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bradlis7
March 20th, 2006, 04:45 AM
I've gotten a computer up and running with Ubuntu now. I've had previous experience with Fedora, but that was a year or so ago.

I need a wireless card though... anyone have any suggestions for a cheap one on ebay that will work well? I compared the online list of working cards to ones on ebay, but couldn't find one I was pleased with. I can do configuring, but would rather not if possible. If I could get a cheap router that would connect me to a wireless network, that would work too (I have wired network cards that work I think). Any suggestions would be great!

Zelut
March 20th, 2006, 05:00 AM
I would suggest a broadcom chipset if you look for a wireless card to buy. They seem to be pretty common & are fairly well supported. Also, Dapper will be including firmware for broadcom chipsets so it should be very limited configuration.

I've also bought a netgear WG311 pci card and it works fine (using ndiswrapper).. I guess its just what you can find on the supported page vs. what you can find locally/eBay to purchase.

cilynx
March 20th, 2006, 05:01 AM
Most Linksys and Netgear stuff works. Quite a bit of 3com as well. Avoid Broadcom like the plague.

If you're looking for 802.11b, look into the Prism chipset
If you're looking for 802.11g, look into Prism54

They seem to be the best supported of all. As for a router, I prefer the Linksys stuff as they're basically rebadged Cisco equip. Also, some of the open-source firmwares are nice.

LinuxKid
March 20th, 2006, 05:23 AM
I would suggest a broadcom chipset if you look for a wireless card to buy. They seem to be pretty common & are fairly well supported. Also, Dapper will be including firmware for broadcom chipsets so it should be very limited configuration.

I've also bought a netgear WG311 pci card and it works fine (using ndiswrapper).. I guess its just what you can find on the supported page vs. what you can find locally/eBay to purchase.
yes, broadcom should START working with dapper (which I'm downloading now, come on 35% ;))

and yes, broadcom is very common

but it is absolutely NOT supported by any linux distro at all (other than dapper, come on 36% ;)), you could use ndiswrapper but I have been having so much trouble with it that I don't think it's worth it

sorry for the harshness, but I don't want anyone getting into what I got into (just look at the sig :()

bradlis7
March 20th, 2006, 05:26 AM
Thanks for the replies. I've bid on a Linksys WUSB54G. That should work good enough.

Zelut
March 20th, 2006, 05:27 AM
I hear a lot of people don't like ndiswrapper but its supported 7 wireless cards for me..

Where are you getting stuck with ndiswrapper?

LinuxKid
March 20th, 2006, 05:40 AM
well, I can't tell you outright, because as my sig says; I'm in windows

but if I remember it was:

ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
output: installed already, use -e to remove

when I tried to remove and install again it didn't work

so I went on:
ndiswrapper -m
output: .... is a read only file (I got this once, hmm...)

depmod -a
output: fatal:... (can't remember)

modprobe ndiswrapper
output: nothing probably because of the other steps

btw, don't think I did this myself no!!!, I'm a noob, I got it from instructions ^_^

if you want, after dapper finishes downloading (come on 47% ;)), I'll go back in and write down everything I get (that is as long as dapper doesn't configure it the other way ;))

briancurtin
March 20th, 2006, 06:29 AM
I would suggest a broadcom chipset if you look for a wireless card to buy.

Avoid Broadcom like the plague.

so, which one should this guy be listening to?

matthinckley
March 20th, 2006, 06:35 AM
I love Linksys.. have all Linksys networking equipment at home with wireless G router and 1 wireless G card and 1 wireless B card.. never a problem with Linux.. both wireless cards worked right out of the box.. no hunting for drivers at all.

Linksys made by Cisco..

John.Michael.Kane
March 20th, 2006, 07:11 AM
http://cgi.ebay.com/Belkin-F5D7010-Wireless-G-Notebook-Card-PCMCIA-54g-NIB_W0QQitemZ5677822073QQcategoryZ45000QQssPageNam eZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/D-Link-DWL-G630-802-11G-PCMCIA-Wireless-Card_W0QQitemZ9700126399QQcategoryZ45000QQrdZ1QQcm dZViewItem

BoyOfDestiny
March 20th, 2006, 10:00 AM
Which guy to listen to... Not a hard call. A well supported wireless card will not require ndiswrapper and should work out of the box.

I've heard from a friend who works at broadcom... That they will eventually support linux (i.e. provide native linux drivers)...

