Ok, right now in my life I don't have hours and hours to spend on configin or hacking a wireless card to work on my system. (RH 9) I just want to buy a wireless card that I can run config on and just get up and working in about an hour or less. Does this exist? I read something about Netgear MA401 802.11b and then found a website by a guy saying it was hell for him to get it up and running. I originally wanted to get wireless up awhile ago but the community and support seemed to be lacking when it came to wireless. Now I see a lot more support, so surely there is a QUICK and EASY card that I can use to setup Wi-Fi with. Does this exist, and if so, what card/s do you reccommend.

Also, if you are recommending a card and know of resources of info on installing it, I'd really appreciate a link..

Thanks for any and all comments,
David

Many times the choice is not too cut and dry. Many companies will change chipsets depending on the version of the same exact model number and you can't really tell most of the time what version it is until after you have opened up the box. Many of the cards, even more popular ones will require to download and compile a driver. I have had to recompile my kernel for my wireless card to work with the driver.

you can search on recommendations and wireless in these forums or look in HCL (Hardware Compatibility List) section.

Here are some driver oriented sites

http://www.linux-wlan.com/linux-wlan/
http://www.linuxant.com
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net
http://www.prism54.org
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_.../Wireless.html
http://sourceforge.net/projects/madwifi/

There are countless other wireless driver sites and pages specific to certain cards.

I use Google a lot to find info on different cards and if people have success with them.

Thanks for the websites first of all and I will get right to reading them. However, based on your experience, what cards are easier for you to install? I know I'm going to have to install drivers, etc, but I'd like to avoid as many steps as i can. If you had a fairly easy time with a card I'd love to know about it.

Thanks,
David

If 802.11b is OK, a Prism3-based card would work with the driver already included with your Red Hat system (orinoco_cs). Neat, the RH network config tool, would probably let you enter the SSID/WEP key and you're off to the races.

One example is a Linksys WPC11 v3, although it's no longer being made (look at the size of the thread on the v4 for a good reason not to try that version). A ZyXEL rebadge of that card, B-100, is still widely available.

Prism2 or 2.5 cards will work as well. In my experience, avoid the Prism2 cards for performance reasons. Examples of Prism2.5 cards that have worked well for me are the ZyAIR B-101 and the SMC 2532W-B. Both are re-badged ZComax cards, 80 and 200mw, respectively and have a detachable antenna.

A classic ORiNOCO Gold or Silver would also work without much fuss although, again those cards have been superseded by newer, less cooperative models. Classic versions are still around.