Mailing List Archive

Wireless adapter
Hello, list.
I am planning to build a wireless network at home, and was searching
for a cheap wireless router and pci adapter.
So far, I found the D-link 524 wireless router at an affordable price.
I was wondering if anyone here could give directions for a good (and
cheap, if possible) wireless adapter that has a good support for linux
(no binary drivers if possible).
Thank you!

Bruno

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Re: Wireless adapter [ In reply to ]
Well... wireless chips have not goodsupport under linux... my laptop
has one and I have to use ndiswrapper (ndiswrapper.sf.net) to load the
windows driver... althought rigth now it works very well... but it is
not the better solution... for example... ndiswrapper cann't be use
under amd64 chips because all windows drivers are 32 bits... and Linux
doesn't allow 32 bits code to be execute at kernel level... if the
kernel it is compiled in 64 bits... there is some projects to add
support for some 54g chips... http://sourceforge.net/projects/madwifi
to be use with Atheros chips wireless cards... and http://prism54.org/
to prism 54 chip cards... and there is some projects to build drivers
for intel 2100 and 2200 wireless cards too..:
http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/ and http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/ on
all that sites they have list of cards that work ok!... you can check
it to see what is the better option for you...

David GP


On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 11:04:51 -0300, Bruno Lustosa <bruno.lists@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello, list.
> I am planning to build a wireless network at home, and was searching
> for a cheap wireless router and pci adapter.
> So far, I found the D-link 524 wireless router at an affordable price.
> I was wondering if anyone here could give directions for a good (and
> cheap, if possible) wireless adapter that has a good support for linux
> (no binary drivers if possible).
> Thank you!
>
> Bruno
>
> --
> gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
>
>

--
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: Wireless adapter [ In reply to ]
On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 11:04:51 -0300, Bruno Lustosa <bruno.lists@gmail.com>
wrote:
>Hello, list.
> I am planning to build a wireless network at home, and was searching
> for a cheap wireless router and pci adapter.
> So far, I found the D-link 524 wireless router at an affordable price.
> I was wondering if anyone here could give directions for a good (and
> cheap, if possible) wireless adapter that has a good support for linux
> (no binary drivers if possible).
> Thank you!
>

This probably won't fit into your budget or plans, but it's worth looking at
and considering anyway.

In your situation I would buy a router with switch support, a wap and then
support each user with the necessary wireless hardware. My reason for
splitting your wireless router into a router and wap pair would be to allow
for easy upgrade of either half of the hardware installation at a later date.
Plus if one or the other part fails, no need to trash the whole deal and it's
easily expandable with the addition of more waps if needed.

I haven't any hands-on-experience with home size router boxes, but I would
imagine anything with a firewall inside with switch support would be good. As
for the wireless part... Since you are looking at cable boxes, the the usual
internet connection is 10baseT, I'd suggest sticking with 802.11b. You'll see
no web surfing performance improvement with 802.11g since your inet
connection is the ultimate bottle neck. Hardware at the 802.11b spec level is
cheap and highly reliable.

One of the best 802.11b hardware manufacturers is SENAO. I promote and support
it when ever I get a chance. The nicest feature of SENAO's 802.11b stuff is,
it'll do a full 200mw/23db. Most, if not all, of the "other stuff" in the
market place runs around 50mw or less. Your DI-524 is only rated at 30mw/15db
max. With that much power and a decent antenna, you will have no dead spots
in your setup... guaranteed. SENAO is based on either prism 1,2 or 3
chipsets, all supported under linux.

The only time 802.11g is an advantage is when you do transfers between two
users on the lan.... like sharing files, etc. In fact, in an R.F. noisey
environment most 802.11g hardware downshifts to slower speeds for reliable
connections anyways.... R.F. noise? Like 2.4g wireless telephones and
multimedia transmitters, etc.

A good place to buy senao from is: http://www.aerialix.com/

Also, an interesting 802.11b resource from that website is:
http://www.aerialix.com/equipment/80211b_access_points.html

Good luck and have fun and let us know how you make out with your new lan.

Jerry

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******************************************************************************
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Re: Wireless adapter [ In reply to ]
On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 11:40:27 -0400, Jerry McBride <mcbrides9@comcast.net> wrote:
> In your situation I would buy a router with switch support, a wap and then
> support each user with the necessary wireless hardware. My reason for
> splitting your wireless router into a router and wap pair would be to allow
> for easy upgrade of either half of the hardware installation at a later date.
> Plus if one or the other part fails, no need to trash the whole deal and it's
> easily expandable with the addition of more waps if needed.

