Netgear WNA3100 Drivers

When my ThinkPad R60e I had running Ubuntu died in 2012, I thought my Linux days were over, but recently I decided to come back and bought an Intel NUC. It doesn't have a WiFi card, so I've got an external USB Netgear WNA3100 card. The drivers didn't install during the set up, so I'm looking to add them. I think I used to know how to do this, but have forgotten and nothing jumped out on Google. Anyone care to offer a refresher course? Thanks for any help.

 

Hey ZaZ, see if this helps:
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2221251

 

Well, I got the Bluetooth keyboard working, so I'm kind of spent right now, but I will definitely look into it. Thanks.

 

Well, I took at look at it, but from what I read it looks like I need the Broadcom drivers and use them with Ndiswrapper. I think they assume I'm using ethernet and am on the internet. I need to find a way to install ndiswrapper and download the drivers.

Side note, does Bluetooth worse in Linux? I've got a ThinkPad Bluetooth keyboard that I used with my old HTPC. Only once in a great while would it lose the connection, usually when the batter was low, but it seems like unless I'm two feet from the dongle, it doesn't work in Linux. Maybe it's the dongle, I've got another I can try, but I hope it's not this bad.

 

Urgh, that's a horrendous card to use in Linux. It is not supported by any of the kernel drivers and I can't tell if broadcom's wl driver supports it either.

That thing is 4 years old and N 300mbps, I'd ditch it for an atheros based ac card or any intel card.

 

I am not sure if you can work this out without internet connection (maybe wired?) but this may work for you:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/839947/netgear-n-300-wna3100-usb-adapter-for-ubuntu-16-04

I haven't used Ndiswrapper for probably 4-5 years now however my experience back then was positive... I can't imagine that is no longer the case...

 

So, back to the drawing board. I bought this WiFi card, mainly because I prefer a USB card that I can move away from the machine and I read someone saying this card has worked out of the box since kernel 2.6, which was not the case for me. I'm going to see if NewEgg will let me exchange it for something else, but am unsure what to get.

 

Yeah, looks like a realtek chipset. Not usually a safe bet. The atheros 802.11n "ath9k" driver is arguably the most robust kernel driver for wireless. If you just need an N card, try something atheros-based: https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Atheros#.28a.29bgn

There is a good broadcom driver for N stuff too, but it doesn't cover all of their devices:
https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/brcm80211

Usually you'll have to dig into reviews to find out what chipset any given card is using. But the pages I linked at least have some USB devices listed. Good luck.

 

I wonder why this has to be so confusing? It's like one version works, one doesn't and no one can just say get this card.

It's funny when I built my first Linux box 10 years ago, I had a USB Netgear card that worked out of the box and I never had a problem with it. I never knew how fortunate I was and of course, I tossed it a month before getting my Nuc.

 

Doesn't the NUC have integrated intel wireless?

 

My particular model has the slot, but not the card and for some reason, the wires are tucked under the board.

I think this might be a good option and hopefully the Bluetooth will work better too. My Bluetooth dongle is terrible under Linux.