r/SteamOS • u/Civil_Snow_3057 • 2d ago

Wifi Bluetooth USB adapters

Do USB wifi/Bluetooth USB adapters work now in Steam OS? A couple of months ago they didn't. I had a TP Link adapter and it didn't work.

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u/Isomat 2d ago

My logitech htpc keyboard work with its unifying adapter no configuration needed. Also have several xbox controllers paired through the windows dongle. Just needed xpad.

1

u/Civil_Snow_3057 2d ago

The wifi part of the TP Link adapter did not work. The bluetooth part did.

1

u/Momento_Mortis 2d ago

I am using these on a custom SteamOS build.

TP-Link USB AX1800, WIFI 6

StarTech Bluetooth 5.3 USB Adapter

I also have a Logitech USB receiver for my MXMaster Keys and mouse.

I will note for all of those I ended up putting them on USB extension cables (I found some on Amazon with a stand to be a extension and have the antenna stright up) getting them away from the back panel IO shield and case and they worked significantly better.

For the wifi I found it did not reconnect after sleep but would on from reboot so I had to create a shell script to reconnect it on wake and now it's all working as expected.

1

u/Signal-Veterinarian9 1d ago

Some may not work reliably, like don't work after reboot, and you'll need to replug.

Older Bluetooth adapter with older protocols tend to work better.

Newer 6+ versions with new chips may not work on older kernel of stable steam os (use beta).

I bought like 6 different Bluetooth adapters. The one with antenna and 5.1 protocols works best. It is no longer sold anywhere so I can't share it. Maybe try 5.3 one or 5.4 that specifically mentions linux support (that usually means it was implemented into linux kernel a long time ago and all bugs was fixed).