[CentOS] Yum refuses to install kmod-8188eu from elrepo

Tue Jan 22 15:54:27 UTC 2019
Marko Vojinovic <vvmarko at gmail.com>

I am having trouble using the realtek wifi chip in my new tp-link
usb wifi dongle. Upon plugging it, the device gets registered by the
kernel (in /var/log/messages), but that's about it, no network device
is being created (iwconfig does not see it, nothing else works).

A few google searches later I found out that this realtek chip is not
supported by the kernel and requires a driver, and that the driver is
packaged for C7 as kmod-8188eu in elrepo.

However, yum install kmod-8188eu refuses to install it (full yum
output is here: https://pastebin.com/raw/vvak6FCU ), complaining that
the following dependencies cannot be met:

--> Processing Dependency: kernel(wireless_send_event) = 0xa02e7e03 for
package: kmod-8188eu-4.1.4_6773.20130222-4.el7_5.elrepo.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: kernel(usb_submit_urb) = 0x74c6ac58 for
package: kmod-8188eu-4.1.4_6773.20130222-4.el7_5.elrepo.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: kernel(usb_reset_device) = 0xddd0084e for
package: kmod-8188eu-4.1.4_6773.20130222-4.el7_5.elrepo.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: kernel(usb_put_dev) = 0xf709107c for
 package: kmod-8188eu-4.1.4_6773.20130222-4.el7_5.elrepo.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: kernel(usb_kill_urb) = 0xa55bf715 for
package: kmod-8188eu-4.1.4_6773.20130222-4.el7_5.elrepo.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: kernel(usb_get_dev) = 0x372a41af for
 package: kmod-8188eu-4.1.4_6773.20130222-4.el7_5.elrepo.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: kernel(usb_free_urb) = 0x739aecf4 for
 package: kmod-8188eu-4.1.4_6773.20130222-4.el7_5.elrepo.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: kernel(usb_control_msg) = 0xd04e3a9e for
 package: kmod-8188eu-4.1.4_6773.20130222-4.el7_5.elrepo.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: kernel(usb_alloc_urb) = 0x12a4948e for
package: kmod-8188eu-4.1.4_6773.20130222-4.el7_5.elrepo.x86_64

I've never seen such output from yum before --- I'm guessing it is
asking for a kernel with specific "properties", and failing to find
one. 

What is the best way to resolve this? Is there some kernel package
somewhere that matches these properties, or is there some other package
that provides these features to an existing kernel, or something else?

Or should I just ditch the kmod, and compile the 8188eu driver from
source? I'd prefer to avoid this if possible, since I am not a fan of
recompiling it every time the kernel is updated in C7. And I might need
to use the wifi dongle on multiple machines, anyway.

I'd appreciate any suggestions!

TIA, :-)
Marko