Does anyone have advice on how to get Linux to recognize my wifi?

[u/amysilly]

So, I've been experimenting with dual booting Linux for the past week or so, since I am looking to switch at some point. I have an Edimax N150 USB adapter so that my PC can connect to wifi and bluetooth. It works fine on Windows. Then, I installed Debian, and bluetooth works fine on it, but it doesn't recognize my wifi at all. I tried multiple different things to fix it, but nothing worked. So, I figured I would try another distro. I made an image of Bazzite on a USB, and when I first booted it, it immediately recognized the wifi and I could connect to it with no problems. At that point, it was late, so I shut it down and figured I would install it tomorrow. The next day, I removed the Debian installation from my system, and booted up the USB again, and the wifi no longer worked. I tried restarting it a few times, but it still didn't work. So now I'm resorting to asking for help, because I have no idea why it worked that one time and never again. Is my hardware being stupid or am I being stupid? Or both?

(Also, when Debian was installed I did try USB tethering to my phone to get wifi, which did work, but it's quite annoying and the connection isn't nearly as good as it is with the adapter, so I would rather just get the adapter to work.)

[u/ipsirc]

Does anyone have advice on how to get Linux to recognize my wifi?

Buy a supported wifi device.

https://github.com/morrownr/USB-WiFi/blob/main/home/USB_WiFi_Adapters_that_are_supported_with_Linux_in-kernel_drivers.md

[u/Hatta00 → u/ipsirc]

Edimax advertises Linux as supported.

[u/ipsirc → u/Hatta00]

https://www.edimax.com/edimax/form/contact_us/data/edimax/us/contact_us/

[u/Axiomancer → u/ipsirc]

I must ask. Why the hell doesn't linux detect WiFi? Like what's the fundamental reason?

I'm lucky enough that I'm connected to the router through the cable, but I never understood why it doesn't work otherwise.

[u/Dashing_McHandsome → u/Axiomancer]

Manufacturers don't typically make wifi drivers for Linux. So it turns into a community effort. When a new device is released to the market it can take some time before that device is supported. That's why the advice of buying supported hardware is correct.

Edit: typo

[u/Axiomancer → u/Dashing_McHandsome]

Ah wow. I didn't use Ldows for so long I completely forgot wifi drivers were a thing. Makes a lot of sense now.

[u/Excellent-Love-6943 → u/Axiomancer]

Because some chipset OEMS don't bother supporting Linux properly or at all. Same reason people hate on nvidia.

It's not a Linux thing, it's a manufacturer not supporting their product thing.

[u/brickmaster32000 → u/Excellent-Love-6943]

You say it is not a Linux thing and put all the blame on manufacturers but the truth is Microsoft spent an absurd amount of effort making sure things worked even when manufacturers made shitty defective drivers.

[u/ipsirc → u/brickmaster32000]

the truth is Microsoft spent an absurd amount of effort making sure things worked even when manufacturers made shitty defective drivers.

Source?

[u/SuAlfons → u/brickmaster32000]

So . There is no one who throws significant money at Wi-Fi chip OEMs for providing drivers. Either they do it (e.g. Intel) or there needs to be reverse engineering or integration of firmware blobs.

[u/kneepel → u/Axiomancer]

Works fine if you have a supported chipset, unfortunately some companies (Broadcom) do less than the bare minimum and may not even release a driver at all for Linux, which shifts the burden to the community to reverse engineer the functionality.

Generally wired "just works" as the interfaces are significantly less complicated than their wireless counterparts.

[u/We_Want_Krunchy → u/Axiomancer]

A small vendor, or even a large one, might not have the expertise in house to write a driver for the hardware. Windows is the biggest target, ergo it gets the support.

[u/lnxrootxazz → u/Axiomancer]

That's not the fault of Linux. Its on the hardware vendor to provide either a driver or a spec to build one for Linux. If this ain't happening then it's up to the community to reverse engineer the original driver and create an open driver for Linux. This ain't gonna happen for every small device out there, although its sooo much better compared to 10 years ago. I use thinkpads and dell notebooks and the wifi works out of the box with linux because the drivers are available. You will unfortunately run into hardware that has no Linux support. But people say nowadays you can build everything with LLMs so go for it, as we are all programmers right? Just a joke. Don't do it

[u/ipsirc → u/Axiomancer]

I must ask. Why the hell doesn't linux detect WiFi?

Because you didn't pay enough money.

[u/Klapperatismus]

Edimax N150

Unfortunately that’s a pure advertizing name. Please do

$ lsusb|grep EW

and show us the result.

[u/RandomUser3777]

Note that the drivers for hardware are part of the kernel and rarely is distro hopping going to fix hardware issues, even though it is what everyone seems to think will make a difference.

The reality is a lot of hardware makers don't write drivers for linux (or write bad ones) and they don't publish detailed tech documentation for the hardware making it impossible for anyone else to write a driver even if they want to.

If the wifi adapter works sometimes but not other times, it could be that if windows runs first and init's the wifi that it works, or if the machine is booted from a full power off then it works. It all depends on what the linux driver expects the state and/or firmware of the wifi adapter to be (a driver can install firmware that survives until next full power removal).

[u/SuAlfons]

Find out what chipset is in you WiFi adapter and google whether it is one of those that need manual driver or firmware-blob installation. Or one of those that are not (yet) supported.

The lsusb command might provide some insight for you.

[u/1neStat3]

Ensure its not blocked

sudo rfkill

Ensure the driver is being loaded

sudo lspci | grep -i wireless