Wireless N adapter recommendations: USB, PCI, and PCMCIA

chickenlinux · 08-15-2009, 08:13 PM

Hello! I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for a wireless-n adapter for Ubuntu 9.04 or possibly FC11. I'd like a good USB recommendation, or a good PCI recommendation and a good PCMCIA recommendation.

What I'm trying to find is something cheap, Linux supported (preferably out of the box; even better is something that'll work even with slackware, I've had trouble with company-distributed drivers in the past) and has a good signal (meaning that it works significantly better than a good wireless G card) and is reliable.

Can anyone offer any insight? I'm aiming for a $35-or-less device, but I'll pay more for something that works well with Linux.

I don't intend to buy until mid-November, when the actual wireless N standard is released.

I would appreciate any and all help and reviews. Thanks

business_kid · 08-16-2009, 04:38 AM

Broadcom devices are supported with the b43 driver. I have a b4312; I believe it does not do wep, or some of the higher speeds. Use a late kernel. The best guide might be to slide down to the wireless networking forum and lurk there. Watch for what problems are not sorted and avoid them. Broadcom build all-in-one chips; But you need a recent kernel.

Ryptyde · 08-16-2009, 10:04 PM

LINKSYS WUSB600N Dual Band Wireless-N USB Network Adapter using now with Fedora 11 and rt2870 driver. Works well so far.

chickenlinux · 08-16-2009, 10:14 PM

@ business_kid:

Hmm... No WEP? Probably no WPA either... I've had some bad experiences with bcm43xx chipsets in the past, so I'd like to stay clear. Thanks for the info though, I'll look into this as a backup option.

@ ryptyde:

That looks like a pretty good choice. I usually choose Belkin though, so I'll have to look into Linksys. They just burned me with that god-awful WRE54G. These puppies are $66 (best deal I found in 5 minutes from googling) which is kinda high for my budget, but if it's worth it, I'll look into this too. What's "Dual Band" supposed to mean? I know N is backwards compatible with B and G, but is "dual band" required for this?

Thanks for the help so far!

business_kid · 08-17-2009, 04:08 AM

I have wpa set up and working. Don't ask me which wpa.
That's fine if you don't like, I'm not selling broadcom

. b43 has only just caught up in ve4ry recent kernels (2.6.27 _->). I have seen others (Atheros is one name that sticks) which please their owners.

Ryptyde · 08-17-2009, 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chickenlinux

@ ryptyde:

That looks like a pretty good choice. I usually choose Belkin though, so I'll have to look into Linksys. They just burned me with that god-awful WRE54G. These puppies are $66 (best deal I found in 5 minutes from googling) which is kinda high for my budget, but if it's worth it, I'll look into this too. What's "Dual Band" supposed to mean? I know N is backwards compatible with B and G, but is "dual band" required for this?

Thanks for the help so far!

Yes dual band is needed for B and G as they operate in the 2.4GHz band and N in 5GHz.

chickenlinux · 08-17-2009, 12:14 PM

@ business_kid:

If you have WPA up and running, great! I'll write this card down as an option. I just generally don't like the b43 driver, although the kernel is no issue. All Linux computers here have been updated to at least 2.6.28, and I'm using 2.6.29 now, soon to be 2.6.30 soon.

@ ryptyde:

Darn... That means I'll have to get a dual band AP then too... that'll add on to the cost, undoubtedly.

I like those rt* drivers pretty well, never had an issue.