Hello. I am 12 years old and might need more help than others so please help as much as possible.

I was with my dad at my grampas place and he needed a pc and we got him one so i got his older one that is not very fast. It does not have wireless internet in it so i have to connect a device by usb for internet. When i clicked on the internet sign i went in to the type of way you connect the wifi. The wired network is too far away so i can't do that. When I was in there the only option was wired no wireless option. My dad said that he had trouble with this when he had linux too. He said something about you have to download a certain thing for it to be able to connect through linex. He said he had too do the same thing because the device he used would'nt connect trough linux. I am not sure if you even have to download something but I need help connecting it too the internet.

The device it is that im using to connect to the internet is a

N E T G E A R
Wireless N-300 USB adapter WNA3100
FCC: PY309300115
IC:4054A-O9300115
SERIAL: 2F312BB2187F7
MAC: 100D7F2E858C

and then a random number on the right side that is sideways that says: 272-10918-04

and then another thing with a check mark says: N10947
Z1067

I hope that is enough information. To verify again I am just trying to connect to the internet through this device but the wireless internet won't come up.

Thank you for reading this / helping! please also tell me if there is any information you need!

Welcome to LQ and the wonderful world of Linux. (As an aside, you provided quite a bit of relevant information!)

When it comes to USB wireless adapters, some manufacturers' support of Linux is--er--less than desirable. I found a thread about this adapter at askubuntu.com. It might be helpful, but, I must say, it's been over a decade since I've had to use ndiswrapper (which is a program for making Windows drivers work on Linux by "wrapping" the Windows drivers in a compatibility layer).

If you can connect temporarily via a wired connection, you might open the Ubuntu software center (or whatever they are calling it these days) and look for something called "additional hardware" or some such term. There's a possibility you might be able to download the drivers for that device in that way. Unfortunately, I don't have that bit of hardware and have no way of testing this.

Another alternative, if you can manage it, is to get a USB wireless device that is known to work with Linux. For what it's worth, if I need a USB wireless device, the first place I look is thinkpenguin.com, which has them at very reasonable prices. I've purchased several USB wifi sticks from them and they have all worked splendidly.

And remember, we were all newbies once.

1 members found this post helpful.

Thank you for the idea Frank. I might still need more help.

I have that very same adapter.

It uses the Realtek RTL8192cu chipset, and that chipset has been directly supported by the Linux kernel for a very long time. It should be detected straight away.

More likely you need to apply all the necessary updates to your OS first:-

....while being connected via ethernet. Let everything install itself, then perform a re-boot for good measure. It's not strictly necessary in Linux - Linux doesn't need a re-boot to 'install' stuff properly like Windoze does - but for this kind of thing it doesn't hurt.

Then unplug the ethernet cable. Look in your Network Manager (or whatever it's called), and see if you can detect any wireless networks to connect to....


Mike.

We are boosting from the USB hard drive using the lastest verion provides update the drivers on the Usb drive or would it be the same?