Cisco-Linksys WUSB54GC Compact Wireless-G USB Adapter by Linksys
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List Price: Our Price: $23.56 You Save: $26.43 (53%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $11.49 (click here) Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Cisco-Linksys WUSB54GC Compact Wireless-G USB Adapter
Digital camera Review: Great Price and easy to use
Summary: 5 Stars
Quality product and quilty price i am verry happy with this purchase and would do business with again.Digital camera Review: Great Product but.....
Summary: 3 Stars
Windows it works fine.... but only after I bought it I discovered it takes some effort to get it to work under linux. Linksys does not support Linux very well and there is no support for this product under linux. This leaving having to use ndswrapper to make it work. Native support would be a welcome addition to this device. My Windows PC is directly connected to my network, but I am building a Linux system and it not tied into the network yet as I keep having to run a cable to it to get it online. Thus I figured a wireless adaptor would work for me till I can configure my workplace to have both systems nearer together to be wired. Turns out that not possible.
Linksys should be ashamed they do not support Linux!
Digital camera Review: Great adapter
Summary: 5 Stars
I own this adapter for few years now. Had it on my computer with windows 98, 2000 and now on win 7 ( 64 bit). No problems. I have been using the Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor and the signal strength is 100%. With win 7 just plug in and it sets itself, no need to load the CD.Digital camera Review: Great for a Non-Techno person
Summary: 5 Stars
This equipment was very easy to use/install -- especially for one who is not all that computer savvy. And it saved me from having to have a new phone jack installed. Definitely worth it and reasonably priced.Digital camera Review: Great hardware, gratuitiously bad software. Avoid if you are non-expert.
Summary: 1 Stars
First off, the good. The stick gets pretty good reception, IMO.
Next the neither here nor there: if you follow the advice of the sticker and run the install CD, it will replace the standard Windows wi-fi zeroconf with Linksys's own utility. Zeroconf is not really all that great, but it would be decent of them to ask you first. If you are used to doing things the Windows way, you'd probably prefer to keep doing so. The Monitor software is not bad, but it has its own faults. You might prefer it to Windows, but don't expect any help from your resident Windows expert if you have problems with it.
Next the truly bad: the softwarte mucks around with windows settings (e.g. the notorious GTGINA.dll/logon problem) without asking permission, informing you, or giving you a clue as to who is responsible.
It is utterly amazing this thing earned a Windows compatibility sticker given this. When you buy something with the sticker, you should at least be confident you aren't going to be sucker punched by the software installing unasked for and unwanted "improvements".
This is why this software is not just BAD, it is GRATUITOUSLY bad. It's one thing to make software that is dreadful at what you buy it for (which indeed the Linksys drivers are not), it's another to spread dreadfulness around to completely unrelated functions (which the Linksys drivers do). There is no reason at all for Linksys to do this.
YOU might not have a problem right now, but in the future you may end up with mysterious and uninformative error messages which will have you digging through the Windows registry to track down.
For this reason, I strongly recommend that non-experts avoid this device. I understand that the changes this driver installs are intended to make life easier for non-experts. It may even succeed at this for some. But if you run into problems (particularly later), you are going to have to handle your resident Windows support guy getting very cranky. The problems the included software create are not only completely unrelated to the functions this device performs, they persist even if you don't have the device plugged in.
It is incumbent on a vendor, when replacing standard ways of doing things with a way that is supposed to be "better", to achieve 100% success. Otherwise they leave the poor user high and dry with no viable support. Better obvious flaws that everyone knows about than mysterious, untraceable flaws.
For Linux users, the device works flawlessly, but you have to do the following:
(1) compile the RT73 driver source and install the package.
(2) obtain the RT73 firmware deb or RPM (From the same soruce as the driver) and install it.
Once you do this, when you plug the device in the system should recognize it as a wifi network adapter and give it the device name "rausb0". You then use the method normal for your Linux distro to configure it, either iwconfig on the command line, or the KWifi program for KDE users (also Ubuntu Gnome users).
If you have never compiled a kernel module before, have no fear. Just google for "wusb54gc rt73 compile" and you'll find directions. Follow them step by step and you'll have success.