Hi everybody, I would like to create a small home wireless network for
my desktop (with Windows XP) and my laptop (on which I want to install
Linux, most likely Debian).

I read that PCMCIA cards for wireless connection are not very well
supported in Linux. Is that true? If, as I hope, it's not, what shall I
check when buying the card? This is important because, if I can, I'd
like to buy all the hardware I need (cards and router) from the same
brand (if possible).

Thanks
Giulio

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 19:59:59 +0000, Giulio Troccoli
<giulio@troccoli.it> wrote:

>Hi everybody, I would like to create a small home wireless network for
>my desktop (with Windows XP) and my laptop (on which I want to install
>Linux, most likely Debian).
>
>I read that PCMCIA cards for wireless connection are not very well
>supported in Linux. Is that true? If, as I hope, it's not, what shall I
>check when buying the card? This is important because, if I can, I'd
>like to buy all the hardware I need (cards and router) from the same
>brand (if possible).
>
>Thanks
>Giulio

I tried to do the same, and I had so much messing around. One thing
that I will credit windows with is they make some things really easy.
I actually started using debian because of the problems I was having
(red hat was, well, difficult).
The prism drivers (http://www.prism54.org/) work well. I got a Netgear
WG511, which probably has the best success rate with them, as well as
having 802.11g support rather than just b. After following the
instructions on the site I got it to work relatively easily. You'll
need to have hotplug enabled in your kernel.
On access point side, for various reasons I gave up. You probably
won't want D-Link though (while I haven't experienced it beyond trying
to set up the D-Link router, they apparently don't really work well
with anything else other than D-Link).

k

Giulio Troccoli wrote:

> Hi everybody, I would like to create a small home wireless network for
> my desktop (with Windows XP) and my laptop (on which I want to install
> Linux, most likely Debian).

Its a breeze.

>
> I read that PCMCIA cards for wireless connection are not very well
> supported in Linux. Is that true? If, as I hope, it's not, what shall I

Nonsense.

> check when buying the card? This is important because, if I can, I'd
> like to buy all the hardware I need (cards and router) from the same
> brand (if possible).
>
> Thanks
> Giulio

I set up one with slackware (DHCP server) and debian clients. I used
Netgear MA311 with hostap drivers (Master mode) and Netgear MA401 with
orinoco drivers (Managed mode).

Be careful about the server wireless card if you do not want to buy a proper
router. The card I bought was Prism card which could work with hostap.
Sometimes manufacturers change the chipset but retain the card brand name.

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 19:59:59 +0000
Giulio Troccoli <giulio@troccoli.it> wrote:

> Hi everybody, I would like to create a small home wireless network for
>
> my desktop (with Windows XP) and my laptop (on which I want to install
> Linux, most likely Debian).
>
I'm not quite sure how advanced this thing has to be... I wanted to do
the same thing, so I went to the local Future Shop (like Best Buy) and
purchased a Linksys Wireless-B Broadband Router -- it actually came in a
``kit'' type of deal. It included a wireless card as well. I bought it
because it was inexpensive, and at the time I didn't think much about
Linux compatibility (even though my laptop was indeed running Linux).

> I read that PCMCIA cards for wireless connection are not very well
> supported in Linux. Is that true? If, as I hope, it's not, what shall
> I check when buying the card? This is important because, if I can, I'd
> like to buy all the hardware I need (cards and router) from the same
> brand (if possible).

If you have a little bit more money to burn than I did, I would
definitely recommend that you purchase a PCMCIA card that uses the Prism
chipset. I don't think it's the *only* chipset supported natively by
the Linux kernel, but it's one of the only ones. It's also quite a
high-quality chip.

I found that out the hard way though. My ``Linksys Wireless-B Notebook
Adapter, WPC11 ver. 4'' that came with the ``kit'' is based on the
Realtek 8180L chipset. I needn't have worried for long though: I soon
stumbled across a very cool project called ndiswrapper that basically
lets you use wireless cards on Linux, using a Windows driver for the
card. The instructions that came in the tarball were very clear, and I
was online in no time.

So you are basically getting a reply from a satisfied customer. The
router has proven just fine for my home network, and the antenna for the
wireless connection, plus the PCMCIA wireless card that came with it ---
was all a very good value.

Thank you to all of you who replied. I was already thinking of buying
NetGear stuff (router and two cards) as there is a deal on them. Now I
know I can use it with my laptop.

Giulio

Giulio Troccoli wrote:
> Hi everybody, I would like to create a small home wireless network for
> my desktop (with Windows XP) and my laptop (on which I want to install
> Linux, most likely Debian).
>
> I read that PCMCIA cards for wireless connection are not very well
> supported in Linux. Is that true? If, as I hope, it's not, what shall I
> check when buying the card? This is important because, if I can, I'd
> like to buy all the hardware I need (cards and router) from the same
> brand (if possible).
>
> Thanks
> Giulio