Suggestions for Gigabit Ethernet ExpressCard
 

Hello,

I own a DELL Inspiron E1705 laptop. This machine has built-in 802.11 a|b|g wireless capabilities, but the built-in LAN is only 10/100. We have gigabit ethernet at work, which I am constantly connecting to (I use the laptop a lot with work).

Anyhow, my laptop has a ExpressCard port and I am considering the purchase of a gigabit ethernet card, but don't want to invest the money unless it works well under Linux.

Have any of you had luck using any such cards under Linux? I'm looking for brands, models ... be specific!

I currently have the x86_64 edition of openSUSE 10.2 installed on my machine.

Suggestions are appreciated.

Should be OK with most...
 

You should be Ok with most Gigabit cards, just stick to a well known make and you shouldn have any problems. Linux is pretty good with ethernet cards.

Hmm. What about LinkSys EC1000? Any word there? I couldn't find much on Google about Linux and this card.

I have had limited success with ethernet cards on Linux in the past. With an older laptop, I had trouble getting basic CardBus ethernet cards to work. I know Linux has grown immensely since then, but still...

On the networking forefront in general, I have had even more trouble with wifi cards under Linux. As a result, I don't want to buy something that just isn't going to work.

Laptops...
 

Laptops pose considerably more problems than desktops. I would recommend Belkin or similar. I have Belkin in my PC and it works fine, both WiFi and wired. Depending on your distro my Belking WiFi card works with Kubuntu 6.10 wothout any configuration. I hope this helps.

Yes, I know laptops tend to be more trouble when it comes to hardware and Linux.

Actually the card I'm looking at uses the ExpressCard infrastructure. I'm not sure how well supported that is in Linux, but I would assume the ExpressCard aspect isn't an issue here, but rather the drivers for the actual device that could be the problem.

I don't like the idea of using USB for something as intense (high sustained throughput) as Gigabit ethernet. I'd go Firewire for such a device before I'd use USB.