No model number and who would know what it is?
This is a oem or "no name" product that retails under various names and model numbers, popular among "Kali linux" users and much cheaper than the Alfa models.
I guess "small with detachable high gain antennas" is the keyfactor.
There are at least 5 different models with strange names at amazon, but all of them now have realtek chips.
I think I have found new production that have the MT7612U chip, but i will wait until I have it to confirm its correct.
This is the problem, without actual model name or chipset name printed, how do I know "small with detachable high gain antennas" = MT7612U?
I've seen a lot of these kind devices coming from China and it's really hard to track what hardware being used, yeah I know Alfa is more expensive but at least you won't get a surprise.
Actually rencently the EDUP EP-AX1672 is something selling around USD30 (cheaper than Alfa) but it's a promised MT7921AU (802.11ax) dongle which performs a lot better than any MT7612U. Personally I also bought COMFAST CF-953AX which uses the same MT7921AU chipset.
Yes, I agree - thats the problem.
I have been fooled (only once though) and am not making the same mistake again - thats why im not making a link to the store before I can confirm it is correct.
I actually Have the EDUP EP-AX1672 already - fantastic usb-wifi 
But that one is actually confusing too, there are (what I can see) three models that look identical - have ax3000 printed on the case and have almost identical names - 2 have realtek, one have mediatek.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007444420233.html - EDUP AX1672, Mediatek.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005708499877.html EDUP 1671S, Realtek.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005708499877.html EDUP 1671, Realtek.
In this case, at least the seller is saying what chipset the wifi-adapter contains - in other cases the seller deliberate leaves it out.
One of the reasons mt7612u still is interesting is that it can be used as a "mesh point" in combination with AP in OpenWRT (thats why I am interested) - MT7612U is one of the few usb-models that can do that, that does not work with MT7921AU
I think its more powerful too, (range ?) but I do not have any knowledge regarding this - (people are choosing it for "injection" and other things I know very little of)
I also have the Comfast CF-922AC that has MT7612U and its working in 802.11s mode with openwrt. My plan is to use many mesh-points with mt7612u mounted in raspberry pi:s
So I received the package today and I got... a piece of plastic crap.
It was a completely other product with nondetachable antennas and had a realtek chip on top of that.
I still believe that they just sent me the wrong product, but no - no recommendations from me there 
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Would this be of any use?
It suggests adding a parameter to grub to ignore the multi-state
Example:
usb-storage.quirks=0bda:1a2b:i,a69c:5721:i
(see bottom of page )
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Well.....at least I don't need to care how the OS boots, and for OS like ChromeOS I can use it by default since there is no modification on the boot.
Alfa Network AWUS036NHA
Is working great. Do not need any closed source firmware to load. It have a Atheros AR9271L chipset build in. It have good range with detachable Antenna.
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But this is just 1x1 802.11n 2.4GHz which means just OK for general use, not really great for speed.
That is true but @xpciuhru still gets credit for adding another chipset that works.
Do you know any other USB WiFi card with more then 1x1 that do not need any closed source software? Or an other 1x1 card that do not need any closed source software but have even higher range then the one i named?
You can find many examples in this thread, in general they are mainly Mediatek MT7610U (1x1 802.11ac dual band), MT7612U (2x2 802.11ac dual band), and MT7921AU (2x2 802.11ax tri-band, with 6GHz support), and these are using open source driver.
I also own one LevelOne WUA-1610H which is 2x2 802.11n 2.4GHz (Ralink RT5372) and it also has open source driver.
I wrote:
You answered:
MT7610U need closed source software to run.
MT7612U need closed source software to run.
MT7921AU need closed source software to run.
Ralink RT5372 need closed source software to run.
So every single example you named is by fact wrong as answer to the question i asked.
Something is getting lost in translation because in English 'closed source software' means proprietary and here are the open Linux drivers
Also, I found threads that get that chip working in OpenWrt, so color me confused here; what are you saying?
Preferably without else getting lost in translation and coming even close to insulting to anyone that spent hours finding chipsets that work as @fakemanhk has in this thread.
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What he/she means no proprietary driver, including firmware blob, so basically for USB WiFi ath9k_htc should be the last one.
To me, the firmware blob is proprietary or not isn't a problem, unless you want to use the USB dongle to do something else, since this is not part of the OS driver, as long as the driver itself is upstreamed to mainline linux it's OK. Even those common MT7981/MT7986 come with similar proprietary firmware blob but this won't affect how OpenWrt having support on it.
2 Likes
Hello hello,
I currently got on my hands a couple of x86 (GX-217GA) thin clients with an x1 pcie slot and 2 USB 3.0 ports that I wanted to turn into mesh APs/ IoT terminals. I was thinking of putting the 5ghz radio in the PCIe slot, leaving the 2ghz radio for the USB port. I saw some great solutions here, the MT7612U in particular looks good since I want at least 2x2 MIMO, but I was curious if you knew of any properly heatsinked solutions? Either external or high-gain antennas if possible. They may move relatively large amounts of traffic throughout the day through two walls.
Of course I could just grab one from China, Dremel in a square and attach a copper heatsink with thermal adhesive, but I'd rather not make it any more ghetto than the solution already is.
don't.
sell them, buy some cheap openwrt router/AP devices instead.
Could you elaborate why not?
It's not really going to be the backbone of my network, but at the same time I'm tired of dealing with the quirks of embedded devices that were never designed to run a variety of OS, oftentimes designed specifically not to do so.
USB wifi is never a good solution, PCIe wifi can get messy too, with cards not supporting AP mode, or not getting enough power.
it'll probably be more expensive than a dedicated plastic wifi box, too.
you get a better and more robust solution running some router/AP with OpenWRT on it, where the hw is actually designed for wifi.
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You're free to gift me any such hardware, of course. 
In my experience hardware supporting OpenWRT is either too old, too weak or too expensive to reliably double-duty for both wi-fi and an entirely unrelated, homeassistant-related functions, especially if zigbee is involved. Since these thin clients would run either way for said functions, and I have to equip them with wifi-cards to do so, in their pci slots which are designed for wifi cards, purchasing and running more embedded hardware is both wasteful and a hassle, given OpenWRT is much easier to get running on x86.