[lug] Linux and wireless

[Daniel Webb]

On Mon, Jan 23, 2006 at 12:49:23PM -0700, Michael Belanger wrote:

> Greetings.
> I need to get my linux workstation hooked to a wireless network.
> From what I am reading, it seems pretty hit and miss for a supported card.
> One suggestion was to not mess with it at all and get a wireless bridge.
> 
> Does anyone here have any success stories or opinions regarding wireless 
> cards?  Is there a list of cards/chipsets that are supported in the 2.6 
> kernel? (Fedora Core 4)

That's correct that it's hit and miss.  If you don't need 802.11g support, I
recommend getting a used Orinoco Gold "classic" card, which was also rebranded
as Dell Truemobile 1150 and others.  You can get them on Ebay for $30 or so,
and it's very well supported.  They're 802.11b since they're old.  For me,
that doesn't matter.

I think drivers for those cards are included in modern distros, and it should
just be plug and play, unlike many other cards.

Be warned, though, there are new Orinoco Gold cards that use the same name but
aren't at all the same.  They are slimmer and rounder.  The old ones are
fairly square looking.  

Buying wireless gear is a major pain in the butt, because they change the
internals constantly while keeping the same model name and number.  Of course
they provide Windows drivers so they feel this isn't misleading, but it is if
you're running Linux because each new chipset needs yet another
reverse-engineering, and sometimes it takes a long time or never happens.

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