well for all modes in the
past, but I haven't run across many (or any?) Intel USB adapters...

Does anybody know of a good source that actually lists all of the
needed information? Or a good model off the top of your head? What
route would you suggest I take to find what I need?

Thanks for any help.


Matt

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[Michael Torrie]

Post by Matt Melvin
Pluggers,
I need to find a decent USB wifi adapter, with either a high gain or
detachable antenna, that supports master (AP) mode in Linux. Also,
signal strength is much more important than throughput, so I don't
care whether it's G, N, or AC. The problem seems to be that many
products on Amazon or Newegg don't list the actual chip in their
specifications, so it's difficult to figure out what's really in them.
SOME products list this, so in the case that I find some decent
adapters, what's generally the best brand of chip to look for? I've
heard good things about the Atheros drivers in general, Realtek has
been hit or miss for me, and Ralink seems to be more miss than hit.
My mPCI-E Intel chip in my laptop has worked well for all modes in the
past, but I haven't run across many (or any?) Intel USB adapters...
Does anybody know of a good source that actually lists all of the
needed information? Or a good model off the top of your head? What
route would you suggest I take to find what I need?

I can't answer your question as to where to find this information, but I
have been down this road before, and I never found a satisfactory
solution. If it's possible, my advice is to buy a regular wireless
access point and use it in bridge mode and hang it off of an ethernet
port. It probably won't cost much more than a good, known-to-work,
Linux-compatible USB wireless adapter.

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[Victor Villa]

I think this is what you're looking for

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004YD7UBQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

mj/v

Post by Michael Torrie

Post by Matt Melvin
Pluggers,
I need to find a decent USB wifi adapter, with either a high gain or
detachable antenna, that supports master (AP) mode in Linux. Also,
signal strength is much more important than throughput, so I don't
care whether it's G, N, or AC. The problem seems to be that many
products on Amazon or Newegg don't list the actual chip in their
specifications, so it's difficult to figure out what's really in them.
SOME products list this, so in the case that I find some decent
adapters, what's generally the best brand of chip to look for? I've
heard good things about the Atheros drivers in general, Realtek has
been hit or miss for me, and Ralink seems to be more miss than hit.
My mPCI-E Intel chip in my laptop has worked well for all modes in the
past, but I haven't run across many (or any?) Intel USB adapters...
Does anybody know of a good source that actually lists all of the
needed information? Or a good model off the top of your head? What
route would you suggest I take to find what I need?

I can't answer your question as to where to find this information, but I
have been down this road before, and I never found a satisfactory
solution. If it's possible, my advice is to buy a regular wireless
access point and use it in bridge mode and hang it off of an ethernet
port. It probably won't cost much more than a good, known-to-work,
Linux-compatible USB wireless adapter.
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[Barry Roberts]

Post by Victor Villa
I think this is what you're looking for
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004YD7UBQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's compatible with 128-bit Windows 7. Does anything else really matter?

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[Matt Melvin]

Post by Victor Villa
I think this is what you're looking for

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004YD7UBQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That looks perfect. That AR9271 looks like it's well supported with the
ath9k driver. I'll give that a go. Thanks.

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[Matt Melvin]

Post by Michael Torrie
I can't answer your question as to where to find this information, but I
have been down this road before, and I never found a satisfactory
solution. If it's possible, my advice is to buy a regular wireless
access point and use it in bridge mode and hang it off of an ethernet
port. It probably won't cost much more than a good, known-to-work,
Linux-compatible USB wireless adapter.

I agree. This is what I have at home for my pfsense box.

This is for a mobile raspberry pi based project that needs to act as an AP.
It's powered from a rechargeable battery pack with a USB port, since power
isn't usually available at the site, so I think a Linux compatible USB
adapter is probably my best option.

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[Michael Torrie]

Post by Matt Melvin
This is for a mobile raspberry pi based project that needs to act as an AP.
It's powered from a rechargeable battery pack with a USB port, since power
isn't usually available at the site, so I think a Linux compatible USB
adapter is probably my best option.

Very true. Let us know how this works.

I also have a raspberry pi project coming up and will need a wifi (but
not master mode); I might have to try this particular USB wifi adapter.


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[Matt Melvin]

Post by Michael Torrie

Post by Matt Melvin
This is for a mobile raspberry pi based project that needs to act as an AP.
It's powered from a rechargeable battery pack with a USB port, since power
isn't usually available at the site, so I think a Linux compatible USB
adapter is probably my best option.

