Atheros AR9271 works with
. Works in Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, haven't tried Mint
Ralink RT5372 is plug-n-play , Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, haven't tried Mint, can install new firmware using
My favorite is the Panda 300Mbps Pauo5 wifi adapter, it uses Ralink RT5372 and is $16.99 on Amazon