[Techtalk] Wireless-G on Linux?

[Carla Schroder]

On Saturday 23 August 2003 5:23 pm, Anthony Gorecki wrote:
> Hello everyone.
>
> Since no one I've talked to has been able to give me any advice better than
> "wait for broadcom to make the drivers available", I thought I'd throw out
> the question here to see if I can find a decent solution.
>
> I'm running a custom Linux system on my laptop (which is also my main
> workstation), and bought a Linksys Wireless-G Notebook Adapter (WPC54G). Of
> course at the time, being the lazy geek I am, I neglected to do research on
> that first and in so doing didn't know it couldn't currently be used on my
> system.
>
> I have WLAN-NG installed, but moreover the problem is that the kernel won't
> even recognize the card -- it has no drivers for it. Any ideas what I can
> do about this besides going back and buying myself a B card? Complaints and
> requests to broadcom aren't really going to help.
>
> Taken out of the log file when the card is activated:
> Aug 23 17:21:34 localhost kernel: PCI: Enabling device 02:00.0 (0000 ->
> 0002) Aug 23 17:21:34 localhost cardmgr[5574]: socket 0: CardBus hotplug
> device Aug 23 17:21:34 localhost /etc/hotplug/pci.agent: ... no modules for
> PCI slot 02:00.0
>
> Thanks.

As far as I know, Broadcom chips have zero Linux support. I am angry and fed 
up with Linksys- they really suck when it comes to Linux support. There is no 
802.11g for Linux yet, period. You're stuck with 802.11b. There are of course 
some projects underway, the usual heroic Linux programmers toiling against 
the odds.

The Lucent Orinoco cards are good, and cards that use the Intersil Prism 
chipset. Be warned that models that used to use good chipsets like the Lucent 
and Intersil often change without warning, like the Linksys WMP11, which used 
to be the reference Linux card. It now has a Broadcom chipset, the dirty 
buggers.

These cards work in Linux:

Cisco Aironet PC Card
 Lucent Orinoco PC Card
 Microsoft Wireless Notebook Adapter MN-520 PC Card

There are others, but it's a crapshoot. This may help:
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/3066371
Ignore the Linksys advice. :)

-- 
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Carla Schroder
www.tuxcomputing.com
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