BrosTrend Linux WiFi Adapter for Ubuntu, Mint, Kali, Debian, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Mate, Zorin, PureOS, Raspberry Pi 2+, Windows 11, 1200Mbps, 5GHz / 2.4GHz, Long Range 2 X 5dBi External Antennas, USB3.0

I brought the first scare on myself by ordering a product with only ONE review, something I virtually never do. But this device offered what I needed, so I took the chance. And I’m mighty glad I did. The Ethernet connection on my old PC (running KDE neon 5.13.1) had suddenly dropped from a download speed of 6 Mbps to a little over 1. Some tests indicated that the culprit was a degraded hardware component on the motherboard. My second scare came when the device arrived. The very attractive package was a blister pack you could actually open with your bare hands. However, the included Quick Installation Guide included instructions only for Windows and OS X. Uh, oh. A mini CD was enclosed and the Linux directory included a bewildering array of files, including PDFs and source code. Scare #3! I went back to the Amazon page and found this paragraph: Comes with an expertise Linux Support Ticket via email for installation on Linux OSes listed above, please send us an email at [email protected] for help, please tell us your OSes type and order number in the email. My email got a fast response that attached a PDF installation guide. I was pleased to see that the guide WAs brief and very specific for Ubuntu/Debian systems. You execute a command that installs software needed to compile the driver and then does the compilation and installation of the driver. The procedure requires a wired connection to the Internet, which could be a problem. A link is provided that would enable you to download the .deb file on another machine. However, they recommend that you not use this approach unless you have to. After the prompt was returned I plugged the device in and it was immediately recognized by the system. I shut down the PC, disconnected the Ethernet cable, and rebooted. I used the KDE System Settings to add the woreless device. My “perfect result” is that I am once again getting downlaod speeds of over 6 Mbps. Update: After using this device for a month, here are some added observations. On my hard drive I have three Linux systems in separate partitions with the device working on all of them: Linux Mint-XFCE, KDE neon, and Lubuntu. Doing a major update that included the Linux kernel caused me to lose the connection with the device. Help from TrendTech support got me going again. I just had to execute two commands: sudo dpkg-reconfigure rtl8812au-dkms sudo modprobe 8812au Today I did similar updates with Linux Mint and KDE neon. The fix was again necessary with the former but not with the latter. I continue to be very pleased with my purchase.Read more

I bought the Bros Trend 1200 to use with Linux. My intentions were to take an old under powered pc I had laying around and turn it into a hotspot to extend wifi to the bedrooms in my home. Currently I have a Netgear 7000 in my family room downstairs. The Fire Sticks hooked up to TVs in those rooms clock in at 15Mbsp and can drop to under 7Mbsp if there is a lot of other wifi in use. I have tried several solutions from powerine adapters to extenders and repeaters with no luck on a stronger or consistent signal. I use Ubuntu as my main operating system throughout my home and have to two Plex servers setup for streaming. Since this said it worked with Linux I thought I’d found a solution. It does work with Linux but it wasn’t plug and play. I had to track down drivers and install using Terminal but I did get it working. the problem is the hotspot option would not work with with drivers I found and after several days of trying to install and configure drivers to enable the use as a hotspot. I gave up. Luckily I still had a copy of windows 7 lying around with a working license. After installing windows I installed the the program that came with the adapter and it worked. I have the pc hard wired on lan directly from the Netgear 7000 with the antenna mounted high on a wall. The usb extension cord that comes with it allows for you to move it around quite a bit. Getting the hotspot set up with included software was a breeze. It gave me the option for either 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz or auto and what channel I wanted. Once set up testing on the Fire Stick furthest away, down a hall and through two sets of walls, gave me 35Mbsp on the 5Ghz band. I’ve been using it since purchase with no problems and no drop in signal. this has allowed me to keep devices upstairs on a separate wifi and extend range to my patio and pool. I’m still trying to find a opensource alternative to getting hotspot to work in Linux but this will have to do until then.Read more

This is a review for the third of these USB dongles I have purchased over the past two years or so. This one, purchased in September 2021 is a V2 dongle. It loses a star for the lack of clarity on chipset change, and for badging the thing as the same product as its predecessor. Linux The new V2 dongle is based on the Realtek 8812bu chipset, not the 8812au chipset as were the previous ones. This caused a bit of a hiccough in my setup. I used the driver based on the github user “morrownr” repository morrownr/88x2bu. This compiled fine using gcc 11.2.0 (with a few warnings). It worked well with a 5.14.x kernel. If you edit your wpa_supplicant.conf file, don’t use a -Dwext driver. Just remove the -Dxxxx switch completely (the default is nl80211 but it’s not needed on the command line). My feeling is that the stick is a few percent slower in downloads than the v1 device, but this test was done in a very ad hoc manner. It’s v2 dongle definitely still in the same ball park for speed. Windows The dongle worked out of the box under Windows with speeds comparable to the V1 dongle over the same distance. It’s plug and play. Mac I have not tested the Mac driver, but the dongle is definitely not plug and play on the Mac (at least not under Catalina). You’d have to download a driver. I don’t know if Apple approve this driver.Read more

It certainly does the job of enhancing signal strength. I have both Windows 10 and Linux Mint operating systems on my desktop, which communicates with the BT Home Hub via WiFi (no possibility of an Ethernet cable). With the mini-discs supplied, I easily installed the driver for Windows 10. It didn’t work for Linux. I was reminded that I had been sent an installation manual, with a link to a page for downloading and installing drivers. This required me to be connected (via WiFi) before I could download the Linux driver, which I could not be under the Linux OS, until I had that driver installed. Which is Kafkaesque. The suggestion was to use an Ethernet cable, which I can’t. I solved the problem by connecting to WiFi through an old feeble Linux-compatible dongle that I had by chance, downloading the driver, and then inserting the BosTrend dongle. All working fine now, under either OS. But that’s not an elegant way to do things. Why not simply provide a mini-disk with Linux driver ? The one in the package didn’t work.Read more

After receiving the adapter I made the mistake of searching for a driver and trying to install it myself on my Ubuntu PC (unsuccessfully). Don’t bother! The adapter came with an invite to contact the support to get instructions on how to install the correct driver. These guys are dedicated and quick to respond. They send me clear instruction and it is basically one command to execute to install the driver. This went without hickups and within 5 minutes the adapter was working. All thumbs up for and excellent product with Linux support and outstanding support team.Read more