[ILUG] Slightly OT - Linux PPC CD's or DVD's

[John Coleman]

On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 09:28:28 +0100, Martin List-Petersen
<martin+ilug at list-petersen.net> wrote:
> On Wed, 2004-10-20 at 16:52, Michael Conry wrote:
> 
> 
> > On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 08:26:32 -0700, Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:
> > > I'd heard that prism54 variants are the only modern (802.11g-capable)
> > > wireless cards for which there are completely open-source drivers.
> > I think that's right.  And the only other functional 802.11g
> > alternative I'm aware of are the atheros based cards using the madwifi
> > driver that Martin mentioned.  Although the madwifi driver taints your
> > kernel by loading a binary component, it does give you pretty full
> > access to the utility of the card (e.g. to use a linux-box as a
> > wireless base-station, or in monitor mode).
> >
> > Outside of these two chipsets (and even with these chipsets, if you
> > like), you can use the Windows drivers via the ndiswrapper project,
> > but last time I looked you did not get full access to the card's
> > capabilities, plus you are perhaps in some small way supporting the
> > absence of Linux drivers.
> >
> > What I found difficult was the problem of working out what chipset was
> > in a card before I bought it.  The manufacturers change them very,
> > very frequently.  In the end I got lucky and tracked down a low-priced
> > PCI e-tech card from Marx Computers that turned out to have atheros
> > components (last in stock), and then found the atheros based pcmcia
> > d-link DWLG650 in Compustore.  I'd have preferred to buy prism based
> > cards, but couldn't find any such PCI cards (marx, peats, komplett).
> 
> There is a pretty extensive list of Wlan NICs (including Host Interface
> used + Chipset) on http://www.linux-wlan.org/docs/wlan_adapters.html.gz
> Usually it shouldn't be so hard to find any of the supported cards.
> 
> /Martin
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Irish Linux Users' Group
> http://www.linux.ie/mailman/listinfo/ilug/
> 
> 
Paddy Farrel managed to get a debian install running on 970fx (dual G5
xserve) over the summer after compiling 64-bit ppc kernel.
"4 days of hell" I believe is how he described it.

OT 1: I need to get 2-3 wlan adapters for a project I'm doing
(windpowered linux-based wireless router thingummy), and was
considering Prism cards from the get-go, but aside from the necessity
of the boot-time "firmware" load, are there any other features (or
rather, lack of same) which differentiate the linux and windows driver
functionality?

Do the Atheros madwifi drivers offer any capabilities (device
tweaking, more low-level settings etc.) over the Prism drivers?

I need to be able to adjust power, read signal strength and will be
doing quite a bit of testing (I'm not particularly au fait with WiFi
at the moment) so airsnort and netstumbler compatibility will be
necessary :)

OT: Does anyone know if there's any WiMAX (even pre-draft) kit available?

WiFi is fine and well, but due to the power regulations imposed on the
2.4Ghz unlicenced spectrum in Ireland the range I can (legally)
achieve is somewhat limited.

-- 
John Coleman
Technical Officer
NUIG, Computer Society