Help me out of wireless hell

[Hewitt Tech]

I think you might have better luck if you buy a different PCMCIA card. I
have a LinkSys wireless access point that is built into their 4 port
switched hub and it works fine with a variety of cards. Specifically, I have
used it with an older LinkSys WPC11 (probably the 1st version), a Compaq
iPaq wireless card (Prism II), an Orinoco Gold card (Hermes) and a Compaq
WL100 card (Prism I think). All of these cards seem to work fine. One thing
you might want to check out - do you by any chance have a 2.4 ghz wireless
phone? If so, there are known interference issues with the phones and the
2.4 ghz 802.11b access points. One way around this I read somewhere in a
newsgroup is to either select a specific channel (LinkSys seems to default
to channel 6) or to make sure the wireless access point and wireless network
is started before the phone is powered up. Apparently there is logic in the
devices to detect existing communications and avoid conflicts.

-Alex

P.S. AFAIK, the main advantage of the newer LinkSys WPC11 V3+ cards is that
they use the Prism II chip set and have better range. In that department the
Orinoco card is far superior to any of the other cards I have. Also, I have
a D-Link DL120 USB wireless unit that exceeds all my PCMCIA cards in terms
of range.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Iadonisi" <pri.nhlug at iadonisi.to>
To: "Greater New Hampshire LUG" <discuss at gnhlug.org>
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2002 11:43 PM
Subject: Help me out of wireless hell


>   *sigh*
>
>   I've avoided getting any wireless hardware for various reasons.  Now
> I'm in a situation where my life is much easier if I dive in.
>   Well, I'm part way there.  I've at least got a wireless card that
> works with the access point (whatever it is) that I need it to.  But
> having a piece of hardware that only works for me six to eight hours a
> day at a specific location just doesn't sit right with me, so I decided
> to get an access point for home.  That's when my pain started.
>   After struggling for hours to get a Linksys WPC11v3 and a Linksys
> WAPv2.2 to talk to each other, I stumbled across several comments on
> several mailing lists that indicate that these two devices are not
> compatible with each other.  That's right, same vendor and they won't
> talk.  Surprised?  I didn't think so.  According to a few postings I
> saw, Linksys is aware of the problem and recommends buying an older
> version of either the card or the WAP.  The thing that rankles me is
> that at least one of those messages was posted in January, indicating
> that the problem has existed for at least seven months without a
> resolution.
>   So I exchanged the WAPv2.2 for a WMP11 PCI wireless card hoping to use
> it as an access point in my desktop with the help of the Prism2 HostAP
> project.  No dice.  *That* requires a firmware update to firmware that
> is not available as an official update from Linksys.  It's apparently
> possible to use any prism2 firmware with any vendor's prism2 based
> cards, but there seemed to be some indication that some people have
> smoked their cards doing this.
>   So I'm back on the hunt for a real WAP.  Chump^WCompUSA only carries
> one more model that isn't also a hub -- it's a Netgear model that
> requires Windows in order to configure it (through its USB port).  I
> won't buy it on principle, but I don't have access to any Windows
> machines, anyhow (and intend on keeping it that way).  This is trying my
> commitment to my principles, however, as I'm at that 'I just want it to
> work' stage about right now.
>   Does anyone know of a WAP that:
>
> o is configurable entirely from Linux like the Linksys which uses a web
> interface
> o isn't also a wired hub -- I don't want to pay for what I don't need --
> one RJ45 connection is all I need, thank you
> o is known to work with the WPC11v3 Linksys card
>
> ?
>
>
> --
> -Paul Iadonisi
>  Senior System Administrator
>  Red Hat Certified Engineer / Local Linux Lobbyist
>  Ever see a penguin fly?  --  Try Linux.
>  GPL all the way: Sell services, don't lease secrets
>
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