The Raspberry Pi is always a moving target in terms of projects as you may have read previously. The dumb Ethernet is sometimes the best option for the Pi as it doesn't require any configuration at all. I preferred this option as well when the Pi was sitting close to my router and was interfaced with the PC monitor but its use as a media centre meant the proximity changed towards the living room TV. Samsung's TV WiFi adapter proved useful in this regard as it had dual band support and was based on the common Realtek RTL8188 chipset which has wide support across Linux distributions. However, the TV gained its smartness after a long time as the Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and iPlayer apps were finally put to good use. This meant the search for a new USB WiFi adapter for the Pi.
The intention was to purchase the fastest budget adapter and the TP-Link TL-WN823N popped up at the top since it was priced lower than comparable N150 adapters. The one available on Amazon is the v2 variant with the RTL8192EU chipset. Initially, I simply replaced the Samsung adapter with this one when using OSMC and it worked fine. However, later on when I booted to Rapbian, it didn't indicate the presence of a wireless interface. It was then that I realized that most of the information on the web about the compatibility of this adapter with Linux is based on the 3.x kernels and there is no out of the box support with any 4.x kernels.
It was easy enough to load the drivers on Raspbian using the information available on the Pi forums and it worked flawlessly. However, other distributions like LibreELEC or Lakka were a different ball game as they used different kernels. In case of LibreELEC, the 8192eu drivers are already present but don't work with this adapter even after adding the device ID. In case of Ubuntu, there seem to be driver packages available but I haven't tested the same. Even then, it will require patching with every kernel update and isn't the "just works" solution that most would be looking for.
Thus, it seems best to stick with the well proven chipsets from the past. A N150 adapter is still faster than the 100 Mbps Ethernet port and much faster than the reading/writing speeds of most SD cards, so you are not giving up much. Sometimes, it is better to just take a step back to move forwards.
Pay your pal!

Clicking the logo will entitle you to a sense of contributing to a worthless cause, like Kickstarter, but better.
You are also free to go all crypto on me:
BTC: 12PrhHE4asQxzKttFABFaFsbHAUbaoGBn3
ETH: 0x3b8350e29246def8aae835717777acff05f4be9a
LTC: LdVAGYUJjiqKcPc7EhTANY1S4PWQHqCKBX
BCH: 16j1Vzxic8pWS7FwN7YwxTydMzQnfn7mWk
DGE: DNe81MzuTabnTKB6MYmZkdTp3DQZbVrMHF
Tag Cloud (size does matter)
Technology
Reviews
Musings
Mobile
Apple
Life
iPhone
Tutorials
Games
Poetries
Audio
Excel
Finance
Sundries
Videos
Android
Tablet
Books
Office
PC
TV
Reading
Amazon
Laptop
Bitcoin
Case
Cryptocurrency
India
Music
Nostalgia
USB
Windows
Google
Updates
Analysis
Bluetooth
Cables
Charts
Digital
Essay
Formula 1
Motorsports
Pi
Sports
VR
Xiaomi
AR
AliExpress
App
Dashboard
F1
Fire
Meme
Movies
Musing
PowerPoint
Qlik
VPN
Word
4K HDR
AI
Air
Art
Biometrics
Bumper
Chromecast
Cloud
Cluedo
Core
DHL
Dell
Dolby
Doom
Doppelganger
Fiio
Fingerprint
Flipkart
Formula E
Global
H1-B
Hello
HopShopGo
IMDb
Intel
Lightning
Meltdown
Mi
Micro USB
Note
PQI
Photos
RHA
Racing
Retail
Saitek
Samsung
Securities
Spectre
Spotify
Sway
Trade
Type C
US
Walnutt
Wireless
eBay
iOS

About Author?
Strangely, the author of this blog has chosen to not reveal anything about self despite the site bearing a name, his name. Is it to retain an aura of mystery, be an enigma or is the author really a faceless spirit? Can the author be judged by his pensiveness and obsession with science and technology? Or is it all about leaving a legacy, howsoever small it may be?
There are some things that are best left unknown. For everything else, there is the contact box.
There are some things that are best left unknown. For everything else, there is the contact box.

0 comments:
Post a Comment