PCMCIA Wireless Network Cards for Older Laptops

**cdersham** · 10-04-2006, 03:52 AM

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** · 10-04-2006, 04:35 AM

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** · 10-04-2006, 02:39 PM

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

**cdersham** · 10-04-2006, 02:42 PM

How about something like this

http://cgi.ebay.com/Orinoco-Gold-Wir...QQcmdZViewItem

**Harry Kuhman** · 10-04-2006, 03:14 PM

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.