USB WiFi Adapter 1200Mbps for PC, Techkey Mini Wireless Network Adapter USB 3.0 WiFi Dongle 802.11 ac with Dual Band 2.42GHz/300Mbps, 5.8GHz/866Mbps for Desktop Laptop Windows XP/7/8/8.1/10/ Mac OS 4.4 out of 5 stars 175. Make Offer - New Edimax EW-7811Un 150Mbps 11n Wi-Fi USB Adapter, Nano Size, Windows10 Mac OS Ac600Mbps USB WiFi Bluetooth Adapter 2.4G/5.8G EDUP Dual Band for Mac PC Desktop $10.95.
Thanks for reviving the old DWL-G122 thread from a year ago and for the excellent summary! There are testimonials to the DWL-G122 at Amazon and numerous dongles for sale on ebay and a real need to sort out what works and what doesn't.
Some followup comments and questions:
1. One reason why you might be interested in a USB wireless antenna even if you've got a modern Mac with builtin wireless is that the reception on the Airport cards (at least in a titanium PowerBook like mine) is notoriously weak. There are lots of times when I get little or no reception and my pals with Dell laptops are doing great. I also want a cheap USB wireless device so I can play with gizmos like the famous Chinese cookware antenna.
2. Thanks for the warning that two antennas in use simultaneously can damage each other. But there's no problem as long as you turn off your built-in antenna before plugging in the USB one, right? Presumably you could avoid the problem by putting the USB antenna at the end of a cable, correct? How long would be far enough? And doesn't this problem also apply if people on two different laptops are working in close quarters?
3. So the Ralink driver trick only works with the B1 version of the G122. What if you can locate an older A1 or A2 version? Will they still work on Mac OS X 10.4? There seem to be plenty of them on ebay, although a lot of the sellers don't say and probably don't know which version they've got. (The ones who do so are trying to cater to TiVo users, who also have dependencies on the G122 version.)
4. Finally, are there any *other* USB wireless antennas which can be scrounged up cheap for use on a Mac? Don't answer that -- I'll start another thread.
Thanks again!
Download and install the latest drivers
Most modern devices will have drivers for the adpater built-in, but it’s always best to use the latest drivers available here on the website.
If you do not have an existing Internet connection your computer, you will need to download the drivers somewhere else such as portable media like USB drive flash drive that you can use on the computer where you need to install them.
Driver Installation
For Mac users running macOS/OS X 10.4 – 10.14, downloading the drivers from this page is required. macOS 10.15 Catalina is not supported as Realtek has not updated drivers and software for new requirements from Apple for DriverKit and 64-bit operation.
Click to see the drivers for your platform below.
WindowsFor Windows 7, 8/8.1, and 10, if you have another active network connection, simply plug in the adapter and Windows will automatically download and install the latest drivers from Windows Update. If you do not have an active connection or wish to manually install the drivers click the link below.
For Windows XP and Vista you will need to download the drivers below:
Once the drivers are installed, a restart is recommended. You may use the included Realtek utility and/or your operating system’s standard built-in support for making a new wireless connection to an access point.
MacmacOS 10.15 Catalina is not supported as Realtek has not updated drivers and software for new requirements from Apple for DriverKit and 64-bit operation. We do not have an estimate for updated drivers from Realtek and do not expect them at this time.
If you encounter any issues please contact us at [email protected].
Select the driver that matches your OS version below:
Usb Wifi Adapter For Mac Os
- Utility and Driver Auto Installation Program for Mac OS X 10.4.x
10.5.x
10.6.x
10.7.x
10.8.x
You will need to use the included Realtek utility for making a new wireless connection to an access point.
Linux (Previous RTL8188CUS model only)This adapter and chipset has open source drivers with support for Linux Kernel 2.6.18 through 2.6.38 (compile required). Driver is already in recent Linux kernel versions 2.6.39 and later (kernel option
CONFIG_RTL8192CU
). To download and build the latest driver from Realtek, extract the Linux driver file, and run “make && sudo make install
”.Usb Wifi Adapter Macos Mojave
There are no official drivers for the RTL8818EUS Wi-Fi chipset in Linux. There are some community drivers available on GitHub, but we have not found a community driver that is reliable.
AndroidBest Usb Wifi Adapter For Mac Os X
Android 1.6~2.3 and 4.0 devices may or may not, at manufacturer’s discretion, include the Android driver from Realtek on their customized Android builds. We have not done any internal tests as of yet and cannot recommend this device for Android users at this time- although this may be a great option for Android developers familiar with compiling drivers into android source.
For the very latest drivers, take a look at the Realtek website. This will take you to the drivers page for the Realtek RTL8188EU(S) chipset that’s at the heart of the USB-WIFINT (Realtek’s page has not been functional for sometime, retained for historical purposes).