thank you and appreciate your quick reply Ardvark71...this is lsusb result 'Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:8178 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8192CU 802.11n WLAN Adapter'.
I agree with you on the installing the firmware..which I have done repeatedly on most of the distro's. (Debian during installation via usb stick), I even installed Debian 8.3 non-free iso which included firmware for the Rtl8192cu driver, still had to compile it to get it to work. The real question is why do I have to compile the rtl8192cu driver to the 8192cu every time, because of falling off connections and low kbs speeds! Am I missing something? lol. For example I am in a low speed area at the moment, a sort of monopolized ISP, when I get the wireless adapter installed and working I get exactly 72kbs on every distro I install. After I go through one of the many awesome website instructions, http://askubuntu.com/questions/24623...l8192cu-driver, to compile the adapter driver and reboot, I get exactly 144kbs, every time,(which is the highest wireless speed I will get with the ISP...340kbs wired). (hoping I did the URL right).
also... thank you for replying Emerson..I am aware of the legal aspects of alot of the firmwares, have done a great deal of research before even attempting Linux. Just thought I would throw the question out there to learn something new about wireless and Linux, thanks again :-)