Panda WirelessPAU0C AC1200 Dual Band Wireless-AC USB Adapter - Windows 7/8/10/11/2019/2022, Zorin, MXLinux, Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, Rocky, Lubuntu, Kali Linux and Raspbian

Excellent device. Works once plugged in with Linux 6.x as drivers already available with the kernel. No other driver download/build/install needed. Add passwords for any wireless connections that require them for this new wireless interface to connect. Uses MediaTek chip -- good with Linux.

Plugged it in, looked at the single-sheet Quickstart Guide, found the Linux section, went to the Settings location, realized I needed to move the switch next to the "mediatek" field at the top of the window to ON...and it took a couple more minutes to realize that at that point, I was online, because Fedora went ahead and logged me onto my usual wireless access point using the usual password.Sweet! Plug-and-play indeed!This is on Fedora Linux 34 (Workstation Edition), Lenovo ThinkPad T560; my internal wireless card died, and there's a stripped screw so I can't get the baseplate off without a lot of hassle, so I ordered the Panda.

Panda PAU0C AC1200 works direct from box in Linux Mint 22 and LMDE6. Appears as Mediatek MT7612U chip using the mt76x2u kernel driver. Device works on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.

This review is based on using the antenna to power the Tails OS. I bought this antenna specifically for an Asis computer that had a built in antenna that was incompatible with tails. This plug in WiFi antenna did work with the current versions of Tails as of this review.Idk what they were thinking when they decided how wide to make this antenna. If you put the antenna in a USB port that has another USB port next to it, you won’t have enough room to use that USB port next to the antenna because of its size. It’s too wide. The antenna is easily bent up and down. I sometimes set my computer down on uneven surfaces at work and I ended up bending the antenna pretty good. Still works though.It’s gets the job done. I’ve had connectivity issues here and there. There have been times when pages just wouldn’t load while connected through this antenna. I don’t remember having those issues with an Ethernet cable.

After installing Chrome OS Flex on an old HP 2000 notebook, it did not see Wifi. I slowly started learning about wifi support on Windows vs Mac vs Linux. Even on Linux, most wifi adaptors only support Linux 6.x kernel or greater. ChromeOS is built on a Linux 5.x kernel. There is very little documentation about this when ordering wifi adaptors. So after purchasing 6 different adaptors that did not work, this one did on both 2.5 and 5GHZ!

I was attempting to salvage an older netbook by installing Linux and hit the usual Catch 22. The wifi was Broadcom which was always problematic, and I do not have access to a wired network connection. You can download drivers from Lubuntu but first you have to get Lubuntu on the device. I plugged the Panda into the USB port and it was recognized by the Lubuntu live installer and the installation went well. I was able to then download the appropriate Broadcom drivers but I certainly will be hanging onto the Panda dongle in case I run into a similar problem in the future.

The PAU0C is my third Panda usb wireless adapter. I previously purchased the PAU07 and PAU0A, the former in about 2016. I have been using fedora linux since 2003 and have previously always found it very difficult to find a compatible usb wireless adapter. The abovementioned three nics have all worked directly out of the box. I live in Australia and based on my experience, none of the major PC/notebook manufacturers provide support for linux operating systems. Panda's tech support is unbelievably good and they will provide all the assistance you could possibly require for as long as it is needed. The PAUOC is the most recent version of the Panda product line. It is very fast and a tiny bit larger than the PAU07. Panda have provided and continue to provide an invaluable service to the linux community for which I am very grateful.

This Panda Wireless® PAU0C AC1200 Dual Band Wireless-AC USB Adapter works overall, but I had to upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. It comes with a compact disc for installation, but I think only for older windows. It did not work when I still had windows 8.1, so I upgraded to Windows 10, and did not have to install or use to come back this at all. It comes on as a Wi-Fi 2, when my original Wi-Fi stopped working. I think it stopped working because the new internet provider could not be found using the older router. Nevertheless, it is $35, and solved my problem.