[[email protected]: Re: [SLUG] Wireless network PCMCIA]

Lindsay makes choosing a wireless card sound easy. :-)

----- Forwarded message from Lindsay Holmwood <[email protected]> -----

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From: Lindsay Holmwood <[email protected]>
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Subject: Re: [SLUG] Wireless network PCMCIA
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There are a lot of different cards out there, but fortunately most of 
them are supported in one way shape or form under Linux nowdays.

To sum up the wireless standards:
802.11b - 11mbit/s max, medium range, compatible with g
802.11g - 54mbit/s max, short range, compatible with b
802.11a - 54mbit/s max, short-medium range, /standard/ not compatible 
with b/g

   - b and g are the most widely used standards.
   - Most 'a' equipment *is* able to interoperate with b and g.
   - Stick with b and g.

Wikipedia is your friend!

For the least amount of resistance, try getting something that uses the 
orinoco or prism2 drivers (although stray away from prism2_usb - spawn 
of satan!). They're probably the best supported out of the box under 
Linux, although there are a lot of other cards which work exceptionally 
well.

Most of the different wireless projects out there have lists of cards 
known to work with them. Projects include:
   - linux-wlan-ng (802.11b) [1]
   - madwifi (802.11a/g/b) [2] (I think they're PCI/miniPCI only)
   - rt2x00 (802.11b/g) [3]
   - atmel wlan (802.11b/g(?)) [4]
   - rtl8180-sa2400 [5]
   - orinoco/prism2 [6]

If you want something with a lot of range, try getting a Senao 2511-CD 
PCMCIA card. It has a very decent transmit rating (200mW), good 
sensitivity, and uses the orinoco driver.

If you're on a budget, I can't recommend enough the Minitar[7] range of 
wifi equipment. Their drivers are fully open source(rt2x00), and their 
cards are made rather well.

Generally, i'd suggest looking around online retailers and seeing what 
you can find within your price range. Most cards you'll be able to score 
for ~$75. Once you've found something that interests you, do a quick 
Google for Linux compatibility on it. You'll most likely find that it's 
supported, though some cards are more supported than others.

You can always go the NdisWrapper route too. The NdisWrapper[8] lets you 
load a Windows driver in Linux. Most of the cards that aren't supported 
natively under Linux will work with the wrapper,  but it adds an extra 
layer of complexity. I've setup and used the wrapper on a number of 
occasions and haven't had any problems with it. It can be quite helpful 
if you end up buying something that you thought was compatible but 
isn't. :-)

Personally, i'd steer clear of any D-Link equipment with a '+' at the 
end of the product name. They use a Texas Instruments chipset that's got 
no official support, and the last time I checked the open source 
driver[9] was a bit flaky (ie, I couldn't get it to work). That was 18 
months ago. If you have your heart set on D-Link equipment, make sure 
you can get it going first!

Basically it comes down to this: know exactly what you're buying and 
make sure other people before you have gotten it to work.

Cheers,
Lindsay

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11
[1] http://linux-wlan.org/
[2] http://madwifi.sourceforge.net/
[3] http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
[4] http://atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net/news.html
[5] http://rtl8180-sa2400.sourceforge.net/
[6] http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Orinoco.html
[7] 
http://www.minitar.com/index.php?maincat=product&cat=wireless&prod=wls_cardbus&page=1
[8] http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/
[9] http://acx100.sourceforge.net/

Luke Ring wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I'm travelling overseas soon and I will be taking my laptop with me.
>
>Is anyone able to suggest a good PCMCIA wireless network card that is
>supported by linux (gentoo flavour)?
>
>And also as I don't know much about wireless yet (I will learn when I
>get one) I want a product with a good range, reliable and of course that
>supports as many configurations as possible (I know there is b/g? But as
>of yet don't know which is better etc).
>
>Thanks,
>
>Luke
>

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Pete
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