[lug] wlan

[Ed Hill]

On Thu, 2003-02-20 at 10:41, Stephen Queen wrote:
> I have been looking at wireless for my Linux network. I am very ignorant 
> about the different devices and protocols that can be used.
> 
>  From surface appearance it looks to me like 802.11a would be a better 
> course to take than 802.11b because of the higher bit rate. Am I 
> correct, or are there problems I am unaware of with the 802.11a?
> 
> The specific devices I am considering, all from Dlink are as follows,
> DWL-6000AP - Access Point
> DWL-A520 - PCI Wireless Adapter which I would use for desktops
> DWL-A650 - CardBus Wireless Adapter which I would use for lap tops.
> 
> I did a search in the Dlink web site and could find no mention of 
> drivers for Linux for either the DWL-A520 or the DWL-A650. On google I 
> only found people asking if there are drivers for these cards. No 
> reasonable answers.
> 
> Does anyone know of an equivalent  product that has drivers for Linux, 
> or a source of drivers for these products, or a good suggestion for a 
> better route to take?


Hi Stephen,

There are others on this list with *far* more wireless experience than
myself, but let me offer a few recommendations:

  1) For the time being, I'd avoid 802.11a since its relatively 
     new, expensive, incompatible with 802.11b, and the client 
     cards are not as well supported on Linux.  There will soon 
     be a new standard ("802.11g") that both backwards-compatible 
     with 802.11b and offer a number of improvements including 
     higher speed.

  2) Virtually all existing standard 802.11b access points work 
     just fine with Linux.  I've had little trouble getting on-
     line with my Linux laptop at campuses, coffee houses, 
     libraries, and businesses.

  3) I'd recommend either an Orinoco or a cheap PrismII-based 
     802.11b card.  Nearly all the PrismII pcmcia/CardBus 
     cards work out-of-the-box with major Linux distros.  For
     two good lists of card compatibility with Linux, see:

       http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ftp/SUPPORTED.CARDS
       http://www.linux-wlan.com/linux-wlan/

  4) Be *very* careful about buying D-Link wireless cards 
     since, as the wlan-ng site mentions, the newer ones are 
     based on a TI chipset and are *NOT* going to work on 
     Linux until someone writes some new drivers.

hth,
Ed

ps - This email is being sent through a cheap-o PrismII-based 
     Addtron AWP-100 wireless card (802.11b) at the Higher 
     Grounds coffee shop in Golden (a free and open broadband
     network).  The card worked out-of-the-box with Red Hat 
     (actually, KRUD) 8.0.


-- 
Edward H. Hill III, PhD 
Post-Doctoral Researcher   |  Email:  ed at eh3.com,  ehill at mines.edu
Division of ESE            |  URLs:   http://www.eh3.com
Colorado School of Mines   |    http://cesep.mines.edu/people/hill.htm
Golden, CO  80401          |  Phones:  303-384-2094, 303-273-3483
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
URL: <http://lists.lug.boulder.co.us/pipermail/lug/attachments/20030219/b11b4aab/attachment.pgp>