Jerry, I was looking at a D-Link Wireless Router, and a cheap PCI
Wireless Card. That would fit. My house is rather small, and all I
need is something to avoid breaking the walls to have wires. The
distance between the router and the computer will be about 5 meters.
I would be doing something like this:

Phone Line -> DSL Modem -> Wireless Router -------------- Wireless
Card -> Computer

I'm not sure I will need an AP, but I am no wireless expert.

Thanks for your message. When I decide for something, I'll let you know.

Bruno

PS: By the way, you wouldn't be a relative of Darl, right? :)

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gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: Wireless adapter [ In reply to ]
On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 14:31:32 -0300, Bruno Lustosa <bruno.lists@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 11:40:27 -0400, Jerry McBride <mcbrides9@comcast.net> wrote:
> > In your situation I would buy a router with switch support, a wap and then
> > support each user with the necessary wireless hardware. My reason for
> > splitting your wireless router into a router and wap pair would be to allow
> > for easy upgrade of either half of the hardware installation at a later date.
> > Plus if one or the other part fails, no need to trash the whole deal and it's
> > easily expandable with the addition of more waps if needed.
>
> Jerry, I was looking at a D-Link Wireless Router, and a cheap PCI
> Wireless Card. That would fit. My house is rather small, and all I
> need is something to avoid breaking the walls to have wires. The
> distance between the router and the computer will be about 5 meters.
> I would be doing something like this:
>
> Phone Line -> DSL Modem -> Wireless Router -------------- Wireless
> Card -> Computer
>
> I'm not sure I will need an AP, but I am no wireless expert.
>
> Thanks for your message. When I decide for something, I'll let you know.

Before doing this, make sure you understand the security implications!
Unless you do a thorough job with security (not simple with wireless),
you are making it possible for anyone (including roaming identity
thiefs) to scarf up all your accounts and passwords and creditcard
numbers and to monkey with any of your systems if your non-wirelss
security is not up to snuff. It's downright scary what can be done
with open-source wireless tools, a laptop, and a directional antenna.
With basic wireless security all a thief needs to do is to scarf up a
couple of weeks of your activity in order to decode the encryption.

You have been warned.

You'll sleep better at night if you run CAT5 in the walls.

--
/\/\
(CR) Collins Richey
\/\/ 20 minutes is the average that a Windows based PC lasts
before it's compromised.
- according to the Internet Storm Center.

--
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: Wireless adapter [ In reply to ]
On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 11:51:53 -0600, Collins Richey <crichey@gmail.com> wrote:
> Before doing this, make sure you understand the security implications!
> Unless you do a thorough job with security (not simple with wireless),
> you are making it possible for anyone (including roaming identity
> thiefs) to scarf up all your accounts and passwords and creditcard
> numbers and to monkey with any of your systems if your non-wirelss
> security is not up to snuff. It's downright scary what can be done
> with open-source wireless tools, a laptop, and a directional antenna.
> With basic wireless security all a thief needs to do is to scarf up a
> couple of weeks of your activity in order to decode the encryption.

I do understand, and was reading about wireless security. As there are
no cables, anyone could easily sniff "packets" (flying packets?) from
my network.
There are countermeasures though, and I was reading about WEP (Wired
Equivalent Privacy), which does some kind of encryption. Both the
wireless card and router support it.
Is there something else I will need?

Bruno

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gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: Wireless adapter [ In reply to ]
On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 15:03:56 -0300, Bruno Lustosa <bruno.lists@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 11:51:53 -0600, Collins Richey <crichey@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Before doing this, make sure you understand the security implications!
> > Unless you do a thorough job with security (not simple with wireless),
> > you are making it possible for anyone (including roaming identity
> > thiefs) to scarf up all your accounts and passwords and creditcard
> > numbers and to monkey with any of your systems if your non-wirelss
> > security is not up to snuff. It's downright scary what can be done
> > with open-source wireless tools, a laptop, and a directional antenna.
> > With basic wireless security all a thief needs to do is to scarf up a
> > couple of weeks of your activity in order to decode the encryption.
>
> I do understand, and was reading about wireless security. As there are
> no cables, anyone could easily sniff "packets" (flying packets?) from
> my network.
> There are countermeasures though, and I was reading about WEP (Wired
> Equivalent Privacy), which does some kind of encryption. Both the
> wireless card and router support it.
> Is there something else I will need?
>

