I've tried to use Ubuntu and while the current beta has generic drivers (apparently) for my wireless adapter the connection is much lower than on Win7
Rosewill has linux drivers on their site but apparently I'm supposed to use the install.sh file through the terminal
I didn't realize how great double clicking to start installing something was <_>
I wasn't understanding someone explaining that process in a forum so I was wondering if there was some way around having to do this.
-thanks!
Usually an easy fix is to right click on the .sh file and click the box that says "Run as Executable".
You don't realize that you don't need drivers in linux... that's how great that is.
All the drivers - except for hardware that doesn't want to be supported, like nVidia graphics drivers and some older wi-fi chips - are built into the Linux kernel. If your hardware is very new, Linux distros that are based on older kernels, like Ubuntu, sometimes don't work well with it. The ONLY way to solve this is to use a more modern kernel, which in Ubuntu's case means a later version of Ubuntu.
The normal way to install software on linux (no drivers, software), is through the distro's GUI package manager or software center.
The command line is a tool that is much appreciated by people that are familiar with linux and want to get things done fast or get more efficient and precise control, but it's not needed in most distros.
As stated before, NEVER EVER download software or "drivers" from a website in Linux, it's almost always a scam!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Downloading some Internet site crap and installing it onto a computer, is something that is only found in Windows, it's not normal, and it's not secure. The normal way, as used by almost all operating systems except Windows, is to download software from an official repository.
Don't think Windows when you use Linux, think Android, that's a Linux distro. Would you download software from just some random website on your Android device, or would you got to the Playstore, which is the official repository for Android?
Oh and about the connection being "lower"... dude... that's just a graphic representation that means absolutely nothing... most probably your real network speeds over wi-fi in linux are higher, even if the indicator shows a lower reading... if it works, it works, why would you need to run some script from a website, that's just a way to jeopardize your system...
It's true that most drivers are supported, but sometimes as you said companies don't want to build their drivers in the kernel and choose to give propitiatory drivers, sometimes also the drivers in the kernel are not as good (HP works better if you install hplips instead of cups generic hp driver, i experienced this first hand). Sometimes the companies provide backports or driver support for old kernels.
However, in all these cases there will almost always be a package in the repositories to install, or you can find a 3rd party repo with the package, just don't download it and click install. This will save problems later if you want to update or remove the package. Even if you are downloading from the trusted source (official website) you will have to keep track of the package version and update as necessary while the convenience of using a package manager in linux is that your software will automatically be updated when needed.
The only problem I've had with drivers is the realtek drivers, but that's usually able to be worked around by adding the non-free repo, depending on your distro and installing the firmware-realtek-nonfree package. I've never used nvidia gpus in linux, wouldn't be able to comment there.
If you want a completely command-line-free experience while installing packages then try 2 package managers. 1- synaptic (gnome) 2 - adept (kde)
adpet has yet to make it into the official repos, it may have made it to unstable, not sure, but it is currently in the arch and redhat repos. You can install synaptic on top of kde just fine though without the need to install all of gnome xD
I will say that you're better of getting comfortable with the command line, but I understand that it's tiresome and sometimes can be a bit intimidating.
The drivers are official ones from Rosewill's website, and I mean lower as in some one elses is showing a better connection, and it won't connect at all even though I know the password is right.
Also it has two antennas so the generic drivers may not recognize that there are two to be used. (I'm not quite close to the router)
I think I'm going to have to actually have pictures of what I'm looking at and not understanding. (I've noped outta Ubuntu two or three times now because of not being able to connect to the internet)
You could also in ubuntu 13.10 click files in top left when you have file manager open, click preferences, click over to right tab "behavior" and click ask each time or run executable files. This will either ask if you want to run,view or run in terminal or just run the file depending on what you choose and as far as i know all distros should have this option
$ sudo sh (drag file into terminal)
not really that hard
or install synaptic gui front end for apt package manager
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install synaptic
You could also switch to a Distro that has a better GUI that the software center
The driver may be a deb package and you could install it with the software center.