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I'm trying to install wifi drivers for a particular mini wifi card i bought. The output of lsusb is:

0bda:f179 Realtek Semiconductor Corp

I've searched everywhere for drivers, but could not find anything. Any help?

Thanks

Zanna
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shroomed12
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  • I don't believe there is any new information since @Jeremy31 's comment here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1008669/install-realtek-usb-driver-0bdaf179-on-ubuntu-16-04 Sorry. – chili555 Aug 04 '18 at 18:43
  • yea i saw that. Are there no other alternatives? Any other drivers? – shroomed12 Aug 04 '18 at 18:46
  • None that either @Jeremy31 nor I have been able to find. I suggest that you temporarily use a USB wireless and check back in a few months. I wish we had a better answer. PS - I hope I will not appear too blunt, but if Jeremy31 can't find it and if I can't find it, the chances are quite high that it doesn't yet exist. – chili555 Aug 04 '18 at 19:58
  • oh okay. Thanks for the response. I currently have a usb one which is using the 0bda:f179 chip. Any other mini wifi usb cards you know that work well with ubuntu (17) ? – shroomed12 Aug 04 '18 at 20:59
  • Please see my post #22 here: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2359573&highlight=thinkpenguin – chili555 Aug 04 '18 at 21:09
  • In Debian buster this firmware is available in `firmware-realtek` package – Shanavas M Jun 27 '20 at 16:52

9 Answers9

11

You can install rtl8188fu driver with dkms via this repo (has install instruction).

Butterfly
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    * I followed the CLI instructions provided from the repository's README.md file and it worked. PLEASE NOTE: I had to phycially unplug and plug the device back. Alternative provided, i.e., to use the .deb packages did not work for me. – Samyak Bhuta May 10 '19 at 12:19
  • Thanks a lot @Butterfly. Those instructions indeed worked for me. – Puspam Feb 22 '20 at 15:48
  • Thanks a lot @Butterfly. Work from home is now on with Wifi rather than USB Tethering. – Hanry Mar 25 '20 at 04:59
7

@Butterly's answer worked for me. But I will write out the steps here to make it clearer for others (copy/pasted from https://github.com/kelebek333/rtl8188fu):

For Kernel 4.15 ~ 4.20 (Linux Mint or Ubuntu Derivatives)

sudo apt-get install build-essential git dkms linux-headers-$(uname -r)

git clone https://github.com/kelebek333/rtl8188fu

sudo dkms add ./rtl8188fu

sudo dkms build rtl8188fu/1.0

sudo dkms install rtl8188fu/1.0

sudo cp ./rtl8188fu/firmware/rtl8188fufw.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/

After you are done, reinsert the wifi dongle and if you ifconfig, you should now have a new device present.

chaimp
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5

Finally! We do have a native Linux driver for 0bda:f179 RTL8189FTV! The only thing is that it needs some expertise to use (and Internet).

The driver is not mainline, so Ubuntu and derivatives do not have it.

The driver is here. Its called rtl8188fu.

Download the entire repository as zip. Then, in the Makefile, add -Wno-error=date-time as an EXTRA_CFLAGS. Basically, add the line:

EXTRA_CFLAGS += -Wno-error=date-time

Then, compile with make. After successful compile, you will get: 8188fu.ko then (as root) do:

insmod ./8188fu.ko

That's it. It will work now. I have compiled it for 16.04 LTS (4.4.0-138-generic), so the compatibility of the driver is pretty good.

The situation regarding 18.04 is slightly complicated, as the driver hasn't been updated for over an year.
I have made changes to the driver to work with 18.04 4.15.0-38 kernel, and it works.

Output of uname -a: 

Linux theoraxpc01-Veriton-Series 4.15.0-38-generic #41-Ubuntu SMP Wed Oct 10 10:59:38 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Output of usb-devices (on 18.04): 

T:  Bus=02 Lev=02 Prnt=02 Port=03 Cnt=01 Dev#=  3 Spd=480 MxCh= 0     
D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1     
P:  Vendor=0bda ProdID=f179 Rev=00.00     
S:  Manufacturer=Realtek     
S:  Product=802.11n          
S:  SerialNumber=00E0252CB0BF
C:  #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=a0 MxPwr=500mA     
I:  If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 3 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=ff Prot=ff Driver=rtl8188fu

I have uploaded both the module and the fixed drivers on my Google Drive. The module will work for 4.15.0-38-generic and this is the kernel against which I have compiled the source.

