# Wireless PCI NIC

## jbcarlso

Greetings,

   Dispite my best efforts I cannot find a single source anywhere that will tell me, "buy this particular wireless PCI NIC for your desktop because it will work in Gentoo/linux." Always the story is that there are several different versions of the card; some versions work, others do not, and there is no real way to tell which version you are about to purchase. Can someone please tell me if they have a wireless pci nic working with Gentoo and if so, what brand, model number, etc.? Can that same exact card be purchased today? If so, where? Thank you in advance for any help.

Jon Carlson

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## skunkworx

I use the Linksys WDT11 PCI card, which requires a Linksys WPC11 (PCMCIA wireless network card) to work.  There are kernel modules supplied with the latest stock kernel versions that will work with this card, and I've had no complaints.  I'm not aware of any hardware differences between different WPC11 cards, but somebody else might have better knowledge.  I'm pretty sure they're still available new; if not, check eBay and other such places.  If you're interested, I'll give more detail about what I did to get this card working with Gentoo.

---Kris Kelley

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## jbcarlso

Kris,

   Thanks for the quick reply. I also thank you for your offer to post some details, and I'm sure I and several others would find that useful. I'm more concerned with the price. I do not own a laptop and as such I don't really need the pcmcia card+adapter. From ebay it looks like the adapter+card will total around $83.00 (26+57 including $7 shipping on each item), which is more than I prefer to spend. Now, should I land a contract or a direct-hire position here in Phoenix, AZ anytime soon, price will be less of an issue.   :Wink:  Thanks again for the info. 

Has anyone found a wireless pci nic that does not require the pcmcia+adapter solution and is still on the market? If my info is correct, the D-Link DWL-520 is no longer compatible with linux, nor is the Linksys WMP11.   :Crying or Very sad: 

Best,

Jon Carlson

Best,

Jon Carlson

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## Spida

AFAIK most of the wireless-pci-cards are more or less pcmcia with pcmcia-to-pci-bridge. The ones which are not (mostly) use the same chipset as some pcmcia-card.

Look at http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Linux.Wireless.drivers.html for detail of specific chips.

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## camouflageX

I just bought a Netgear MA311 a few weeks ago. It's 802.11b PCI card with a Prism 2 chip and it works really great with Linux.   :Very Happy: 

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## jbcarlso

camouflageX,

   Thanks for the tip. I bought said card from Googlegear for $66.00 including free 2nd-day shipping. There's a $10 mail-in rebate, which will bring the price down to $56.00 even, a pretty darn good deal. Thanks to everyone for the advice; I'll post my results when I get the card.

Best,

Jon Carlson

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## jbcarlso

Thank you all for your help. The Netgear MA311 is working flawlessly under Gentoo using the linux-wlan-ng package. Setup was very straight forward and I'd be happy to post the details if anyone is interested. I am wondering how to configure it each time I reboot, however. Here is my simple shell script that I run by hand after logging in and su'ing to root:

```
#!/bin/sh

/sbin/wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_ifstate ifstate=enable

/sbin/wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_autojoin ssid=default authtype=opensystem

/sbin/dhcpcd wlan0

```

Any ideas?

Best,

Jon Carlson

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## ronmon

I have a D-Link DWL-520, also Prism2 based, that I use in my router box. Using the hostap_pci driver, it runs in AP mode and is bridged with eth1 so that my 10/100 and WiFi share the same subnet. It works like a charm.

You can add those lines to your /etc/conf.d/local.start file to have them run automatically at boot. That's how I set up my bridging and iwpriv. Admittedly non-elegant, but it does the job.

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## jbcarlso

ronmon,

   According to Dlink http://support.dlink.com/faq/view.asp?prod_id=357&question=General%20Wireless, the Rev. C1 of the DWL-520 uses a different chipset and does not support linux. For more information go to http://support.dlink.com/downloads/ and select "DWL" and "520." They have pictures of the Rev. A, B, and C boards on their site. If there is a way to see a picture of the card someone is about to order, he or she could determine revision and chipset of the card quite easily by comparing pictures. This approach assumes the reseller's picture is of the actual card to be shipped, not just a generic pic. Dlink also states that the A and B boards use the same chipset (Prism2) and they direct users to http://www.linux-wlan.com for the drivers. 

I'm curious, how long ago did you order your card? It is my understanding that most DWL-520 cards out there today are Rev. C1 cards and thus may not work under linux. I do not know what chipset the Rev. C1 boards use and couldn't easily Google the answer. Does anyone know?

Also, thanks for the local.start tip and the other information. 

Best,

Jon Carlson

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## anduril1

Thanks for asking the question that I needed answered, Jon.  Not only does that Netgear work in Linux, I can even get it at a brick and mortar store for a decent price.  I'd be interested in the steps you took to get it working.  I've got a computer coming in a week or so, and I want to make sure I can get my internet set up pretty quick.

Spencer Janssen

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## ronmon

Hi jb, I didn't know that they changed chipsets, but I'm not surprised. That's one of the things that you have to watch out for. It's pretty frustrating that they won't come right out and tell you which one they use in the card.

I bought mine off the AnandTech trading forum late last year, so it might even be a bit older than that. It is probably not safe to assume that a picture of the card on a reseller's web site is the same revision that they are offering. And it seems unlikely to me that the reseller would even know or care exactly which one they have. If you can find one on a forum the owner of the card might know the specifics, or at least the age, of the card and you might even save a few bucks.

The best resource that I know of on the subject is this page.

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## xmit

Hi jbcarlso,

 *Quote:*   

> I am wondering how to configure it each time I reboot, however.

 

I think the right way is to add the linux-wlan-ng init.d script to your default runlevel:

1. edit /etc/conf.d/wlan.conf and /etc/conf.d/wlancfg-myconfig as described in the installed documentation and /etc/conf.d/net.

2. copy /etc/init.d/net.eth0 to /etc/init.d/net.wlan0, edit and add "need wlan" to its dependency section.

3. run 'rc-update add net.wlan0 default'. You might test your settings beforehand with the init.d scripts 'wlan start/stop' and 'net.wlan0 start/stop'.

Unfortunately, a recent world update broke this well working setup somehow. I believe it might have to do with the changes in net.eth0. It would really appreciate if some other linux-wlan-ng users would try this runlevel approach and share his experiences.

Update: Since I added 'prism2_pci' to/etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.4, everything is fine again. Something must have removed it, most probably myself.  :Embarassed: 

mg

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