The Alfa AWUS036H USB wireless adapter will not be recognized by my netbook (Ubuntu 14.04, Asus X201E).

As I understand it, the drivers should already be built in to this version of Linux, but I tried a make/make install of the latest Realtek drivers (as mentioned on How do I install drivers for the Alfa AWUS036H USB wireless adapter?) and it didn't work.

I then followed the advice of this thread (ALFA AWUS036NH driver) and did a make/make install of the most up-to-date backport of the drivers, but that didn't work.

At this point I tried a series of commands from this thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2187780) in an attempt to identify the problem, but at no point could I get the laptop to ever recognize the USB adapter.

I have also troubleshot the USB cable itself, tried both the USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports on the laptop, have never received an error message regarding a need to update the firmware, and have seemingly successfully installed all manner of variation of Realtek drivers which were supposed to make the adapter work. (I also tried to delete/clean up after each install, in the hope I wasn't making things worse.)

Not sure what I should do next. Please let me know if I need to post any more information. Thanks very much for your help.

EDIT:

Before inserting Alpha USB adapter:

:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:570c Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 026: ID 13d3:3393 IMC Networks 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 03f0:3112 Hewlett-Packard 
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

After inserting Alpha USB adapter (USB 3.0 port, no change):

:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:570c Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 026: ID 13d3:3393 IMC Networks 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 03f0:3112 Hewlett-Packard 
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Ran tail -f /var/log/syslog, inserted device, no recognition (last entry is dated 16:17:01, so an hour ago). Going to check on an Ubuntu 14.04 laptop and Windows XP desktop. I'll update after. Thanks for your help to this point.