Getting the right wireless adapter card for a linux box; I have Linksys WRT 54G wireless router

Please skip this long post unless oyu are very patient and want to help
me.
Also, please note that I am posting in multiple groups because I
noticed form my search that none of the groups have answered similar
posts effectively.

What I have:
I have Linksys WRT 54 G wireless router. Goald is to get a wirless
adaptor for Linux box. I live in 2 story house.

What I want:
After I install Linux, I will just do cable connection from my Linux
box initially, but that would mean I'll have to keep my router
downstairs instead of my office room upstairs. I don't like that
unless I have to. To be able to keep my router upstairs, I am trying to
get info on getting the right wireless adaptor for my linux box.

On "Airlink101 AWLH 4030 Super G 108 Mbps Wireless Adapter":
I saw someone saying - he didn't give his router information - that
Airlink101 AWLH 4030 Super G 108 Mbps Wireless Adapter works with
Linux; see his post (by wyldbill) on 02-24-2006, 01:16 PM
at http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/sh...p?product=2985.

"Got this card on sale for 14.99 at Fry's. Installed it in the
computer. Pclinuxos detected it and installed it on boot up and it was
ready to go when I got to the desktop. Went in and set up the
configuration and was on the air. Couldn't have been any easier.
WyldBill"; Notice no router info.


On "AIRLINK101 AWLC4030 SuperG 108Mbps Cardbus Adapter"
A different reviewer, who has Linksys 54 G router, explained in lenght
about AIRLINK101 AWLC4030 SuperG 108Mbps Cardbus Adapter that he uses
for XP home at http://www.epinions.com/content_222512123524 on Mar 04
'06 - he uses it with XP home but I am posting his review for a
reason:

"My wireless router is a Linksys WRT54G that only supports Wireless G
at 54Mbps, not the 108Mbps offered by many cards like the Airlink
AWLC4030. .. But all the 108Mbps cards support the basic 54Mbps speed,
as well as the 10Mbps wireless B. Picking the winning technology for
the 108Mbps speed was pretty much a crapshoot (as to whether it's dead
end or not). I decided to stick with my existing router rather than
upgrade it and my other desktops at that time.

The Airlink101 AWLC4030 was the cheapest wireless G PC card, either at
the base speed of 54Mbps or the enhanced 108MBps. The Airlink cards are
based on technology by Atheros for 108Mbps. This review covers that
card, for use in a standard wireless G network.

He also posted a review on the same product at
http://www.epinions.com/content_219795918468 where he said,
"Installation and setup
The installation went well, following their instructions. The fact that
the wireless router was from Linksys didn't cause any problems.

I use the WEP encryption, which works fine. One nice feature of the
Linksys router was the ability to enter a passphrase, which then
generated the possible codes for preset encryption keys. The Airlink
software didn't have that, so I had to copy the hex key information
from the router. That's not a big deal, and only done once."



SO,
from by reading the second review above, I came to realize that if I
buy Airlink101 AWLH 4030 Super G 108 Mbps Wireless Adapter, it might
work with Linux box but I'll have to do the same thing like he did, i.e
copy hex key information from the router. That's not a big deal, and
only done once."


My qestion is

what does he mean by " I had to copy the hex key information from the
router. That's not a big deal, and only done once." Does he mean that
during installation of the PCI adpater, the hex key for the linksys
router had tobe entered?


BTW, if anyone has any comment about making my linux box wireless such
as whether I should or shoud not since I my router will be kept
upstairs when I make linux box wireless, I'd appreciate it. A friend of
mine suggested me to just use cable, ie wired conenction but by using a
power line connector so that I won't have the cabels dangling while I
get to keep my router (and modem) upstairs.

Any comment?

I forgot to give product link for the first adaptor:

Airlink101 AWLH4030 Super-G 108Mbps Wireless PCI
Adapterhttp://www.airlink101.com/products/awlh4030.html

[ irrelevant kernel group removed ]
["Followup-To:" header set to comp.os.linux.hardware.]
On 6 Jan 2007 14:33:38 -0800, mimi staggered into the Black Sun and
said:
> I am trying to get info on getting the right wireless adaptor for my
> linux box.

