I love my RT. I travel a lot and the tablet I bought on day one has steadily replaced my laptop. I have not pulled my laptop out of its case in months. That is all set to change. I travel to Afghanistan very shortly. Internet is only available via wired Ethernet. I went to the Microsoft Store to grab a dongle to convert Ethernet to USB and the tech says "you know that you cannot use Ethernet on the RT don't you?" Anyway, he goes on to describe to me all the reasons why the RT does not and will not support a dongle. He even let me try the ones in the store. The issue is you cannot add drivers and the RT chipset does not recognize existing dongle. He said when first release it did, but MS patched that out. Aghhhh.....Do I really have to go back to my laptop for the next year? On the other hand, I tried out a pro while I was there. Very nice. The speed impressed me. The weight and thickness were obvious though. Oh and the Pro does accept a dongle. There is no way it would make sense to buy a Pro now with the Surface 2 months away as I already own an RT.
uh oh, finally have a critical flaw with my RT...
- Thread starter pwaggs
- Start date
TeknoBlast
Active Member
Well that blows. I wonder why they wouldn't have the drives in the system already for the RT, especially when it's a MS product.
What you can do, only if you're allowed, you can connect your own wireless router(spare) at the location you'll be at and have the Surface connect to that WiFi router. That's what I used to do at one of my jobs.
What you can do, only if you're allowed, you can connect your own wireless router(spare) at the location you'll be at and have the Surface connect to that WiFi router. That's what I used to do at one of my jobs.
I travel with a light weight travel router, used it all over the world including India.
Amazon.com: Travel Router
Plug in the Ethernet into the router. Some have 120/240 built in others use POE.
Amazon.com: Travel Router
Plug in the Ethernet into the router. Some have 120/240 built in others use POE.
Those are great ideas for US travel or even established world travel, however, my issue in Afg will be spectrum control and they certainly will not allow me to add to the spectrum. I'd actually be interested in learning what the ramifications are of broadcasting different bands in Europe for example as well. Sure it can be done, but are those same bands reserved for the same uses as in the US and Canada? But I am going to grab one of those nifty routers for my travel bag in the US. Though I cannot think of the last time I was in a hotel that did not have WiFi. No what I really need is a simple Ethernet to USB dongle. That easy.
How I connected the Surface RT to wired Ethernet - Microsoft Community
Oh wait, looks like there was a recent update about this: http://withinwindows.com/within-windows/2013/7/8/armchair-analysis-of-ax88772-driver-pull So it appears it can still work assuming you buy the correct adapter and download the correct beta driver....but you can't update to 8.1 or it'll be killed.
Oh wait, looks like there was a recent update about this: http://withinwindows.com/within-windows/2013/7/8/armchair-analysis-of-ax88772-driver-pull So it appears it can still work assuming you buy the correct adapter and download the correct beta driver....but you can't update to 8.1 or it'll be killed.
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Russ
Active Member
Oion --
It does still work. I have a HC-WII076 adapter, made by Honcam in China, originally for Nintendo (I think). I bought it when I first got my RT. I'm using the 7/25/12 version of the AX88772 driver set (forgot now where I got it). Out of curiosity, I just now hooked it up to my RT, and it works. Also for curiosity, I installed all updates on the RT, including a firmware update, and it still works.
@pwaggs -- See above. If you can't find the AX88772 drivers online, let me know and I will send them to you.
Regards,
Russ
Maybe the best solution for this scenario is OP buy the adapter, make sure RT is fully patched and updated but NOT on 8.1, install the driver, and then disable auto-update, all before October---I expect MS will want to auto-push 8.1...
Russ
Active Member
Oion --
Sounds like a good plan. I don't know about the other adapters mentioned in your cited article, but I know this one works, because it's hooked up and working right now. Amazon doesn't offer the adapter, but I did find one on eBay for $13.95: Ebay-HC-WII076
And, I have the drivers if pwaggs can't find them elsewhere.
Definitely disable auto-update, because I think you're right about the auto-push.
Regards,
Russ
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