Recommendations on 802.11g PCI card?

In my quest to set up my Linux HTPC with a wireless card, I've already gone
through a couple of PCI wireless cards without much success (it seems
manufacturers are fond of changing chipsets in recent versions).

I did a bit of research, and it seems that the Netgear MA311 is a good
choice, but it's only 802.11b.
http://www.google.com/groups?hl=en&l...6btnG%3DSearch

I wanted to see if there's an 802.11g card that is known to be well
supported under Linux (no ndiswrapper or things like that). I'm still going
to be running it at 11Mbps because that's all my wireless router supports,
but I'd like to keep my options open for future upgrades.

Here's an older thread asking the same question, but it didn't get very far:
http://www.google.com/groups?hl=en&l...6btnG%3DSearch

If you know of any PCI 802.11g cards that work well under Linux, please post
here with the information. If you can even post what chipset the card uses,
that would be great.

Thanks!


--Noel

On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 22:53:07 GMT, Noel Llopis wrote:

> If you know of any PCI 802.11g cards that work well under Linux, please post

It's not a card but I strongly suggest an Asus WL-330g:

http://www.asus.com/products/communi...ss/wlindex.htm

It uses an ethernet port so drivers aren't a problem and it runs the
relevant software (site survey) on board. Also usable as an access
point.

Bob T.

> It uses an ethernet port so drivers aren't a problem and it runs the
> relevant software (site survey) on board. Also usable as an access
> point.

Can you use it for sniffing? Or does it only send data for your
computer/subnet down the wire?

Looks cool.

On Sun, 12 Sep 2004 13:05:10 GMT, /dev/null wrote:

>> It uses an ethernet port so drivers aren't a problem and it runs the
>> relevant software (site survey) on board. Also usable as an access
>> point.

> Can you use it for sniffing? Or does it only send data for your
> computer/subnet down the wire?

You access the functions it provides (such as site survey) via a browser
interface.

Noel Llopis wrote:
> If you know of any PCI 802.11g cards that work well under Linux, please
> post here with the information. If you can even post what chipset the card
> uses, that would be great.

I'm disappointed by the lack of answers (other than the interesting idea of
the ethernet->wireless adaptor). I guess that means that 11g cards aren't
really well supported under Linux yet.

Yesterday I was browsing through the hardware compatibility list in
LinuxQuestions (http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/index.php?cat=10) and
wasn't able to find any 11g cards that would reliable work either. What a
shame. What do we have to do to convince hardware manufacturers to support
Linux out of the box???

I guess I'll buy an 11b card for the moment and wait a year or so to
upgrade.


--Noel

Noel Llopis <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

]In my quest to set up my Linux HTPC with a wireless card, I've already gone

HTPC? what is that?

]through a couple of PCI wireless cards without much success (it seems
]manufacturers are fond of changing chipsets in recent versions).

PCI or PCMCIA? Ie is this a laptop?
I use the linksys wpc551g which supports both b,g and a standards. And the
madwifi driver seems to be working for it.
But if you have a desktop with a PCI card I do not know.

By the way, the linuxant or ndiswrapper are not stupid ways to go. A
wireless card MUST have portions wich are proprietary and binary only. FCC
regulation due to their worrying you will set up your card at the same
frequency as the control tower and bring down the next plane you fly on.



]I did a bit of research, and it seems that the Netgear MA311 is a good
]choice, but it's only 802.11b.
]http://www.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=d651e1c3.0408232310.d6871a7%40posting.go ogle.com&rnum=7&prev=/groups%3Fhl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26q%3Dwireless%2BPCI%2Bgroup%253A*linux*%26as_qd r%3Dm6%26btnG%3DSearch

]I wanted to see if there's an 802.11g card that is known to be well
]supported under Linux (no ndiswrapper or things like that). I'm still going
]to be running it at 11Mbps because that's all my wireless router supports,
]but I'd like to keep my options open for future upgrades.

There is a very strong argument to getting only hardware sufficient for
your current needs. By the time you need to upgrade, standards and quality
of hardware have advanced so much and prices dropped so much that the
upgrade is cheaper than the price difference between the big card and the
higher standards card (ie by the time you upgrade to a g router, the cost
of a g compatible card will be less than the extra price of the between a g
and b card now.)



]Here's an older thread asking the same question, but it didn't get very far:
]http://www.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=29Pit-4H4-19%40gated-at.bofh.it&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fhl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26q%3D11g%2BPCI%2Bgroup%253A*linux*%26as_qdr%3Dm 6%26btnG%3DSearch

]If you know of any PCI 802.11g cards that work well under Linux, please post
]here with the information. If you can even post what chipset the card uses,
]that would be great.

]Thanks!

]
]--Noel

> By the way, the linuxant or ndiswrapper are not stupid ways to go. A
> wireless card MUST have portions wich are proprietary and binary only. FCC
> regulation due to their worrying you will set up your card at the same
> frequency as the control tower and bring down the next plane you fly on.

Only an idiot would try to crash the same plane they are flying on...

> I use the linksys wpc551g which supports both b,g and a standards.

I can't seem to find that one on their site. Can you post the link, or
maybe you've got the wrong part #?

Thanks!

"/dev/null" <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

]> I use the linksys wpc551g which supports both b,g and a standards.

]I can't seem to find that one on their site. Can you post the link, or
]maybe you've got the wrong part #?

Yes, that 1 should be a-- wpc55ag sorry.

Bill Unruh wrote:

> ]In my quest to set up my Linux HTPC with a wireless card, I've already
> gone
>
> HTPC? what is that?

Home Theater PC
http://www.google.com/search?q=htpc

> PCI or PCMCIA? Ie is this a laptop?

PCI. It's a desktop.

By the way, in the end, I ended up getting a Netgear MA311. I popped in,
booted up Mandrake, it autodetected the card, configured it, and it was
ready to go. That's exactly what I was looking for.

I guess I'll wait a year or two before I upgrade to 11g.


--Noel