Very true. Let us know how this works.
I also have a raspberry pi project coming up and will need a wifi (but
not master mode); I might have to try this particular USB wifi adapter.

Apparently, the pi model B doesn't have enough power to use said wifi
adapter... it won't even power up (though it does on my desktop, so I
know it's not faulty). So, I ordered a USB "Y-adapter" cable
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002W8EDOM) that uses one USB port
(the battery pack) for power and a separate port (pi) for the data, so
I'll see if I can get it to work that way.

For the record, this adapter (https://www.adafruit.com/products/1030)
works perfectly on a pi in master mode without any Y-adapter hacks. I
need the signal to traverse an entire residential lot, occasionally
through a few walls, and the signal strength wasn't quite strong
enough most of the time. I'd still recommend it for more moderate
distance applications though.

I will report back with further findings for anyone interested.

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[Michael Torrie]

Post by Matt Melvin
Apparently, the pi model B doesn't have enough power to use said wifi
adapter... it won't even power up (though it does on my desktop, so I
know it's not faulty). So, I ordered a USB "Y-adapter" cable
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002W8EDOM) that uses one USB port
(the battery pack) for power and a separate port (pi) for the data, so
I'll see if I can get it to work that way.

Let us know how that goes. Perhaps a different board would be better
than the pi, like a beagle board?

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[Michael Torrie]

Post by Michael Torrie

Post by Matt Melvin
Apparently, the pi model B doesn't have enough power to use said wifi
adapter... it won't even power up (though it does on my desktop, so I
know it's not faulty). So, I ordered a USB "Y-adapter" cable
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002W8EDOM) that uses one USB port
(the battery pack) for power and a separate port (pi) for the data, so
I'll see if I can get it to work that way.

Let us know how that goes. Perhaps a different board would be better
than the pi, like a beagle board?

You're running your pi from a DC power source, right? Definitely if you
were just running off of the micro usb for power it wouldn't have enough.


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[Joel Finlinson]

Post by Michael Torrie

Post by Matt Melvin
Pluggers,
I need to find a decent USB wifi adapter, with either a high gain or
detachable antenna, that supports master (AP) mode in Linux. Also,
signal strength is much more important than throughput, so I don't
care whether it's G, N, or AC.

(Snip)

Post by Michael Torrie
I can't answer your question as to where to find this information, but I
have been down this road before, and I never found a satisfactory
solution.

What road were you going down?

If it's possible, my advice is to buy a regular wireless

Post by Michael Torrie
access point and use it in bridge mode and hang it off of an ethernet
port. It probably won't cost much more than a good, known-to-work,
Linux-compatible USB wireless adapter.

What problem were trying to solve?

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[Michael Torrie]

Post by Joel Finlinson
What road were you going down?

Trying to hang a master-mode wireless off of a linux box, usb or
mini-pcix. Never had luck with either. Just too flaky. Far easier and
future proof to use a dedicated piece of hardware bridged off of an
ethernet port. Now of course in his situation (battery-powered pi),
this isn't going to work.

Post by Joel Finlinson
What problem were trying to solve?

Just needed a normal linux box to act as a wireless access point.




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[Michael Torrie]

Post by Michael Torrie

Post by Joel Finlinson
What road were you going down?

Trying to hang a master-mode wireless off of a linux box, usb or
mini-pcix. Never had luck with either. Just too flaky. Far easier and
future proof to use a dedicated piece of hardware bridged off of an
ethernet port. Now of course in his situation (battery-powered pi),
this isn't going to work.

By flaky I mean, hostapd would hang and require a restart often, and
drivers often were flaky and buggy. Intel seems well-supported, but
many of their chipsets don't support master mode. Atheros is getting
better all the time.

Also on one machine even with two antennas on the chassis I never got
that great of signal strength. But really it was hostapd hanging that
was the main problem. Existing connections seemed fine but new
computers (especially Macs) couldn't connect. A simple restart of it
and life was good. Though it would kick off any existing clients. And I
never was able to come up with a script to detect on the access point
when hostapd had gone stupid. Must be some interaction between
hardware, drivers, and hostapd. I've had this issue on dedicated WAPs
running OpenWRT, but not with as much frequency.


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