Kulfy
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Domo N Car
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  • this didn't work for me. I've the following kernel - 4.15.0-39-generic any other suggestion? – nEO Nov 22 '18 at 07:16
  • @nEO You mean you have 18.04 LTS? I have that on one system as well. I had to make a lot of changes to the driver to make it work. If you want, I can share the source code with you, or otherwise I can also share just the module. – Domo N Car Dec 05 '18 at 15:21
  • hey @Domo - I have 16.04. Will this work on my machine then. Do share the code. I kind of gave up on that. – nEO Dec 07 '18 at 23:40
  • @nEO, Yes, it will work on 16.04 as is (download from github link I gave). As for the code for 18.04, it is me hacking the code to be compatible with 18.04. I will share the zip tomorrow. – Domo N Car Dec 09 '18 at 10:24
  • Hi @Domo NCar - do share when possible. Thanks – nEO Dec 20 '18 at 23:10
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    @nEO I have uploaded both the [module](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nVpjsaEfTfIC8AN4y8E_rqM6m_vxl-jF/view?usp=sharing) and the [fixed drivers](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hIgvB6pLfJYZ2n4PARyAb74Remso1lAw/view?usp=sharing) on my google drive. The module will work for 4.15.0-38-generic and this is the kernel against which I have compiled the source. – Domo N Car Dec 24 '18 at 17:35
  • Hi @Domo N Car - looks like for some reason, my kernel got updated to 4.19.4-041904-generic. And I get the error when I run insmod command (I don't have to compile right?) – nEO Jan 06 '19 at 01:20
  • @nEO If your kernel got updated and isn't 4.15.0-38-generic then yes, you have to compile. However, you can still install the older kernel (and assuming that you haven't deleted it by running apt autoremove) then that kernel is still there. Just reboot into that kernel (in grub chose Advanced Options for Ubuntu -> next chose the kernel 4.15.0-38). The source has no compiled module in it, that compiled module I have linked separately (see the links). Otherwise just compile and insmod the .ko file. – Domo N Car Jan 07 '19 at 14:31
  • @DomoNCar : Thanks your patched driver worked for me. – rs_ Jul 06 '19 at 07:25
1

As of the date of this answer there is no support for the 0bda:f179 Realtek WiFi adapter. You would likely be better off obtaining a natively supported device.

There's a list of WiFi adapters supported by the kernel here that you might find useful.

There's also a query page where you can check to see if your device has kernel support.

Edit: Realtek PCI ID is 10ec, their USB ID is 0bda so if you find a driver that supports 10ec:f179 that might be worth trying.

If you have a Windows driver for the device you could also try using ndiswrapper.

Elder Geek
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1

Finally The Driver installation process for USB DEVICE 802.11 bgn which looks like Realtek Semiconductor when done lsusb uses RTL8188fu drivers and proper installation procedure is found at rtl8188fu linux driver for wireless bgn device.

There is no need to reboot. Thanks a lot

zx485
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Nitin
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I've tried in my Debian Strech Kernel 4.9.0-6-amd64 and after the build and install from this repo the dongle can find networks, but can't acomplish connections.

So, in order to fix this issue, I've changed Makefile to disable powersaving and enable monitor mode (because i've needed, not sure if this have something to do with the issue) on lines 40 and 61 like that:

$ ./rtl8188fu/Makefile:

CONFIG_POWER_SAVING = n
CONFIG_WIFI_MONITOR = y

Now works fine.

So, for Debian Strech kernel 4.9.0-6-amd64:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install build-essential git dkms linux-headers-$(uname -r)

git clone https://github.com/kelebek333/rtl8188fu

sudo dkms add ./rtl8188fu
sudo dkms build rtl8188fu/1.0
sudo dkms install rtl8188fu/1.0
sudo modprobe rtl8188fu

I hope can help someone facing this problem.

Thank you!

Fernando
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0

I was facing same problem for my 802.11n adapter. The following link worked for me.

https://github.com/kelebek333/rtl8188fu

Indrajeet
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Installing the driver from kelebek333/rtl8188fu repo helped me identify the network device. After installation, eject and reconnect the usb wifi adapter, and then check:

sudo lshw -c network

You will see something like this:

  *-network
       description: Wireless interface
       physical id: 2
       bus info: usb@1:12
       logical name: wlx1cbfcef96282
       serial: 1c:bf:ce:f9:62:82
       capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtl8188fu ip=192.168.1.2 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn

Then you are good to go.

25b3nk
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i found an answer and fixed the issue. I was trying to install another wireless adapter and fixed the broadcom wireless issue.

[https://www.tecmint.com/sub-process-usr-bin-dpkg-returned-an-error-in-ubuntu/][1]

Mike Burdette
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  • Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, [it would be preferable](//meta.stackexchange.com/q/8259) to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference. – Kevin Bowen Feb 02 '21 at 23:28
  • I did include a link but it didn't link the page [https://www.tecmint.com/sub-process-usr-bin-dpkg-returned-an-error-in-ubuntu/][1] – Mike Burdette Feb 04 '21 at 00:12