Wireless router for Linux (Cable Modem).

Before I part with my money, can anyone see any problems using the
following with Linux (Mandrake 2006):

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/product...6&GroupID=1072

and either of these:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/product...9&GroupID=1072
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/product...3&GroupID=1072

I'm using an NTL cable modem, so I won't need ADSL capability.

Thanks,
Paul

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Paul Cager says...
> Before I part with my money, can anyone see any problems using the
> following with Linux (Mandrake 2006):
>
> http://www.microdirect.co.uk/product...6&GroupID=1072
>
> and either of these:
>
> http://www.microdirect.co.uk/product...9&GroupID=1072
> http://www.microdirect.co.uk/product...3&GroupID=1072
>
> I'm using an NTL cable modem, so I won't need ADSL capability.
>
> Thanks,
> Paul
>
none at all for the router. You configure the router using a web
interface so as long as you have a fuctional browser it's a breeze to
set up. You may need to track down Linux drivers for the pci cards
though. Don't buy the cards until you know you have drivers.

Remember you really need to have a wired network connection to configure
the router though. Doing it wirelessly is asking for a load of aggro, or
sometimes impossible if the Linksys hasn't got wireless enabled out of
the box.

Linksys don't supply Linux drivers for their cards, so you may want to
consider alternative makes.

FR

Flying Rat wrote:
> In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Paul Cager says...
>> Before I part with my money, can anyone see any problems using the
>> following with Linux (Mandrake 2006):

*snip*

>
> Linksys don't supply Linux drivers for their cards, so you may want to
> consider alternative makes.
>
> FR

Do you have any recommendations for manufacturers?

Paul Cager wrote:
> Flying Rat wrote:
>> In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Paul Cager says...
>>> Before I part with my money, can anyone see any problems using the
>>> following with Linux (Mandrake 2006):
>
> *snip*
>
>>
>> Linksys don't supply Linux drivers for their cards, so you may want to
>> consider alternative makes.
>>
>> FR
>
> Do you have any recommendations for manufacturers?

This is not always easy to answer as Linux support is based on chipset
and card manufacturers have a nasty habit of changing chipset in what
superficially appears to be the same card.

If you want a high degree of confidence before your purchase you could
try http://www.networkned.co.uk/hardware.php

B.

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Paul Cager says...
> Flying Rat wrote:
> > In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Paul Cager says...
> >> Before I part with my money, can anyone see any problems using the
> >> following with Linux (Mandrake 2006):
>
> *snip*
>
> >
> > Linksys don't supply Linux drivers for their cards, so you may want to
> > consider alternative makes.
> >
> > FR
>
> Do you have any recommendations for manufacturers?
>

The only recommendation I have got is do your homework.

Honestly. Spend an hour or so on Google and see what the Linux community
are recommending. Some seem to be saying Netgear drivers for their pci
cards are out there and work well.

You don't need to use the same brand as the router and the Linksys
should work perfectly. Visiting the Linux distro homepage is also going
to be a good move as they often list compatible devices.

FR

On Thu, 15 Jun 2006, Paul Cager wrote:

> Flying Rat wrote:
>
> > Linksys don't supply Linux drivers for their cards, so you may
> > want to consider alternative makes.

ndiswrapper may be able to help. But best avoided if you use 2.6
series kernels built with the 4k stacks option.
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/

> Do you have any recommendations for manufacturers?

Just when I'd got happy with a particular brand - which seemed
excellent value and worked not only with ndiswrapper but alternatively
with a native linux driver from the rt2x00 chipset project - and I had
bought a couple of dozen for our research group users, and was
expecting to buy more - I heard they had gone and changed to an
incompatible chipset - while retaining the same model designation.
So now I have to start again from square one.

This kind of thing happens over and over. So beware.

If you /do/ get an rt2500-based card, though, this works for us:
http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/

hope this is vaguely useful.

--

In <(E-Mail Removed)>,
Paul Cager <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Do you have any recommendations for manufacturers?

I find the "Ebuyer Extra Value" cards (which have always turned out to
be Safecom) work well enough, but check the customer reviews for exactly
what you're getting. The PCI and cardbus models use a TI chipset
supported by the acx100 driver. The USB model changed at some point;
the newer one has a Zydas chipset which is usable with Linux, and I
think the old model was OK too.

--
The address in the Reply-To is genuine and should not be edited.
See <http://www.realh.co.uk/contact.html> for more reliable contact addresses.

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
Paul Cager wrote:
> Flying Rat wrote:

>> Linksys don't supply Linux drivers for their cards, so you may want to
>> consider alternative makes.
>>
>> FR

> Do you have any recommendations for manufacturers?

The £15 Gigabyte 802.11g cards that MicroDirect have been selling work
with the rt2500 driver. Don't use the rt2x00 stuff at the moment --
it's still very immature. The rt2500 driver does WEP but not (to my
knowledge) WPA.

I've got both the PCI and PCMCIA versions.

03:00.0 Network controller: RaLink RT2500 802.11g Cardbus/mini-PCI (rev 01)

With Debian, it's a simple matter of installing "module-assistant" and
running "m-a update; m-a a-i rt2500".

--
Paul Martin <(E-Mail Removed)>

On Sat, 17 Jun 2006 13:24:08 +0000, Paul Martin wrote:


> The £15 Gigabyte 802.11g cards that MicroDirect have been selling work
> with the rt2500 driver. Don't use the rt2x00 stuff at the moment -- it's
> still very immature. The rt2500 driver does WEP but not (to my knowledge)
> WPA.

I've been using the serialmonkey rt2500 driver for the last year.
So far, it has never crashed or lost communication with
the router for any reason other than a reboot or power cut.
It has built-in support for WPAPSK so you don't need any
other tools like wpa_supplicant to use this mode.

It works in monitor mode with Kismet and other sniffing
tools. Unlike most chipset makers, Ralink release
their drivers under the GPL.

A lot of the newer cards are based on the RT61
chipset. I think the RT61 drivers are a bit
immature, but I have a friend who is using Ralink's
own version of the RT61 driver and it works well
for him.

E.S.



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