[ILUG] Wireless Card - Any experiences?

[nils]

On Thu, 2004-11-04 at 12:36 +0000, John Coleman wrote:
> On Wed, 3 Nov 2004 19:45:20 +0000 (GMT), Murf <xcraft at eircom.net> wrote:
> > On Wed, 3 Nov 2004, Rick Moen wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > > Quoting Murf (xcraft at eircom.net):
> > >
> > > [ndiswrapper:]
> > >
> > > > It's basically a wrapper for the windows drivers, but I have to say it
> > > > was worth it as they run flawlessly. Downside is having to pay for a
> > > > license for something that, in a way, you've already paid for, but it
> > > > was the easiest thing to do in my case.
> > >
> > > Much, much bigger downsides:  You have code of unknown quality that
> > > cannot be maintained running in kernelspace.  This means that if you
> > > develop kernel-related problems, especially as the kernel's interface to
> > > drivers changes over time, your bugs may originate in the proprietary
> > > code but be difficult to isolate to that code and impossible to fix.
> > > And the drivers may well not be portable to newer hardware architecture,
> > > e.g., if you switch to some new and better CPU arch that differs to the
> > > degree that AMD64 does from i386.
> > 
> > Oh, yes, I'm aware of these downsides alright, lack of portability and no
> > BSD support is a big downer, but at the time, i was kinda stuck and in a
> > hurry to get things working.
> > 
> > Also, I couldn't afford to keep buying cards & testing them out. I was
> > also stung by the fact that everything online pointed to the SMC being
> > compat with the OSS prism drivers. Sneaky devils changed the card a couple
> > of weeks before I bought in. :(
> > 
> > Oh well, c'est la vie. Once bitten, twice shy etc etc.
> > 
> > regards,
> > Murf.......
> > 
> > 
> > --
> > Irish Linux Users' Group
> > http://www.linux.ie/mailman/listinfo/ilug/
> > 
> > 
> 
> Arse.
> 
> I'm after submitting an order for one of those cards (SMC2835W) to my
> project supervisor, along with an order for 2x SMC2802W (PCI).
> Does anyone know if the SMC2835W has also been changed to the Frisbee chipset?
> 
> Failing that, does anyone have a source where I can definately get PCI
> and PCMCIA Prism54-compatible cards? AFAIK the Orinocco cards have
> also changed chipset (possibly to Atheros?).
> Preferably somewhere to whom I (my department) can send a purchase order to :)
> 
> I really don't like having to pay licences to use hardware I've
> already shelled out for, particularly for educational purposes.
> 
> -- 
> John Coleman
> Technical Officer (& Student In Need)
> NUIG, Computer Society
If 802.11b will do then the  netgear MA311 has a prism chipset, At least
the ones I have do.(never heard that it changed)
on ebay these are quite cheap.
nils