# Netgear WG511T pcmcia card works

## niord

Thanks for all the posts here. Work gave me a WG511T pcmcia card and I got it going in about 30 minutes. Great info in the forums about this card and what it takes to get it setup properly.

I haven't checked out all the security features and such but the card is running fine so far. I'm pysched because I can use Gentoo now at work.

BTW I'm using the latest 2.4.26-r9 kernel and had no problems setting up the card.

Good luck!

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## Coume

Hiya,

do you remember which posts you followed? That's cool to know that you managed to get it easily working but it would be even better to know how  :Very Happy: 

Bests,

Ludo

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## ewtrowbr

and doest hte same method apply the the 2.6 kernel...

erg

e

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## niord

Don't know about the 2.6 kernel as I'm using the 2.4.X version.

I'm writing this from some notes I made of how I got it going:

1) See if you have pcmcia enabled in your kernel.

2) Emerge pcmcia-cs

3) Emerge wireless-tools

4) Emerge madwifi-driver, you can check /usr/portage/net-wireless/madwifi-driver for versions.

5) Create a file /etc/init.d/net.ath0 basically copied net.eth0 and renamed it net.ath0.

6) Add a line for ath0 in /etc/conf.d/net that reads:

iface_ath0="dhcp"

7) Add a line for ath0 in /etc/conf.d/net that reads:

iface_ath0="192.168.0.2 broadcast 192.168.0.255 netmask 255.255.255.0"

8) Check the config by the command "iwconfig" there you should see an entry for ath0.

9) To get it to look for connections you can type:

dhcpcd ath0

You might need to play with your settings if you have a secure connection. Sure you can find that info elsewhere. We don't need it at work. Our system is WIDE open. Hey, am I supposed to be saying that?

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## scereze

Hi, I am interested by this card.

I found a nethear bundle router/pcmcia. Very interesting.

But i have a question about the speed.

Does it work at 54 or 108 mbit/s.

I am not sure if the turbo mode is supported under linux/gentoo

thanks

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## fatboyjim

Hi

After a few weeks of having trouble I've got my WG511T working thanks to niord's instructions

scereze, I've had a look in my dmesg and 108MBps isn't listed under the MBps rates listing outputted by the card (it goes up to 54MBps) so I don't think the 108MBps rate is supported at the moment by either the driver/gentoo (although it could be because I'm only connected to a 54MBps AP)

Anyway, I'm happy now!  :Very Happy:  Thanks again

Jim

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## scereze

Thanks for your answer.

maybe it's worth to buy, hoping that wifi turbo driver will be written soon

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## ewtrowbr

It really is a fine card and works well under gentoo. 

I think the turbo may work for some setups. The iwpriv hook is there. I've heard of these cards working under 802.11a.

http://madwifiwiki.thewebhost.de/wiki/TurboAMode

erich

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## TinheadNed

Just to post a warning - the NEWEST Netgear WG511s DO NOT WORK with the open source drivers.  I have one and it doesn't work.  It appears to be a new generation of the chipset - the prism54 guys are trying to get information from conexant about it.

But I bought one a month ago and it is useless with the opensource drivers.

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## derFrank

 *TinheadNed wrote:*   

> Just to post a warning - the NEWEST Netgear WG511s DO NOT WORK ... the prism54 guys are trying to get information from conexant about it.
> 
> 

 

So you got a new WG511, and not WG511T?  I've got a new WG511 and don't get it working either... do you know of some progress being made lately with the driver? Have you got it running by now? 

If I dont't get it working within the next days i'm going to resell it, but I dont't want to give up hope right now...

keep the spirit

 Frank

P.S. just noticed how appropriate my .sig is in this case...   :Wink: 

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## TinheadNed

Resell it.

I don't mean to sound negative, but the latest update from the prism54 people seem to indicate that Conexant aren't being terribly helpful.  The new cards are mainly software controlled and thus lower costs, but the software I think will be remaining under a closed licence.

They don't sound that hopeful of a solution.  It does work under ndiswrapper, if that helps.  That's what I'm using, as I bought mine second hand (although in an unwrapped new box) so I can't take it back.

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## derFrank

Well, there's an update on the prism54-site about this Problem:

 *Quote:*   

>  http://prism54.org/supported_cards.php:
> 
> ...
> 
> If you can't test a card and want linux support, I can recommend you just not buy a prism 802.11g based chipset for now.
> ...

 

So I sold my WG511 and bought a WG511T (the one with the Atheros-Chip); works with madwifi like a charm.

bye Frank

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## smitty_one_each

Well, I'm not reliably working at the moment.

This version of the card runs with the Intersil Prism54 driver.

Life sucked briefly after an emerge -u world;  whoever changed 

/etc/hotplug/firmware.agent to say

FIRMWARE_DIR=/lib/firmware

really tubed me for a while, as my firmware has been firmly worn at /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/isl3890 these many hours since I first got this thing kinda working.

Adding a directory and a simlink wasn't hard, though AT LEAST A WARNING at emerge time would be swell.

More troublesome, though, is the way that the the card keeps getting identified as a Linksys, and apparently gets the wrong driver or something.  I'm still trying to nail down a work around, but ejecting the PCMCIA card, booting, and running a script to set the WEP key, bring it up, and then do dhcpcd looks like it might be working.

What I think could make Gentoo better would be to have a some kind of documentation showing what all of the /etc files are doing, and when they are called.  At the moment, I don't understand what the hotplug/pcmcia/net files are doing, and other than just wading through them, I don't know where to start.

But, hey:  Gentoo is the greatest thing I've ever seen.  I hope that the firmware.agent change is a step towards a standard method for doing wireless networking.

Props,

Chris

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## dgooding

I've got a WG511T with kernel 2.6 and am having the worst time getting it to work.  I started a seperate thread.  Please read and try to help?

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-328808.html

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