Fedora Core 4 - best wireless laptop adapter?

Hello:

I am a Linux newbie (but Windows advanced computer user), trying to get
Fedora Core 4 to run on an older laptop of mine. I have a Linksys WPC54G
adapter, which apparently has an unsupported chipset and doesn't work
without extensive hacking.

Can anybody suggest an 802.11g (and preferably also 11b) PCMCIA/Cardbus
notebook adapter that will work right out of the box, i.e. is fully
supported by Core 4 without the need for hacks, programming or
scripting? I also don't want to spend more than $50 or so, if possible.

Thanks much!

AW

AW wrote:
> Hello:
>
> I am a Linux newbie (but Windows advanced computer user), trying to get
> Fedora Core 4 to run on an older laptop of mine. I have a Linksys WPC54G
> adapter, which apparently has an unsupported chipset and doesn't work
> without extensive hacking.
>
> Can anybody suggest an 802.11g (and preferably also 11b) PCMCIA/Cardbus
> notebook adapter that will work right out of the box, i.e. is fully
> supported by Core 4 without the need for hacks, programming or
> scripting? I also don't want to spend more than $50 or so, if possible.

I have used a Linksys WPC54G for over a year on SuSE. There is a project that is developing a native
Linux driver for your chipset, which is a Broadcom bcm4306. This code is in the alpha stage and is
probably not for you, although the goal is to get it included into the kernel. That may take a year
or more. The alternative is to use ndiswrapper, which does require a bit of "hacking", but it is not
too bad. Check out http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/ for instructions. You should be able to
install ndiswrapper from the FC4 distro. All you will need is your Windows driver.

Larry

AW wrote:
> Hello:
>
> I am a Linux newbie (but Windows advanced computer user), trying to get
> Fedora Core 4 to run on an older laptop of mine. I have a Linksys WPC54G
> adapter, which apparently has an unsupported chipset and doesn't work
> without extensive hacking.
>
> Can anybody suggest an 802.11g (and preferably also 11b) PCMCIA/Cardbus
> notebook adapter that will work right out of the box, i.e. is fully
> supported by Core 4 without the need for hacks, programming or
> scripting? I also don't want to spend more than $50 or so, if possible.

Try getting Intel 2200bg based PCMCIA card. The linux driver ipw2200
comes from intel and is included in FC4 distro. Works well out of the
box, just don't forget to download firmware.

On Sun, 26 Feb 2006 23:38:33 -0500, AW wrote:

> Hello:
>
> I am a Linux newbie (but Windows advanced computer user), trying to get
> Fedora Core 4 to run on an older laptop of mine. I have a Linksys WPC54G
> adapter, which apparently has an unsupported chipset and doesn't work
> without extensive hacking.
>
> Can anybody suggest an 802.11g (and preferably also 11b) PCMCIA/Cardbus
> notebook adapter that will work right out of the box, i.e. is fully
> supported by Core 4 without the need for hacks, programming or
> scripting? I also don't want to spend more than $50 or so, if possible.

For wireless: Any card using Atheros (Madwifi drivers) or Orinoco
(orinoco drivers -- should already be installed) chipsets.

For wired: Realtek 8139 series (8139too driver -- Linux already has 'em)
chipset.

For those chipsets not supported: There is always ndiswrapper or
Linuxant's Driverloader.

Stef