@markstanley
To check if your dongle is recognized, try loading the modules by hand:cd /lib/modules/3.12.27/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtlwifi/rtl8192c
modprobe ./rtl8192c-common.ko
cd ../rtl8192cu/
modprobe ./rtl8192cu.ko
ifconfig -a
If you are lucky the modules load and recognize your hardware. If not you're out of luck and the dongle is not supported.
People report mixed results with the driver on desktop Linux systems (low speed, dropped connections) so even if supported the results might not be what you expect.