[RndTbl] 802.11 info query

Dan Keizer ve4drk at mts.net
Sun Sep 7 22:25:29 CDT 2003


... warning .. kinda long message ... :-|

Hi all ... I recently picked up a d-link DI-614+ wireless router 
recently (actually, two of them as they were basically giving them 
away!).  It's a 802.11b access point (with the obligatory switched 4port 
router) ... it doesn't support router-to-router wireless connectivity 
itself (that's in a different model i think) ... so I'm looking for a 
wireless card for my pc and/or my laptop ... Since this model of the 
d-link product line is the "air plus" line which use their so-called 
enhanced 802.11b by bumping it up to 22Mbps ... as it utilizes the TI 
PBCC modulation on their ACX100 chipsets.  I thought I could use that 
with my linux installation, but the driver for the TI chipset is not 
"production" yet as it's still in development as TI hasn't released any 
real technical information about it's chipset... (hiss, boo)
so my question .. has anyone used or tried to use these chipsets from TI 
with any success? (under linux of course)  .. I found some info on 
various sites, but also the wlan site: 
ftp://ftp.linux-wlan.org/pub/linux-wlan-ng/FAQ

As for other options, I could just buy a USB wireless adapter (as i'm 
interested in swapping it now and then with my pc upstairs with my 
laptop) ... from what I read, they appear to work for the most part 
depending upon the chipset used .. seems prism is by far the most widely 
supported ... I think I even recall reading that the atmel usb-based 
wireless adapters are not supported ... so there seems to be various 
chipsets supported under various interfaces.  It even appears that the 
rf-mon feature of apps like kismet ( http://kismetwireless.net ) are not 
supported on the usb interface or atmel adapter or some such .

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on options?

I recently looked at some cards from various local vendors and came up 
with the following:

netgear MA101 (usb1.1) $90  
http://www.netgear.com/products/prod_details.asp?prodID=105&view=
NE nwu11b-ca (usb1.1) $100 
http://www.networkeverywhere.com/products/nwu11b.asp
Linksys WUSB11-ca v2.6 (usb1.1) $75 
http://www.linksys.com/Products/product.asp?grid=22&prid=174
MS MN-510 $100 (choke) 
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/broadbandnetworking/wirelessusbadapter.aspx
SMC  SMC2662W $80 
http://www.smc.com/index.cfm?sec=Products&pg=Product-Details&prod=268&site=c
DLINK DWL-650+ $70   (that's the TI-based chipset) (and it's pcmcia, not 
usb) http://www.dlink.ca/products/DigitalHome/Wireless/dwl650+/

... any info greatly appreciated ... I thought I'd raise the question at 
the upcoming muug meeting and thought that if I broadcasted it now, I 
might get further info as well :-) ... I'm probably looking at buying 
something fairly soon, so I'm still on an information gathering spree ...

Thanks.

Dan.







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