# Reccomended PCMCIA/Cardbus Wifi Card?

## Ahri

I have a laptop with Gentoo installed and working fine, this was probably my 3rd Gentoo install and I feel like I'm approaching "moderately skilled" on Linux l33tness scale (if there is such a thing  :Wink: ). However I've been completely unable to get a DWL610 wifi card working with the rtl8180 driver; the r8180 module just doesn't seem to do the business, I have posted about it before but never got anywhere with fixing it. I just tried updating the module again last night but now although it doesn't enter the auth-thrash loop it used to, it just basically loops infinitely when I do a "/init.d/net.wlan0 start" - anyway - I give up.

I've also just bought another laptop that may need a wifi card so it seemed like a good idea to get some opinions off the forum from people who've used PCMCIA wifi cards a lot. I want to buy one or two copies of a card with really solid drivers for linux; a card that the manufacturers care enough about not to use random chipsets in minor card updates, a card that _work_ - I'm buying this card specifically for Gentoo and would like your advice! I have read lists of what's supported by linux but that's not what I'm interested in - I want your opinions please  :Smile: Last edited by Ahri on Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:44 am; edited 2 times in total

----------

## saffsd

I'm afraid I don't have a pcmcia wifi card, but I have used an atheros-based chipset on a PCI card and found it to be excellent. They tend to cost a bit more (netgear sells them as their "108" cards) but you can do all sorts of things with them as the drivers are properly open-source. If I were getting a pcmcia wifi card i'd probably look for an atheros-based one.

----------

## aghostrider1

netgear wg511t, is a pcmia atheros chip based card.

It uses the madwifi drivers, I recommend downloading the drivers from the actual madwifi website.

The card works well for me, you can set up virtual wifi devices, so you can sniff and send data at the same time.

----------

## Ahri

From what I gather then the Atheros chipset is supported by the MadWifi driver (http://madwifi.sf.net) and I'm compiling a list of all the devices supported by my laptop(s). I also realised that they'll support Cardbus too so I'll edit the topic to reflect this, and further research makes me think my latest laptop might support Mini PCI (it's an old IBM X31) - but I'm not banking on that.

----------

## Ahri

I've been trawling the madwifi site and comparing it to http://ebuyer.co.uk (where I'm most likely to buy from) and so far I think this card is the one I'll go for; it's not mentioned on the madwifi site but since it says "Super G" it must be an Atheros chipset. I'd really like to get a Netgear card (since both people who responded reccomended Netgear, and I have a Netgear router that's been nice and stable) but the only one on my list that ebuyer supplies is the WPN511 which is a bit pricey at £46.79 (and that's excluding VAT, heh). The Netgear cards I'm looking for to compare prices are: WAG511, WG511U, WG511T.

Failing finding a cheapish Netgear card (around £20 ex VAT) I'll probably get that D-Link, but I'm a bit loathe to go for it since D-Link seem to be big fans of switching chipsets and just generally put me off their brand with that kind of policy.

----------

## ugus

I also recommend a netgear card to you. If you need a packet injection capability in your card because of some reasons   :Wink:  (i.e aireplay, etc..), WAG511 or WG511T is the best solution for you..

If you are looking for something cheaper, MSI CB54G2 is very good pcmcia card too.

----------

## Ahri

Packet injection isn't at the forefront of my requirements but now you mention it I've gotten interested - might be fun to play with. Judging by the compatibility matrix support for airodump and aireplay is based on the chipset and not the card, so both the DWL-G650EU and the WPN511 should be supported equally as well as the WG511T since they all have Atheros chipsets, right? Maybe I'm missing something; please elaborate if I am!

I'll have a look into the MSI card after I've had some lunch  :Wink: 

----------

## Ahri

Ok, so the MSI CB54G2 seems to be supported via the rt2x00 driver, and appears to be supported by Aircrack in its compatibility matrix (which I assume is why you mentioned that type of card  :Wink: ). How reliable is it? It really annoys me when my wifi connection just drops for no apparent reason (someone moving around the same room as me isn't an "apparent reason" in my book!) - though so far this has mainly only been a problem under Windows XP. I've had a quick look for the MSI card on ebuyer and amazon but couldn't find one.

----------

## ugus

I have used both cards : wg511t and msi cb54g2. if i should compare these two cards, i can say that wg511t better than cb54g2 because of the cover range and speed. It means if you want to use your card in an environment in which the strength of the signal is low or need more speed, i recommend you to buy netgear one. 

On the other hand, CB54g2 has almost half price of the wg511t's price.. You shoul weight the offers and prices  :Very Happy: 

----------

## Ahri

Quick update; I bought both a WPN511 and a WG511T for my (and my dad's, respectively) laptop, and both work great with the Atheros madwifi drivers. I've not yet had a go at this war driving malarky but I guess when I'm bored sometime... hehe. Maybe he'll finally do some of that Linux development he's been pondering now that he has a wifi enabled Gentoo installation  :Very Happy: 

Incidentally I also probably solved the problem with the previous card I mentioned in the first post (I updated that thread to reflect this) - I say "probably" because I'm not testing it; on the basis that I don't want to know I wasted my dad's money  :Wink: 

----------