It depends. You should review the description of basic WEP in this
presentation from our local LUG. Basic WEP is imminently crackable.
Just be cautious. I, for one, would never conduct financial
transactions via a wireless connection. YMMV.

http://clue.denver.co.us/wireless-crack-talk/CLUE_wireless.sxi


--
/\/\
(CR) Collins Richey
\/\/ 20 minutes is the average that a Windows based PC lasts
before it's compromised.
- according to the Internet Storm Center.

--
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: Wireless adapter [ In reply to ]
Bruno Lustosa wrote:
> On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 11:51:53 -0600, Collins Richey <crichey@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>Before doing this, make sure you understand the security implications!
>>Unless you do a thorough job with security (not simple with wireless),
>>you are making it possible for anyone (including roaming identity
>>thiefs) to scarf up all your accounts and passwords and creditcard
>>numbers and to monkey with any of your systems if your non-wirelss
>>security is not up to snuff. It's downright scary what can be done
>>with open-source wireless tools, a laptop, and a directional antenna.
>>With basic wireless security all a thief needs to do is to scarf up a
>>couple of weeks of your activity in order to decode the encryption.
>
>
> I do understand, and was reading about wireless security. As there are
> no cables, anyone could easily sniff "packets" (flying packets?) from
> my network.
> There are countermeasures though, and I was reading about WEP (Wired
> Equivalent Privacy), which does some kind of encryption. Both the
> wireless card and router support it.
> Is there something else I will need?
>
> Bruno

If u worry very much about your security, then WiFi is definitely not
the way to go. WEP is easily breakable on AP-client connection model.
IMO what makes an alien to break in harder, is to use P2P mode
(also known as bridge mode), because it's mostly based on proprietary
protocols incompatible between vendors.

If u like to have it fast, easy and sure linux supported, buy a pair
of AP stations supported by excellent tool called "ap-utils".
(emerge ap-utils and read documentation about supported models)

I used AP model 1590 (available from different vendors worldwide) and
was very happy with it, because ap-config shows me all WiFi nodes
around me, their signal quality&strength etc. (really profi tool).

noro


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gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: Wireless adapter [ In reply to ]
Collins Richey wrote:
It depends. You should review the description of basic WEP in this
> presentation from our local LUG. Basic WEP is imminently crackable.
> Just be cautious. I, for one, would never conduct financial
> transactions via a wireless connection. YMMV.

I would never does it from M$WormOS, which I count about milion
times biger security risc as wireless connection, because bank
connection transmitted through wifi is crypted ...
but worm can see what's going where inside M$ Exploder.

noro

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gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: Wireless adapter [ In reply to ]
> > Before doing this, make sure you understand the security implications!
> > Unless you do a thorough job with security (not simple with wireless),
> > you are making it possible for anyone (including roaming identity
> > thiefs) to scarf up all your accounts and passwords and creditcard
> > numbers and to monkey with any of your systems if your non-wirelss
> > security is not up to snuff. It's downright scary what can be done
> > with open-source wireless tools, a laptop, and a directional antenna.
> > With basic wireless security all a thief needs to do is to scarf up a
> > couple of weeks of your activity in order to decode the encryption.
>
> I do understand, and was reading about wireless security. As there are
> no cables, anyone could easily sniff "packets" (flying packets?) from
> my network.
> There are countermeasures though, and I was reading about WEP (Wired
> Equivalent Privacy), which does some kind of encryption. Both the
> wireless card and router support it.
> Is there something else I will need?
>
> Bruno

I was doing some reading about 802.11i which is supposed to solve
(relative term) the encryption issues people have with wireless.
Newer 802.11g (b too?) equipment is supposed to be compatible with the
i standard. Does anyone know when 802.11i will be available?

- Grant

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gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: Wireless adapter [ In reply to ]
On Sep 6, 2004, at 3:04 pm, Bruno Lustosa wrote:
> I am planning to build a wireless network at home, and was searching
> for a cheap wireless router and pci adapter.
> So far, I found the D-link 524 wireless router at an affordable price.
> I was wondering if anyone here could give directions for a good (and
> cheap, if possible) wireless adapter that has a good support for linux
> (no binary drivers if possible).


