Michael A. Peters wrote:
On Fri, 2005-11-25 at 13:51 -0500, Temlakos wrote:
Netgear uses chipsets built by Atheros Communications.
Is that the case?
I thought they had switched again.
Atheros Communications' latest searchable catalog clearly shows multiple
models of Cardbus and PCI adapter cards, access points, routers, and
even USB 2.0 adapters. I used the Dual-band A/B/G Cardbus adapter (Model
WAG-511).
I agree that installing a new version of Fedora is a pain with this
card, in that you have to use a direct Ethernet connection long enough
to (a) upgrade to a new version of the kernel for which a matching
kernel-module-madwifi RPM is available, and (b) install that RPM.
(Thanks, Livna, for maintaining this and other kernel modules. "Madwifi"
stands for Multi-band Atheros Driver for WIreless FIdelity, and is the
driver of choice for any PCI, Cardbus, or desktop/laptop with built-in
wireless that uses Atheros chipsets.) But once you get the kernel module
in place, you then can configure an Atheros-based wireless interface
using system-config-network, just as easily as you can configure a
regular Ethernet interface. (The madwifi driver will impose an interface
name of "ath0", not "eth1" as you might normally expect.)
And thereafter, when you hear of a kernel upgrade, /wait/ until Livna
has a kernel-module-madwifi package available. Then install the new
kernel /and/ its associated kernel module. You /should not/ have to
reconfigure your wireless interface with any new kernel and module pair.
(Thus far, I've done it at least once, and without a hitch.)
But I'm happy to hear that Intel Centrino chips are supported in the
base kernel. That covers a great many laptop models! (Would you believe
367 pages of products from their product-search database?) Try this link:
http://intel.links.channelintelligence.com/oemsites/6684177/255/ibl3.asp?cii_sFacts=6464,Notebook%20PC,~-1::6479,Intel%20Centrino%20Mobile%20Technology,~-1::6480,,~-1::6466,,~3::1624,,~-1::2255,,~-1::817,,~-1::6467,,~-1::1150,,~-1::910,,~-1::6495,,~-1&cii_sCT=&cii_nSort=0&cii_sSortOrder=asc&cii_nPage=4&cii_sfact0=Laptop%20PC&cii_sfact1=Intel%C2%AE%20Centrino%E2%84%A2%20Mobile%20Technology&cii_sMAN=-1&cii_sRET=-1&cii_nVID=0&cii_bMLock=False&cii_bRLock=False
You might have to cut-and-paste that into your browser's go-to field.
As to direct kernel-supported PCI and Cardbus adapters, my information
is woefully inadequate. I found a solution, using a loadable kernel
module, and went with it. But that's not to say that someone else can't
find it. It also seems a worthy goal. One can only hope that more
chipset makers will see the wisdom of publishing their source code as
open-source, so that the kernel developers can support most wireless
interfaces just as readily as they support CPU's today. As Linux becomes
increasingly popular, they'll have to.
Temlakos
