When HN users recommended it
1 HN user recommended this in 2011, in one comment.
20072026
Each tall tick is one HN user's first recommendation. A short tick is the same user again. Click a tick to jump to the comment.
TP LINK TL WN821N Wireless Adapter WPA2 PSK
Amazon's catalog no longer lists this product (checked 2026-11-02). The name comes from the link HN users posted.
I guess I should have mentioned that. Ralink is a starting point, not a finished product. Everyone manufacturer who uses them messes with the driver in their own way. The generics are the worst.
Simply using the built-in drivers in ubuntu or a prebuilt module from ralink yields an almost unusable link.
You have to be on your toes and willing to compile your own drivers (and even learn about the source and make tweaks) to really get ralinks to sing. The good news is that ralink makes this source freely available.
Atheros's work great but they cost more (like $15 or $20 instead of $7) and you still have to be careful to get the right "mad-wifi" drivers. There are less of them though and most versions work out of the box at least acceptably.
Your advice is sound though if you're just looking to get your one ras-pi on the air with minimum fuss you probably want this : http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WN821N-Wireless-Adapter-WPA...
If you're preparing your robot army for world domination on a budget, its probably worth putting in the time to figure out a ralink. I've had great luck with this sub $7 beauty http://www.amazon.com/150mbps-Wireless-Adapter-Wifi-802-11b/... but it did take considerable effort to hack the driver into shape.