USB or PCI Adapter
 

Hello

I need to purchase a wireless adapter for my desktop pc. This isn't so I can carry it around the house but because I don't want to have to string cat5 up the stairs.

I have successfully used an edimax USB adapter in the past, using the zd1211 module, as appropriate for the chipset in the device. I am tempted to buy one of these as I already have the kernel module compiled and I know I will be able to get it to work.

My PC isn't the fastest in the world by any means (K6 233 MHz, 128MB) so I'm thinking that USB may not be the best means to connect to a network. I don't know if the CPU overhead would be significant but my prejudices tell me that it will be. :)

So, I'm also looking around at PCI wifi adapters too. I am trying to find out how widely supported they are (ie, what are the chances of my picking one off the top of the list at dabs or scan and being able to make it work?) and if they are likely to work any better than their USB counterparts. Any thoughts that you can share with me on these issues would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

(I'm currently using linux kernel version 2.4.24)

PCI will offer a faster throughput but it also means that the aerial will be tucked away behind your machine right next to the PSU and probably a wall. USB1.0 was 1Mbps IIRC whereas 54Mbps is easy to get with Wifi. I'd go PCI as it involves less things to go wrong and you could always get an extension cable for the aerial.

Of course if your internet link is sub 1 Mbps then it'll make no differnece unless you do a lot of internal file swapping. I never regretted fitting my 100Mbps LAN throughout the house but I was re-wiring anyway so it was no bother.