Linux-kernel mailing list archive 1999-32,: Re: Wireless ethernet?

# Re: Wireless ethernet?

Erik Walthinsen (omega@cse.ogi.edu)
Tue, 10 Aug 1999 01:25:41 -0700 (PDT)

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On Sun, 8 Aug 1999, Anthony Barbachan wrote:

> Yes it is possible. I remember reading about an 11mbit solution in Reseller
> News a while back. The iBook supposedly also has a wireless solution though
> I'm not sure about the speed. Whether either solution is supported under
> Linux, I do not know.

In various form, yes. There are some 11Mbps cards out there now
(RadioLAN's been out for years), with varying Linux support. Some
companies have hardware you plug a crossover 100Base-T cable into to wire
up your machine. That's expensive.

More recent stuff includes Proxim's RangeLAN and Symphony cards, and the
big one: Lucent's WaveLAN. WaveLAN is now quite nicely supported for all
versions, even with FreeBSD (for those who care <g>). Lucent released the
necessary code to build open-soruce drivers, and this has been ported to
FreeBSD by a professor around here. There is also a reverse-engineering
-based driver around for FreeBSD that may get itself ported to Linux if
someone has the time. It has lower-level access to the hardware stuff,
which is useful for certain things, like inexpensively determining signal
strength.

There are also various cards using the HomeRF spec (1Mbps, lobotimized
802.11), but almost without exception the manufacturers are stupid.
WebGear has some hardware that claims 2Mbps, which sounds like the
original 802.11 spec. Unknown what the prices are, but I've heard they're
working on Linux drivers. I was working on drivers for their previous
device (parallel port 900MHz) but have been busy with other things,
keeping me from getting it working (funky IRQ racing and stuff). I hope
to get that driver finished one of these days, but I don't think they're
selling the hardware anymore.

As for the 11Mbps AirPort card (the iBook thing), it is from Lucent, but I
haven't heard whether it is the same card Lucent ships now (or rather,
same series, the 'Hermes' chip and successors). If it is in the same
series, and can be purchase separately from an iBook (I've heard that it
might have a custom antenna connector mated to the iBook, which would
contain a case-sized antenna), then it should just work with existing
drivers. The 'Turbo' series of WaveLAN worked without modification on the
HCF-lite drivers (HCF-lite is Lucent's low-level code base). Tests
between Linux/Linux and Linux/FreeBSD (with the aforementioned professor),
as well between Linux and an ancient Lucent WavePOINT, gave 3.9Mbps on
cards that are alternately declared 6 and 11Mbps, depending on who you
ask.

For WaveLAN-related fun, you can sign onto the majordomo list
wavelan@cse.ogi.edu (cc'd). There are real Lucent people there who
actually answer questions. Quite a novelty in the Linux world, let me
tell you ;-)

There's more out there, if you search. Just pick an engine and some
appropriate keywords <g>

TTYL,
Omega

Erik Walthinsen <omega@cse.ogi.edu> - Staff Programmer @ OGI
Quasar project - http://www.cse.ogi.edu/DISC/projects/quasar/
Video4Linux Two drivers and stuff - http://www.cse.ogi.edu/~omega/v4l2/
__
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| | M E G A Helping Linux become THE choice
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