I tried doing a search for rtl8853, rtl885 and rtl88xx after seeing posts about similar devices being directed to installing said drivers.
At first I installed the 8821 variant not realising the 8821 meant the model code number or something (was originally searching for archer t2u). Suffice to say, that was a big mistake on my part, took me a while to realise the instability I started getting in my system was because of that driver being used where it shouldn’t have been (most recent instance was tonight when my entire system did the equivalent of a bsod whilst playing a YT vid - got corrupted screen and frozen sound ).
Finally uninstalled the 8821 variant and went searching for the right one now that I understood what that number meant but couldn’t find one for it.
I assumed that because the wifi adapter was basically ancient at this point it would have some sort of driver on linux by now, yet I cannot find one.
Am I looking for the wrong package name by any chance or is it just something I’m gonna hafta give up on using and just fork out for a new adaptor despite it being more than I can afford now that I’m stuck on benefits?
It makes sense to make certain supporting drivers exist before committing to a purchase. With Linux, that’s not always guaranteed, as most devices tend to be manufactured for Windows, or Mac.
As a general suggestion, it’s best to;
Find the specifications of a small range of devices that might be affordable enough.
Check that those devices are supported in Linux – specifically Arch Linux – and when you find drivers that state they support the device, ask others who might have had experience with them – or, the Linux Hardware Database might also be useful.
Avoid choosing a device based on price, where possible, or if that’s not an option. choose the device that is confirmed to be the most widely supported.
But it IS moot when it’s hardware bought for a different system and the person in question (myself in this case) is trying to save money by avoiding buying new hardware if there’s a chance old hardware can still work.
well I’m just reading the 8853 off of the usb’s head so I expect I’m providing accurate info, but yes I’ll give that a try 2mw after I’ve uploaded my YT vid. For now though I’m off to bed, thx for the suggestions, I’ll let you know what happens after trying them.
Clearly you did not – as @linux-aarhus has also pointed out, the device is a MediaTek brand and not a Realtek – the now posted portion of your inxi output confirms that.
Fortunately, we caught that before you attempted to install the wrong driver. However, on the bright side, now you have two likely candidates;
It is literally etched into the head’s metal, do you really think I can’t read that digit for digit? Please don’t make baseless assumptions like that, it comes off as very antagonistic. That aside I’ve just done the hw-probe the site linked earlier mentioned, came here to compare it to what was suggested here before I continue. The probe suggested mt76x0u driver, though no such driver was found via the package manager. Closest match to what the probe revealed I’ve seen is the mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt 3-3 which was suggested above so gonna start by trying that.
Edit: Well that was a failure, 1st fail I thought was to do with the faulty support for my adapter so switch to USB tethering but nope, even the 2nd attempt failed:
Preparing...
Checking mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt dependencies...
Resolving dependencies...
Checking inter-conflicts...
Cloning mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt build files...
Generating mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt information...
Building mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt...
==> Making package: mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt 3-3 (Tue 17 Mar 2026 15:13:15 GMT)
==> Checking runtime dependencies...
==> Checking buildtime dependencies...
==> Retrieving sources...
-> Cloning mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt git repo...
Cloning into bare repository '~/Builds/mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt/mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt'...
fatal: could not read Username for 'https://gitlab.com': No such device or address
==> ERROR: Failure while downloading mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt git repo
Aborting...
Failed to build mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt
Preparing...
Cloning mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt build files...
Generating mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt information...
Checking mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt dependencies...
Resolving dependencies...
Checking inter-conflicts...
Building mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt...
==> Making package: mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt 3-3 (Tue 17 Mar 2026 15:13:51 GMT)
==> Checking runtime dependencies...
==> Checking buildtime dependencies...
==> Retrieving sources...
-> Cloning mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt git repo...
Cloning into bare repository '~/Builds/mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt/mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt'...
fatal: could not read Username for 'https://gitlab.com': No such device or address
==> ERROR: Failure while downloading mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt git repo
Aborting...
Failed to build mt7610u_wifi_sta-alt
Since all proper channels have failed me thus far, I decided to give this improper (as in not in official repos, aur, etc) channel a try. I can only pray you’re not like that dude who tried to slip spyware into the libxz package.
I can and will always vouch for @linux-aarhus’ integrity. He is a respectable developer and Manjaro contributor, and he has a heart of gold. He has undoubtedly also written more tutorials here on the forum than anyone else — Manjaro Team or otherwise.
That’s good to know, however I did at least check his manjaro profile for how long he’s been here. 5 years does seem unlikely to be worth paying a spy to be on a random distro’s team, that said whoever it was did pay a spy for what was it, 4 years? So not completely ruling it out, just accepting the risk as small in this case. I mean I already do the same with linux as a whole, so why not someone with a reasonable history?
The forum was recreated from scratch in August 2020 due to a crash of the old one, but @linux-aarhus has already been with us since the dinosaurs ruled the world.
He’s even older than I am, and I still remember the day Keith Richards was born.
).
