For my Linux laptop, I want high-frequency-band Wi-Fi (around 5GHz) for a USB 2.0 port, but I haven't found an adapter that's Linux-ready out of the box; I've looked. Since recompiling reputedly takes maybe 2-4 hours every time, I want an adapter that doesn't need recompiling. But the only good one I found fits a PCIe slot (I'd have to order either full- or low-profile). My Dell Latitude E4300 laptop has a USB 2.0 port, not PCIe, but apparently an adapter between them would also need a driver, which I think requires recompiling the kernel. Does anyone know if a PCIe-plug-to-USB-receptacle adapter exists that does not require recompiling? Or is there another solution I'm missing? Or is it impossible? Maybe there's a method that works or maybe this can't be solved. I'm a do-it-yourselfer.
My error: I'm using two laptops. Fedora 31 is on the laptop that internally gets both frequency bands. Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS is on the machine that gets only the low band through an external adapter and I want both bands on that machine. Fedora supplies a new kernel every few days or week or so. I don't use the Ubuntu machine often, but I guess both distros update the kernel about as often.
Seen: https://superuser.com/questions/330979/adaptor-that-allows-me-to-use-a-pci-card-via-a-usb-connection, https://superuser.com/questions/1066273/is-pci-pci-e-via-usb-possible, and https://superuser.com/questions/1116149/pcie-to-usb-thunderbolt-for-graphics-card hint, I think, that the adaptation is impossible regardless of OS and I'm not using Thunderbolt; https://superuser.com/questions/923086/is-there-a-pcie-to-usb-3-0-converter hints at it more strongly; https://superuser.com/questions/1370937/pcie-ssd-on-usb seems somewhat off-point; and PCIe WWAN adapters known to work with Linux out of the box suggests that Linux did not support brand-specific nongeneric drivers 3 years ago. Similar question, closed as begun in wrong forum, at https://superuser.com/questions/1521989/want-to-adapt-pcie-device-to-fit-usb.
