# What wireless card to buy?

## petkouzunski

Greetings. I want to buy a wireless card that is fully compatible with Linux. I want to be able to use it with kismet and the other wireless cracking software. I heard that Atheros based cards work best, but I'm not 100% sure about that. Can you recommend me a brand and a model that will work without problems with kismet?

Thanks a lot in advance.

----------

## maczo

Hi,

I never used Kismet, so I can not guarantee for that.

However I had a quite hard time with 'normal' drivers, so I can share my experience with you.

Since I have amd64 I had quite a problems with ndiswrapper.

I recommend everything that works under Madwifi. You can find list of hardware on their site.

I have a built in Atheros AR5005G which is supposed to work, but it DOES NOT. Beware.

So, I bought 3Com Office Connect pcmcia card that works fine. Well, LED was blinking constantly which was very annoying, but I patched source and now it blinks according to transferred data  :Smile: 

To sum up: Madwifi is OK - choose hardware from their list.

----------

## petkouzunski

Thanks for the previous post.

As far as I see some of the Netgear PCI wireless cards use the Atheros chipset. I wonder whether to buy a Netgear WPN311 card. 

According to Kismet's webpage:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
>  - Linux (Intel, PPC, MIPS, X-Scale, Arm, etc)
> 
>       Known supported cards: Atmel_USB, ACX100, ADMTek, Atheros, Cisco, Prism2, 
> ...

 

I read this: 

http://aircrack-ng.org/doku.php?id=compatible_cards

http://aircrack-ng.org/doku.php?id=compatibility_drivers

http://aircrack-ng.org/doku.php?id=compatibility_drivers#which_is_the_best_card_to_buy

http://madwifi.org/wiki/Compatibility

http://madwifi.org/wiki/Compatibility/Netgear#WPN311

http://madwifi.org/wiki/Chipsets

According to these sites the Netgear card is a good choice but I'm still in doubt. The only problem is that it doesn't support the "a" standart which might be a problem. So, if anyone could give advice, please give it.

What is the difference between "WPA-PSK" and "WPA" encryption?

----------

## KozmoNaut

WPA is a limited implementation of the 802.11i standard (the full implementation is better known as WPA2).

802.11i is designed for use with an authentication server and certificates for automatic key exchange.

WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK is the non-enterprise, "personal edition" with Pre-Shared Keys. It works just like WEP; you input a key on your AP and input the same key on your computer by hand.

It's heaps more secure than WEP, though, due to better protocol design and tougher encryption (AES etc.). WEP can be cracked in less than 5 minutes on a standard desktop computer. WPA2 with AES is basically un-crackable as long as you use a non-standard SSID and a tough key (as an example, mine is 38 characters).

----------

## KozmoNaut

Also, I bought a Jensen Airlink AL7354, based on the compatibility info at madwifi.org. It uses the Atheros AR5005G chipset and it works absolutely flawlessly using wpa_supplicant and WPA2-PSK with my DD-WRT'ed Linksys WRT54GL.

----------

## d2_racing

I use the Intel WIFI IPW3945ABG and everything is fine.

I use it with a Linksys WRT54G.

----------

