[lug] wlan

[Rob Nagler]

Stephen Queen writes:
>  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?

I just tried my first 802.11a install, and it was less than
successful.  I'm going back to try 802.11b, but the 802.11a didn't
even go across one floor of a house.  I had to move the router to a
more central location, but the signal strengths were all low
(6-12mbps).  At 6mbps, the card wouldn't actually connect.  It would
see the router, but that's it.  This is without WEP.

I don't understand the physics, but I'm guessing 5ghz (a) doesn't
penetrate as well as 2.4ghz (b).

> 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?

I also don't know of drivers for Linux.  I installed three PCI cards
(Netgear ha311) on Windows XP.  One of the cards caused XP to freeze
every now and then.  I called Netgear, and they didn't have a solution
for me (except uninstall and reinstall).  They were friendly,
though. :)

Rob