02-26-2005, 06:49 PM | #1 (permalink) |
Mjollnir Incarnate
Location: Lost in thought
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Linux wifi cards and USB adapters
So now that I have a laptop, it occurs to me that I have no excuse not to delve into the magical world of linux. Especially since I'd like to try out wardriving and *cough* secure my home network. Too bad the integrated card is an Atheros, and linux doesn't play nice with Atheros unless you get madwifi. But that's too many steps, especially if I want to stick my toe in with a LiveCD. So after poking around, it seems that Prism chipsets are the best for linux and what I hope to do with them.
According to a list I found online, quite a few of the Prism sets (that I'd be able to find in a store) are in USB adapters. So, how do USB adapters stack up? Do they work as well as PCMCIA, will they drain my battery in five minutes? |
02-27-2005, 08:27 AM | #2 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: NorthEast
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I know you are looking for a LiveCD, but just to give you some encouragement, getting madwifi and even wpa_supplicant to work is not that bad. I was able to get madwifi running without too much of an issue on my Mandrake 10.1 laptop. Getting wpa_supplicant was not too bad either after I found the a page that had a couple of missing directives I needed. And after I munged the partition table and had to re-install it was even easier
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02-28-2005, 06:49 AM | #3 (permalink) |
Professional Loafer
Location: texas
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Prism chipsets are always easier to get loaded than Broadcom ones. Some of the BC work using software from Linuxant, some don't.
Might look here. Some good info usually. http://www.linux-laptop.net/ Proxim and Lucent/Orinoco are always good bets for cards to use under Linux and Windows. Orinoco cards are great too.
__________________
"You hear the one about the fella who died, went to the pearly gates? St. Peter let him in. Sees a guy in a suit making a closing argument. Says, "Who's that?" St. Peter says, "Oh, that's God. Thinks he's Denny Crane." |
02-28-2005, 09:57 AM | #4 (permalink) |
Mjollnir Incarnate
Location: Lost in thought
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I'm sorry. I guess I wasn't clear enough. What I want to know is: Is a USB wifi "card" as good as a PCMCIA? Is it more strenuous on battery life (compared to PCMCIA)? Will it crap out after two weeks?
But thanks for affirming the prism thing. |
02-28-2005, 10:01 AM | #5 (permalink) |
Professional Loafer
Location: texas
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Yeah, USB would be just as good as a PCMCIA card. Also, with USB you might have better antenna reception due to the mobility. USB would take no more battery than a PCMCIA card I would imagine.
__________________
"You hear the one about the fella who died, went to the pearly gates? St. Peter let him in. Sees a guy in a suit making a closing argument. Says, "Who's that?" St. Peter says, "Oh, that's God. Thinks he's Denny Crane." |
Tags |
adapters, cards, linux, usb, wifi |
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