Ubuntu 20.10 based distros do not support the rtl88x2bu Wifi USB adapter out of the box.
Internet connection via Bluetooth
There's a catch 22 when installing a rtl88x2bu WiFi adapter driver. First you need to download it from the Internet but your Linux is not ready to connect to a WiFi.
Instead of using another PC to download a driver and copy to a USB flash drive simply use Bluetooth tethering on your mobile:
- buy a Bluetooth dongle for your desktop PC
- enable Bluetooth tethering and turn on a hotspot on your mobile
- pair and connect to your mobile phone from your PC
Installing rtl88x2bu drivers
If you are looking for rtl88x2bu drivers for Linux you have probably already seen the github.com/cilynx/rtl88x2bu repo. Unfortunately its build process did not work for me on my Ubuntu 20.10-based system. The source files simply did not compile (both 5.3.1 and 5.8.1).
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel
Consult /var/lib/dkms/rtl88x2bu/5.3.1/build/make.log for more information.
./rtl88x2bu-5.3.1/include/rtw_security.h:252:8: error: redefinition of ‘struct sha256_state’
252 | struct sha256_state {
I have found another solution in the following repo instead: github.com/morrownr/88x2bu.
Below are instructions for Ubuntu taken from that repo's README:
sudo apt-get update
git clone https://github.com/morrownr/88x2bu.git
cd 88x2bu
sudo ./install-driver.sh
sudo reboot
Top comments (7)
To be consistency, it should be
rtl88x2bu. Notrtl88x2ub.You're right! Fixed the text today. Thanks!
lov u
Interesting what kind of speeds can one normally get?
What have you seen?
My average was about 110-120 Mbit/s for download and 25 Mbit/s for upload. My mobile phone connected to the same WiFi can download at 250 Mbit/s. I couldn't make the
morrownr/88x2bu's driver to work in a USB3 mode so I'm stuck at USB2.Still 120 Mbit/s is good enough until I buy a WiFi dongle that will be instantly recognised by a freshly installed Linux distro.
Were there any gotcha's when you installing the driver(s)?
I'll try this one. ;)
None. That's why I thought that I'll post that
sudo ./install-driver.shon dev.to. Primarily for myself but hoping that others might find it useful too.