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

On 31 March 2026 11:02:46 BST, Sergio Carlavilla <[email protected]> wrote:
>On Tue, Mar 31, 2026, 11:49 AM Frank Leonhardt <[email protected]>
>wrote:
>
>> On 31/03/2026 00:42, Waitman Gobble wrote:
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 30, 2026 at 1:05 PM Frank Leonhardt <[email protected]> <[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.
>>
>>
>> .
>>
>
>Hi,
>
>I am using this one and works by default and without problems[1]
>
>Bye!
>
>[1] https://www.amazon.es/gp/aw/d/B008IFXQFU?psc=1
>
>>

Thanks Sergio, and good to know. They're very cheap so I might buy one for testing. As it has a very small antenna I don't think it will be the best for AP use even though it does support it - unless I break it open and hack the PCB.

Regards, Frank