Linux (and Wireless PCMCIA Cardbus)

I want to add my laptop running linux to my wireless network... What are some PCMCIA Cardbus cards available for that?

I was also wondering if many people are using Wireless-G in their Linux network?

One last thing I was hoping for too, was a quick HowTo install a wireless card in Linux? I know that in Windows the plug and play detects it and it starts up, will the same happen in Linux if I have the drivers for the card installed or is there a lot more I need to do?

wlan cards and Linux is a delicate subject. Search these forums and you will find good answers.

Short version:
- Currently there are no 802.11G cards supported under Linux
- Go with a card based on the prism2 or prism2_5 chipsets. These are fully supported and will even let you use your laptop as an access point. Other good cards are Orinoco and Lucent (which are basically the same, if I'm not completely mistaken).

hw

I am looking for a more definitive answer, like the name of a card and model -- as well as any loops they had to jump thru to get it working.

I am totally new to this so I am not sure how to even go about installing it and how Linux will detect it... So a detailed description would be great!

Originally posted by podollb I am looking for a more definitive answer, like the name of a card and model

Orinoco Silver 802.11
Netgear MA401
Linksys WPC11b (version 3 ONLY)

I have 100% success 'out of the box' with these 3 cards.

Which do you prefer? And you are telling me that you didn't do anything besides plugging the card into your RH 9.0 linux box and then it was detected? Where did you do the configuring for the card's IP address?

I can confirm that plugging a Netgear MA401 card into a RH9 box just works. If your AP requires encryption or static ip, the easiest way is to use neat to configure the wireless interface.
One big trap that I fell into and that many others appear to, also, is that RH9 totally ignores the the /etc/pcmcia/wireless script and its configuration file /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts.

Does anybody know hoe to make rh9 use the wireless.opts?

Originally posted by podollb Which do you prefer?

I prefer the Linksys cars cause it's only 30 bucks All the same chip=the same card under a different sticker.

And you are telling me that you didn't do anything besides plugging the card into your RH 9.0 linux box and then it was detected? Where did you do the configuring for the card's IP address?

Thats exactly what I'm telling you...plug and play and they are configured to use DHCP and connect to any ESSID with no WEP. All these settings are easily changed, at the command line type:

$su -
$root password
#neat

and follow the wizard.

Is this the correct Linksys card?

http://www.linksys.com/products/prod...id=36&prid=542

And how would I determine if it is version 3 or not?

Yep thats the one. It will have a version number printed on the box.

podollb

Netgear WG511, RH9, Kernel-2.4.22, Dell Latitude CPi D266XT

If you do not want to jump through hoops this is not for you, but for reference here's a link to the drivers and How-To, works fine but it's hard work

http://ruslug.rutgers.edu/~mcgrof/802.11g/

Pete

I have a cardbus, which I think means a 32bit PCMCIA slot, so most of the cards mentioned above are only 16bit, is there any that are the 32bit that anyone knows of or better yet any advice on if that makes a heck of a lot of difference?

I'm sure there's a difference somwhow, but as the wifi 802.11b standard only runs at 11mb/sec I doubt you'll notice any. file sharing on a lan is SLOW with wireless...

32bit PCMCIA = true cardbus. This means the cards have pretty much direct access to the system bus and in sync with it. The card becomes a core part of the system.
16bit PCMCIA cards should work with cardbus-capable laptops as well. The traditional 16bit PCMCIA interface is - you guessed it - a 16bit interface, and the transfer rate is asynchronous with the system bus. It's pretty slow compared to cardbus but it works well enough with 10Mbit and wlan network cards.

Håkan

So is there Wireless 32bit PCMCIA network cards available that Linux supports, and if so what brand/make/model.

I don't know if there are any. With the (lack of) speed of 802.11 it doesn't matter much anyway.

Håkan