ASUS PCE-AC55BT: Yes, It's Supported on CentOS 7 Linux

My Search for a PCI-E 802.11ac Adapter for Linux

I recently relocated (and rebuilt) an older CentOS 7 Minimal machine that I sometimes use to hack things together.  As the area that I moved the computer to did not have an Ethernet drop, I needed to get an inexpensive wireless adapter. 

If you are looking for a PCI-E (internal) 802.11ac adapter for use under CentOS 7.x the ASUS PCE-AC55BT is a good choice.  And based on my results, it's probably also a good choice for other Linux operating systems like Ubuntu.  I bought the adapter ($30 on Amazon) without knowing if it would actually be supported under Linux--there were conflicting comments at Amazon and in Google searches.  So, I took a chance.

The machine I am using has an Intel B85 chipset and full-size PCIE slots.  Some people are not aware that it is possible to put a small form factor PCI-e into a full-sized socket (you can).  I seated the card, and booted the machine.

It's an Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 8260

I was delighted to find that it is actually an Intel chipset (iwlwifi) which is supported on CentOS.  The installer just identified it, asked me to choose the network, and lastly enter the network key.  And for me this meant it was not necessary to do the install with the Ethernet connected (I installed from a bootable USB containing the minimal iso).

The speeds seem very good, and the range is much better than the popular TP-Link TL-WN722N 802.11n High gain USB Dongle that a pentester friend lent me to try.  Pentesters like the TP-Link  because the adapter will go into monitor mode, it has the rock solid Athereos chipset (Atheros AR9002U), and it has a detachable antenna.  The TP-LINK adapter is widely supported by most Linux distributions and works well under Kali.