On Mon, 2003-07-14 at 22:09, Keith wrote: > I'm trying to decide between two wireless 802.11 a/b/g combo cards. > Linux support is the deciding factor. Unfortunately, 802.11g is pretty much unsupported on Linux. My understanding is that the lack of support comes from the fact that hardware vendors have started using some (at least partially) software-defined radios so that they can adapt easily to any changes that were made in the 802.11g specification before it was finalized. A side-effect is that they can theoretically access large portions of the RF spectrum. The vendors don't want to expose any of their patents or trade secrets by defining the (quite low-level) interface to these cards, and they also might draw the ire of organizations such as the FCC as well as various armed forces around the world that use certain frequencies for communication that could be interfered with by these adapters. However, the 802.11g committee has finalized the standard now, so hopefully we'll see some full-hardware options soon. On the other hand, we might unfortunately see this become another area where Linux support stays relatively poor, just like with Winmodems and Winprinters.. I'm sure some people will be doing their best to reverse-engineer the cards, but getting things working reliably through that route is generally very slow going.. For now, your best bet is just to stay with vanilla 802.11a/b. Also note that the 22Mbps .11b cards that are floating around are not likely to work with Linux either (for pretty similar reasons, as I understand it). -- _ _ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _ ___ _ _ __ If it's tourist season, why / \/ \(_)| ' // ._\ / - \(_)/ ./| ' /(__ can't we shoot them? \_||_/|_||_|_\\___/ \_-_/|_|\__\|_|_\ __) [ Mike Hicks | http://umn.edu/~hick0088/ | mailto:hick0088 at tc.umn.edu ] -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 189 bytes Desc: This is a digitally signed message part Url : http://shadowknight.real-time.com/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20030714/36ba58d0/attachment.pgp