Re: [List] Re: Seeking WiFi card supporting hostap

On 31/03/2026 00:42, Waitman Gobble wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 30, 2026 at 1:05 PM Frank Leonhardt<[email protected]>  wrote:
>> Can anyone point me to a PCIe (or possibly USB) WiFi NIC that supports
>> hostap, that I can actually buy? Link to Amazon UK or similar appreciated.
>>
>> I believe the best choice may be something based on the Qualcomm Atheros
>> AR9380. Finding a card for sale that says it's base on this chip is,
>> however, proving difficult. They're all "super-fast" or "mega-fast" or
>> "ultra-fast" but the silicon doesn't feature in the description. If you
>> know of a card but you're not sure it will probably be connected using
>> the ath driver, or run ifconfig and see if HOSTAP is one of the flags.
>>
>> Any pointers much appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks, Frank.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
> It's been ages but I recall only finding one that does host ap, and my
> memory is it was the usb dongle raspberry pi sold before they had
> wifi... might check ebay.

Thanks.

I've read some notes to say that Atheros support is lagging, and FreeBSD 
15 has a partial update to the newer chips so suspect I'll have to use 
an older one if stable. At least they're cheap! But I can't locate a 
PCIe card.

The QCNFA222 module for laptops seems to be well supported for a fiver, 
but only goes up to 802.11n (which is probably okay). There is also a 
world of laptop -> PCIe adapters I wasn't aware of, and the GLOTRENDS 
WA01 looks idea as it has the antennas built in.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tyatocepy-QCNFA222-AW-NB234NF-Wireless-Bluetooth-White-green/dp/B0CXDT8WTW
https://www.amazon.co.uk/GLOTRENDS-Wireless-Adapter-Network-Antenna-Gold/dp/B09ZDPP43X

It's annoying because Intel chipset cards are more modern, higher 
throughput, cheap and plentiful. I'm tempted to see if I can do anything 
with the drivers myself, but I suspect it's non-trivial.

Regards, Frank.