How I Hacked My Wi-Fi Dongle to Work on Linux

The Struggle: Wi-Fi Adapter vs. Linux 😤

So there I was, all excited to use my iBall Baton 300M USB Wi-Fi Adapter on my Linux machine. I plugged it in, expecting seamless connectivity, and... nothing. No Wi-Fi. No networks. Just sadness.

Meanwhile, Windows users were living their best lives—browsing, gaming, streaming. Why? Because the driver is only available for Windows! It’s like Realtek looked at Linux users and said, "Nah, you don’t need Wi-Fi."

But I wasn’t about to let a piece of hardware defeat me. Time to hack my way to Wi-Fi freedom! 🔥

The (Somewhat) Evil Genius Plan 🧠

Since the official driver only came in a .exe file (because, of course), I had to reverse-engineer it, figure out what driver I actually needed, and manually compile it for Linux.

And guess what? It worked! So here’s how you can do it too. 💪

Step 1: Install the Magic Ingredients 🏗️

Before we summon the Wi-Fi spirits, let’s get our system ready:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential dkms git linux-headers-$(uname -r)

This installs all the tools needed to compile the driver from scratch.

Step 2: Steal—Err, I Mean, Download the Driver 🏴‍☠️

We need the rtl8192eu driver for our dongle. Lucky for us, some kind soul already put it on GitHub!

git clone https://github.com/Mange/rtl8192eu-linux-driver.git
cd rtl8192eu-linux-driver

Now, let’s build it:

make
sudo make install

Load the driver into your system:

sudo modprobe 8192eu

Step 3: Check If Linux Finally Loves Your Dongle ❤️

Run this command to see if your system recognizes the adapter:

ip link show
iwconfig

If you see your Wi-Fi network listed, congratulations! You just broke free from Windows’ grip! 🎉

Step 4: Make It Stick 🔗

We don’t want to go through this every time we reboot, so let’s make the driver load on startup:

echo "8192eu" | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

Reboot for good measure:

sudo reboot

Step 5: Slay the Conflicting Modules 🗡️

Linux sometimes loads the wrong driver. Let’s check:

lsmod | grep rtl

If you see r8188eu or rtl8xxxu, blacklist them!

echo "blacklist r8188eu" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
echo "blacklist rtl8xxxu" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

Reboot again and enjoy your victory. 🏆

If Things Go Wrong (Because It’s Linux, Of Course) 🛠️

If make fails, try installing the correct kernel headers:
```
  sudo apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
```
If your Wi-Fi still doesn’t show up, try reloading the driver manually:
```
  sudo modprobe -r 8192eu
  sudo modprobe 8192eu
```

Final Thoughts: We Beat Windows at Its Own Game 🎮

At the end of the day, we won. We took a Windows-exclusive Wi-Fi adapter, reverse-engineered it, and made it work on Linux. And that’s the beauty of open-source—if something doesn’t work, we fix it ourselves! 💻🔥

So, if you found this guide helpful, share it with your fellow Linux warriors and show Windows who’s boss! 😎🐧

How I Hacked My Wi-Fi Dongle to Work on Linux (And You Can Too!) 🚀🐧