Jim Lowman wrote: > While I'm not inclined to bash the tremendous effort > of many volunteers over many years to bring us a free > and stable OS, this wireless card issue is a hot topic > with me. > <--------------[ SNIP ]------------------> > > Yesterday I asked the question, both on this list and > on LinuxForums, about what a reliable Linux-compatible > wireless card for a Dell 8500 laptop would be, without > having to resort to a custom kernel or ndiswrapper. > The sum of my responses: 1. > <--------------[ SNIP ]------------------> > Am I being ignored because the answer is out there > somewhere in the archives and no one wants to give me > RTFM as an answer? I have invested in quite a number > of technical books on Linux and FC5, BTW. as well as > considerable Googling. > > Jim > In my case, I did not answer because I have no experience with the 802.11g cards. My laptop has built-in wireless and I use the ipw3945 driver. Because it is not part of the standard FC5 kernels, I have to ether build a new driver, or download it from AT rpms with each kernel upgrade. Now, if you were interested in 802.11b cards, I could offer a couple of ideas, but I have not used any of them with FC5, so I am not sure how much help I could be. I think part of the problem is that so many of the newer laptops have wireless built in, so people figure out how to use what comes with the laptop. Another part of the problem is that is is hard to tell if a specific card is going to work. It would be different if the manufacturer would change model numbers when they change chip sets in the card. But too many of them do not. It is interesting when you go to download the Windows drivers, and you have to pick the correct card model out of 5 or 6 choices, all of them having the same number, and maybe different revision numbers. Even if you know a specific revision number will work, a lot of the time you have no way of knowing what revision the card is until you open the box and look at the card. This is not just a Linux problem. You run into the same problem getting cards that work with older versions of Windows CE as well. Mikkel -- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!
