The adapter works as I hoped. No hassle of connecting or using a script from their website to install the necessary software. Its antennas show far more neighborhood signals than my fingernail-sized 2.4GHz adapter, and it connects easily and securely to my own router. I found a way to adjust the base so the cable doesn't pull on it. Unfortunately, I also found that the signal interfered with opening the downstairs garage door, but I slightly blocked the signal by positioning it over the PC's metal case. I wanted to find an adapter that doesn't require proprietary drivers on Linux, but maybe there just aren't any 5GHz adapters with open source drivers. The package contained a tiny CD with the exact same driver version as on the website. So if you didn't have a working network, you were good to go. if you have a working disc tray. As a test, I downloaded the drivers on two machines, one running Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and the other running Ubuntu 20.10. There are no problems using either one or the other. Of course, there's always a concern that a driver might be problematic - it might be unsafe or incompatible with a future version of Linux. If so, hopefully the driver will be open by then, or I can switch back to a slower 2.4GHz adapter, or use a more sophisticated wired router connection instead of a simpler USB adapter.
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