On Sep 6, 2004, at 12:08 am, Stroller wrote:
>
> I am currently building a Linux wireless base-station / router, and
> recently looked into wireless cards. The Linux drivers for the Prism
> chipsets seemed to me to be the most mature, and since I wanted
> support for 54g and master mode I think I found that only Prism cards
> would do.
>
> You might find it worth checking out <http://prism54.org/> and in
> particular <http://prism54.org/supported_cards.php> &
> <http://tinyurl.com/4d9zo>.
>
> I found that, using the card I chose, wireless LAN was basically up &
> working after only a handful of commands. I documented it here
> <http://gentoo-wiki.com/
> HOWTO_Building_a_Wireless_Access_Point_With_Gentoo>.
>
> I hope you find this useful,



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Re: Wireless adapter [ In reply to ]
Hi Bruno,


* Bruno Lustosa <bruno.lists@gmail.com>, Monday, September 6, 2004, 4:04:51 PM:

> I was wondering if anyone here could give directions for a good (and
> cheap, if possible) wireless adapter that has a good support for linux
> (no binary drivers if possible).
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Linux.Wireless.drivers.802.11b.html
Also browse a bit on this site, he has more than just this list.

Timo


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Re: Wireless adapter [ In reply to ]
Quoting Collins Richey <crichey@gmail.com>:

> On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 15:03:56 -0300, Bruno Lustosa <bruno.lists@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 11:51:53 -0600, Collins Richey <crichey@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > > Before doing this, make sure you understand the security implications!
> > > Unless you do a thorough job with security (not simple with wireless),
> > > you are making it possible for anyone (including roaming identity
> > > thiefs) to scarf up all your accounts and passwords and creditcard
> > > numbers and to monkey with any of your systems if your non-wirelss
> > > security is not up to snuff. It's downright scary what can be done
> > > with open-source wireless tools, a laptop, and a directional antenna.
> > > With basic wireless security all a thief needs to do is to scarf up a
> > > couple of weeks of your activity in order to decode the encryption.
> >
> > I do understand, and was reading about wireless security. As there are
> > no cables, anyone could easily sniff "packets" (flying packets?) from
> > my network.
> > There are countermeasures though, and I was reading about WEP (Wired
> > Equivalent Privacy), which does some kind of encryption. Both the
> > wireless card and router support it.
> > Is there something else I will need?
> >
>
> It depends. You should review the description of basic WEP in this
> presentation from our local LUG. Basic WEP is imminently crackable.


Very true, it is inherently insecure..

However, you could always secure it more by creating an IPSec secure tunnel,
through the WEP. That way you have two layers of security. The more layers..
the better ;)



> Just be cautious. I, for one, would never conduct financial
> transactions via a wireless connection. YMMV.
>
> http://clue.denver.co.us/wireless-crack-talk/CLUE_wireless.sxi
>
>
> --
> /\/\
> (CR) Collins Richey
> \/\/ 20 minutes is the average that a Windows based PC lasts
> before it's compromised.
> - according to the Internet Storm Center.
>
> --
> gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
>
>





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gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: Wireless adapter [ In reply to ]
Bruno,
I started setting up a wireless network and had to turn it off. We
have 2.4GHz wireless phones around the house. Anytime the phone rang
the whole wireless network went haywire. When you picked up the phone
you heard clicks and pops.

With the Netgear wireless router we bought, an with no wireless
PCs, when the phones are in use even the wired devices were messed up.
I had to completely disable the radio on the router to not have that
problem.

Lastly my some complained about latency on his online games.
(Battlenet/Starcraft)

As others have said make sure you get well supported NICs. My
windows boxes worked on this network but I could not get the Broadcom
NIC in my Presario to link up when running Linux. It's fine when it
runs Win XP.

Too many problems...

- Mark


On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 11:04:51 -0300, Bruno Lustosa <bruno.lists@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello, list.
> I am planning to build a wireless network at home, and was searching
> for a cheap wireless router and pci adapter.
> So far, I found the D-link 524 wireless router at an affordable price.
> I was wondering if anyone here could give directions for a good (and
> cheap, if possible) wireless adapter that has a good support for linux
> (no binary drivers if possible).
> Thank you!
>
> Bruno
>
> --
> gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
>
>

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