relatively inexpensive PC Card (PCMCIA) wireless NIC

[Tim Writer]

Kareem Shehata <kareem-d+8TeBu5bOew5LPnMra/2Q at public.gmane.org> writes:

> On Sat, 2004-07-10 at 09:58, Lance Nichols wrote:
> > I am traveling to the US starting early next week and the hotel the company 
> > has booked me into seems to only offer wireless internet access. The Dell 
> > c640 I have (company supplied dual booting between company Windows image and 
> > PRO SUSE 9.1 image) was never equipped with the wireless card. 
> > 
> > So, rather then pony up the costs to rent a NIC daily, which may not work in 
> > linux, I am looking to grab one quickly before I head south. Advantage of 
> > this would be I could then use it @ home on my wireless network as well when 
> > I get back....
> > 
> > So, does anyone have any good suggestions for inexpensive (<$60) wireless NICs 
> > that are "garenteed" to run on this system?
> > 
> > Lance
> > 
> > PS, thanks for the input for a first time poster.
> 
> I've had great success with a Linksys WPC11.  As Taavi pointed out, make
> sure to get the exact model.

And version!  WPC11 v.1 through v.3 are based on Prism chipsets and well
supported.  WPC11 v.4, the current version and the one most easily found in
"mainstream" stores like Future Shop, Best Buy, etc., is based on a Realtek
chipset and _not_ currently supported.  Another good Prism card is the
SMC2532W-B.  If you get a Prism card, I recommend upgrading the firmware
which is best described here:

    http://linux.junsun.net/intersil-prism/

> I've subsequently bough a WPC54G, and it's
> completely useless to anything other than Windows.  I think both
> canadacomputers.com and factorydirect.ca have SMC2635W's which use the
> ADM8211 chipset.  I believe those have drivers, but they're not the
> easiest to use.

If you want G, try the SMC2835W EZ Connect.

Some useful links:

    http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/HardwareComparison
    http://wiki.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/Prism2Card
    http://prism54.org/supported_cards.php

Again though, these are only guides as manufacturers have a nasty habbit of
changing the guts without changing the product name or model number.

-- 
tim writer <tim-s/rLXaiAEBtBDgjK7y7TUQ at public.gmane.org>                                  starnix inc.
905.771.0017 ext. 225                           thornhill, ontario, canada
http://www.starnix.com              professional linux services & products
--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml