Wireless network cards, suggestions?

cozman · 12-28-2002, 11:09 PM

I was wondering what Wireless network cards have easy installation under Linux, and are not too expensive.

I have a Linksys 2.4ghz network in my house, but my WMP11 (v2.7, new non-prism chipset) won't work on Linux so I've decided to look for another card.

I'm in need of a PCI wireless card that will work with my existing linksys router as well as Linux (any distro is fine really, but I'd prefer Redhat, Mandrake, or FreeBSD) any suggestions?

ph0rse · 12-30-2002, 03:29 PM

The Orinoco silver and gold cards are both supported in Linux since they use the Hermes chipset. Both cards are actually the same except for the Gold supports 128bit WEP as opposed to the Silver which only supports 64bit WEP. It should be auto-detected in RH 8.0 and configuration is easy thereafter.

cozman · 12-30-2002, 08:24 PM

as far as i could tell the gold/silver cards are not PCI, I'm in need of a PCI card. Does Orinoco make PCI cards that would work?

jrmann1999 · 12-31-2002, 06:28 PM

Netgear cards are safe, I had the same WMP11 problem and got a cheapo Netgear PCI(MA311 I believe) and it worked via the prism2_pci driver.

2Gnu · 01-01-2003, 10:41 AM

cozman,
The ORiNOCO cards will require a PCI adapter, but are very Linux-friendly. Additionally, they have great range and an external antenna jack. Don't rule them out because they're PCMCIA.

cozman · 01-01-2003, 02:49 PM

I can't find any netgear cards around me, but I'll have a look online.

where could i get a PCMCIA adapter? and I'd expect the cost of one of those + the cost of the card would be much more than a PCI version

2Gnu · 01-03-2003, 09:34 AM

One random source for an ORiNOCO PCI adapter. Buying separate PC Card & adapter is certainly more money, but the upside (IMHO) is better range and Linux support than the Prism cards plus an external antenna option.

There are lots of folks using Prism with no trouble and many Prism cards have antenna jacks. Just offering an alternative for you.

finegan · 01-03-2003, 02:37 PM

I have a WPC11 + PLX adapter working with the host_ap driver set... bought this combo way back when a wireless router was $300+ and it runs my house now, works fine as a client too. The PLX route will end up costing $30 or so more than just a straight PCI card, but at least you get to know that Linksys hasn't done a chipset juggle on you.

Also the WMP v2.7 is a broadcom chipset right? or is it TI? I suspect you've been to Jean's page to make sure, but I figured it would deserve a mention just in case. There's a link under my bookmarks in my profile... I've nearly gotten to the point where I can rattle it off by hand.

Cheers,

Finegan