If you want out of the box support... I dunno, only my laptop has out of the box wireless (intel internal wireless)

Reasons for disliking ndiswrapper vary... I'll mention a few, dunno how will it would work on other architectures ( since you are using the windows driver...) and supposedly not as efficient. I consider it a 'last resort'.

GeneralZod
March 20th, 2006, 10:12 AM
so, which one should this guy be listening to?

Let's just say that this thread has contained the only positive recommendation for a Broadcomm wireless card that I have ever seen in my entire life ;)

bradlis7
March 20th, 2006, 05:26 PM
I'm using a desktop PC, so pcmcia cards will not do. I'm still winning the bid on the linksys, hopefully I'll be able to get that one.

Off topic, FYI: I'm also replacing the motherboard, because for some reason, after my computer shuts down, the fans continue to run. But I've got one that's coming. I hope it's the motherboard that's the problem, and I'm pretty sure it is, because when I used another power supply, it did the same thing.

It'll be nice when I get this box working well. :)

shaunm666
March 21st, 2006, 02:12 PM
I would avoid the WUSB54G if possible m8, Ive had a ton of problems with it and never been able to get it working. If you (or any1) can get it working it would be gr8 if u could post your solutions! Ive heard that linux doesnt support USB WNICS well at all....

mostwanted
March 21st, 2006, 03:18 PM
Maybe off-topic: Does Intel wireless chips come with open source drivers like their graphics cards?

bradlis7
March 21st, 2006, 08:40 PM
I found a really good deal on a D-Link DWL-G510. It was listed on the supported hardware page as working, or at least a revision of this item.

Teroedni
March 21st, 2006, 09:03 PM
I would avoid the WUSB54G if possible m8, Ive had a ton of problems with it and never been able to get it working. If you (or any1) can get it working it would be gr8 if u could post your solutions! Ive heard that linux doesnt support USB WNICS well at all....

Its works

But you need to upgrade to Dapper
I hav the card myself and use it daily. Only problem is that it disconnects itself after a while:/
It uses the rt2570 alpha driver;)

Brunellus
March 21st, 2006, 09:30 PM
hang on. dapper has rt2570 in the kernel ????

Teroedni
March 22nd, 2006, 11:06 PM
Yes

Here a screenshot as proof:)
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/gallery/showimage.php?i=2287&original=1&c=2


BUT, The driver is very unstable, since its still alpha:(

Titus A Duxass
March 23rd, 2006, 07:24 AM
I have the following:

Edimax EW-7126 - rtl8180 chipset
Deutsche Telekom T154PCI - PrismGT
Linksys ??? V4 pcmcia - rtl8180 chipset.

All three of them work with NDISWRAPPER, all three of them are recognised during the install process but never work correctly.

The Edimax EW-7126 has linux drivers, but I have never got them to work. Way too complicated installation process!

The Edimax EW-7126 also has an annoying habit, if you disconnect from the mains (i.e pull the plug) you must boot the pc without the card, shutdown replace card and then reboot.

Otherwise it will not pick up an IP address and backgrounds the process.

The problem I have with eBay (this may only apply to Germany) is that the vendor hardly ever puts the chipset details in the offer.

My 0.2€ worth!

celloandy
March 23rd, 2006, 08:21 AM
Yeah, I'd get a card that's supported by native drivers, if at all possible (prism54, etc., are good). Ndiswrapper provides marginal support (it's how I'm connected and typing this message, actually), but you don't want to be stuck with a hack to make proprietary drivers work if you can avoid it. Aside from the potential ethical/legal questionability of it (whether or not you really can legally load closed-source code into a GPL kernel, etc.), ndiswrapper also has other disadvantages, mainly because the NDIS standard on which it depends is just pretty narrow, so lots of more interesting features of cards don't work with it. You can't tell the link quality to a network, for example, nor can you use the card in any mode other than "ad-hoc" and "managed" (in other words, say goodbye to kismet, etc.).

Don't get me wrong. I applaud the ndiswrapper folks for their work in getting these cards to work, and I recognize that there are some situations where it's the only think that works, but even they would agree that it's a less-than-ideal solution. Go with something native, since you have a choice, anyway.

Andrew

bradlis7
March 24th, 2006, 09:38 PM
I've got the DWL-G510, and it worked without a problem. I'm using it right now :D. Thanks for all the comments.