Re: what WLAN-CF Card for OpenZaurus

On Wednesday 20 December 2006 10:49, Kevin wrote:
> 802.11g-based devices:
>
> If so (that there are probably no b-based devices that support WPA2),
> then are there *any* 802.11g, CF form factor, WLAN cards that *are*
> known to operate with the 3200 and OZ?  With this question, I'm
> following up on Justin's comment above:
>
> "There are a few "g" chip sets supported, but not many."
>
> With much searching, I found a few web pages that commented on this
> issue, and there are apparently some 802.11g cards that support WPA2
> and that work with *Linux* (generally), but I can't find any in a CF
> form factor.

> Only 802.11b though (I don't think there is such a thing as an
> 802.11g CF card) and I can't find out if it supports xsupplicant.

I wrote this to the list back in June.  I've updated the information a 
little bit since then, because I have looked around a little more.  
There are three things to remember about this list: 1) I have a 5500, 
with the MontaVista 2.4.18 kernel -- i.e., "2.4-crappix" -- and I'm not 
planning on upgrading to another Zaurus (I'll probably get an iPaq 
hx4700, if I get anything else) so our hardware needs don't really 
match 2) This doesn't necessarily answer any questions about WPA2 3) 
You're going to have to build whatever driver you find, so good luck 
with that.  I'm not the guy to talk to :)

That said:

It appears that the only reliable way to get any 802.11g adapter to work 
under Linux is to use ndiswrapper <http://ndiswrapper.sf.net>, which 
wraps the Windows .dll with enough of a driver to load it into the 
kernel.  i386 support only, so it's no good for our needs.

There appear to be a few 802.11g CF cards out there:

Ambicom Wave2Net WL54CF 
<http://www.ambicom.com/products/wave2net/wl54-cf.html>.  The download 
page <http://ambicom.com/support/installation/wl/g/index.htm> does not 
have a Linux driver for the CF version, but the USB version does have 
an archive available.  It doesn't look like there's a binary firmware 
blob involved here.  The readme says it's been developed against 
2.4.24, but should work with any 2.4.x and 2.6.6/2.6.7.  

Linksys WCF54G
<http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1115416826419&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper> 
Someone on oesf.org claims that it's using an agere chipset 
<http://www.agere.com/mobility/wireless_lan_drivers.html>  
Damion de Soto followed up to the list saying that it does indeed work 
with the driver version 7.22 on the agere page, above.

Socket Go Wi-Fi! P500
Their press releases 
<http://www.bbwexchange.com/publications/page1375-84417.asp> promise 
Linux compatibility, their support pages say otherwise.  Their two-page 
marketing PDF says "contact us if you want MontaVista Linux support".  
The press release doesn't exist at that address anymore.  Punch it into 
the wayback machine at archive.org if you want to see it.  Socket has a 
page detailing what of their hardware works with the Zaurus 5500/5600 
at <http://www.socketcom.com/ZaurusSharp.asp> and this stuff isn't on 
it.

Various "WCFM-100" cards
Example <http://www.meritline.com/wireless-cf-adapter-wcfm-100.html>
Seems to be based on the Marvell CF8385 chipset.  Claims Linux 
compatibility.  The 8385 is part of the Libertas 
<http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Libertas> chipset used in the MIT OLPC 
hardware, and from what I understand, the drivers are "in the git tree" 
<http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Hardware_Drivers>.  I would assume that 
means they're in the bleeding edge development kernel.

Ed

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