One that works without ndiswrapper should be sufficient.

> Airlink101 AWLH 4030 Super G 108 Mbps Wireless Adapter:
> "Pclinuxos detected it and installed it on boot up and it was ready to
> go when I got to the desktop. Went in and set up the configuration and
> was on the air. Couldn't have been any easier. WyldBill"; Notice no
> router info.

Why would that matter? If your wireless AP is set up properly, any AP
should be equivalent from the 802.11x card's viewpoint.

> http://www.epinions.com/content_219795918468 where he said, I use WEP
> encryption [...] I had to copy the hex key information from the
> router."

> What does he mean by [that]?

WEP uses a series of sorta-but-not-really secret keys to encrypt packets
passing from AP<->card(s). Generally, you see them given out like so:

c0ffee1122
123456789a
fedcba9876
badf00d654

....since different APs generate hex keys from passphrases in different
ways. Take the hex keys from your AP's config page, put them in your
/etc/conf.d/wireless or your distro's equivalent.

> Does he mean that during installation of the PCI [adapter], the hex
> key for the linksys router had [to be] entered?

The 802.11x card must use a valid WEP key to communicate with the AP.
This is done not at modprobe time, but at /etc/init.d/net.eth1 start
time. You can set WEP keys manually with iwconfig; "man iwconfig".

> if anyone has any comment about making my linux box wireless such as
> whether I should or shoud not, I'd appreciate it.

Use kismet or another sniffer to see what else is going on around you
first. I can see 5 or 6 unencrypted 802.11x APs from my apartment's
living room, so if I wanted to use 802.11x at home, I'd certainly use
encryption of some sort, and it'd be WPA, not WEP. HTH anyway,

--
>Sci-fi shows jump the shark when they introduce time travel.
Can a series jump the shark straight off, or does it need to get a bigger
shark? --Brian Kantor and David Delaney in ASR
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see

I've not used a PCI wireless, but I have a PCMCIA wireless on my laptop.
I've been very pleased with the Dlink WNA2330. Any wireless adapter which
uses the Atheros chipset should work very well.

First off, mimi, when crossposting, one generally sets a "followup-to"
flag/header in the newsreader so that all replies to to one "master"
newsgroup instead of getting thrown all over the Usenet place. For this
reason, I will point followups to my post back to the newsgroup in which I
first read this thread, alt.comp.linux.


On Sat, 06 Jan 2007 14:33:38 -0800, mimi wrote:

> Please skip this long post unless oyu are very patient and want to help
> me.

I have had that same problem. Often, people skim my post and think they
know what I'm asking.

I'm patient with posts, but I have very little time (and yet I often spend
upward of an hour and a half authoring posts, so go figure).

> What I have:
> I have Linksys WRT 54 G wireless router. Goald is to get a wirless
> adaptor for Linux box. I live in 2 story house.

I use a D-Link DWL-G510 PCI WiFi card in my Linux box. IIRC, I did once
use it with a Linksys router (I don't think it was the WRT-54 -- it was a
54mbps router from Linksys, just not the very popular one). That router
is at my parents' house, and the router I'm on now is at my fiancee's
house, but it's a Motorola. Still, Linux uses my card just fine here
through an application called ndiswrapper (you'll have to Google that one
on your own, sorry).

I am not using WEP or WAP though, but there's hardly a need to where I
live. I am using WEP on the Linksys at the parents' house, but that's not
on this computer (being it's a desktop and I have a laptop from my
employer handy).

Now my work laptop uses a miniPCI WiFi card made by Cisco that uses the
Aironet driver beautifully and even the LiveCDs can use it without special
work (e.g. ndiswrapper). Unfortunately, all I can get out of IBM.com is,
at most, "Cisco Aironet Wireless 802.11b on selected models" (which, of
course, is what I have). It has used WEP successfully at my parents'
house with it, though, so I can say with reasonable confidence that if you
can pony up the dough for a Cisco card, it'll probably work, and if you're
lucky, it'll work out of the box.

Hope this helps.

--
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