[NBLUG/talk] my laptop & wireless ethernet

[Rob Orsini]

At 10:06 PM 6/6/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>Rob Orsini said:
> > So, I feel like I'm pushing it a little but as well as a successful
> > install
> > of Mandrake on my laptop (which we've already discussed) I would LOVE for
> > my 802.11b-PCMCIA card to work.  I have a Netgear card but have heard
> > rumors that a Lucent flavored card has some support among some Linux vers.
> >
> > My first question: Has anyone had luck with wireless PCMCIA cards and
> > linux?  Secondly, what is so complicated about writing drivers for these
> > cards? I really am curious if it's really a difficult thing to do or just
> > low priority.
>
>Yes. I have and use Cisco AiroNet 340 and a DataLink DW650. Both work fine.
>
>To find out if your card works, examine the model number and then examine
>the HCL for the PCMCIA cards with the latest version of PCMCIA-CS:
>
>http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ftp/SUPPORTED.CARDS
>
>Pay special anntention to any comments on how well your card is supported
>and verify the version of PCMCIA-CS you have and how far off it is from
>the latest.
>
>Also, install the wireless-configuration-utilities (which includes
>iwconfig which is a wireless-specific "kind" of ifconfig that offers you
>specific wireless information and an ability to set wireless specific data
>for such cards.)
>
>Support for plain-text (non WEP) communications is usually best for
>wireless 802.11b while WEP support is sometimes lacking in the more
>recently supported cards.

Excellent!  Thank you.