(no subject)

[ewx]

I finally got round to ordering an iBook. Delivery in the next week or two, hopefuly.

I need to sort out wireless connectivity for it. I'd quite like to get an 802.11g capable PCI card, since the iBook itself will be able to do that, but Linux support seems to still be at the stage of downloading a driver and hoping it'll work rather than just turning on the right kernel option. I've identified something that looks like a reasonable bet but does anyone have any recommendations?

LNR bought be Warcraft III. The box says it'll run on Macs but after hearing Mobbsy enthuse about Rome: Total War I want that too, so it's time for a new Windows install anyway (there's a bitrotted win95 install on my desktop which is hopelessly overdue for complete replacement).

Comments

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm, 802.11g on an iBook. Nice.
Of course the first thing you need to remember is that Apple's Airport and Airport Extreme cards are wildly overpriced for what they are. Many other cards, notably the Orinoco Silver and Gold cards by Proxim, and the PCWA-C150S card as used in Sony Vaio laptops also work with Apples and cost a lot less.
Have a look at this wiki (http://melbourne.wireless.org.au/wiki/?Apple) for all you need to know and more.

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

A Win95 box?

You know, I wish I'd kept my old P75 '95 box. I had one as my first 'work' machine, too, doing VBA on a 15" monitor while the boss used his twin-processor workstation for those oh-so-important PowerPoint slides.

I have hopes of finding it and using it as an anchor for my yacht, should I ever own one. That way, I don't just get to throw it in the sea: I get to throw it into the sea repeatedly.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

The Apple wireless card is already ordered. It's the other end that's still in question.

A Win95 box?

[ewx.livejournal.com]

I'd rather have a bit of inconvenience at the acquisition and setup stage than, err, a lot of inconvenience at the acquisition and setup stage and an open-ended maintenance nightmare.

[3c66b.livejournal.com]

My ThinkPad has 802.11g built in that works fine under Linux using an Atheros chipset:

0000:02:02.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)

I use the MADwifi (http://sourceforge.net/projects/madwifi/) drivers, which seem very stable -- much better than the drivers I had for my previous laptop. Of course these are evil(TM) part-closed drivers, but that's pretty normal.

[terryfish.livejournal.com]

The Netgear WG511 cards appear to be fairly good. The Prism54 driver is in the kernel tree as of 2.6.5 and there exist 2.4.x backports (although why you would want to run 2.4.x on an iBook is beyond me)

It needs firmware; but www.prism54.org can help you out there.

why you would want to run 2.4.x on an iBook is beyond me

[ewx.livejournal.com]

I think you may have misunderstood where the PCI card I'm talking about will be going...

Re: why you would want to run 2.4.x on an iBook is beyond me

[terryfish.livejournal.com]

*chants to self* I will read the posting properly in future

Not sure what to recommend PCI-card wise. I just bought an access point (combined with ADSL router) and use that.

Watch out with prims54 cards

[sugarmice.livejournal.com]

Several vendors are in the nasty habit of changing chipsets without changing card model number, and the Linux driver doesn't support the latest chipsets (and according to the prism54 mailing list, won't for some time). The WG511 is one such card, as is the 3com OfficeConnect card which I got burned by.

That's irrelevant to the current discussion, but since we're on the subject...

Re: Watch out with prims54 cards

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'd noticed that l-(

[imc.livejournal.com]

The prism firmware can also be found on the Windoze driver CD which comes with the product, incidentally. However, you have to read the small print at prism54.org in order to know where to put it.