PCMCIA Wireless Network Cards for Older Laptops

[cdersham]

I purchased an older laptop for messing with linux distro's its a Compaq Evo N400c, anyways i have a pcmcia card NETGEAR WG511 v2 and i have not been able to get it to work with Knoppix, or any linux distro for that matter. So what i was thinking is what PCMCIA Wireless network card would be best for Linux Distros. At this point im tired of messing with it..but i really want to have wireless access.. ... any suggestions would be great!..... I am a Linux Nubie!!

Thanks

Chris :? :?:

[Harry Kuhman]

The orinoco gold is considered a very good Linux card, although I've never actually seen one for sale at any local retailer. See the wireless networking section of the wiki for more information on this issue.

[cdersham]

Thanks for the info, i will check it out......anything else?

[cdersham]

How about something like this




http://cgi.ebay.com/Orinoco-Gold-Wireless-802-11a-b-g-PCMCIA-Card-Enterasys_W0QQitemZ110039124558QQihZ001QQcategoryZ 45000QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Harry Kuhman]

I hate the electronic bay of thieves with a passion, would never deal with them. But that does not seem to be a universally shared view. If you want to take your chances with them that's your call, but I find it hard to believe that you can't get something that will work a lot cheaper elsewhere and with a lot better chance that you actually will get what you pay for.

Knoppix support for wireless isn't great though, and 5.0.1 is a real step backwards; a NIC I have that worked under 4.02 will not work under 5.0.1. Other cards I have have never worked under Knoppix, but I found that they work under other Live CD distros like Mandriva just fine and use chip sets that are well supported in Linux. This isn't a big deal for me; I hard wire in my notebook most of the time anyway. But I can see it could be an issue for others. See the wiki artile that I mentioned for an explination of manufacturers changing chipsets that makes your question very hard to answer perfectly. I would even consider taking the laptop to a local retailer and seeing if he will let you try wifi cards to be sure you have one that will work, or at least buy locally with a full return policy with no restocking fee if they will not let you try under Knoppix before you buy.

[cdersham]

You wouldn't deal with Ebay? or This Specific seller?

[Harry Kuhman]

Ebay

[cdersham]

Ahh Got ya... i can't say much.. i use ebay all the time... :lol:

[Patonb]

I picked up a netgear WG511T and it works in my new laptop off ebay for 30$ cdn. It's a ver 1 so it should be good.

[doglover]

Hello. With 5.01, the Linksys WPC11works.

IMF

[Postie]

I use a DellTrue Mobile 1150 (Orinoco chipset) with Knoppix 4.0.2 on a Sony Vaio PCG-Z505JS on a 'poorman's install'. The only step necesary was to turn on the PCMCIA services through the SysInit5 Editor.