Which pci Wi-Fi card is easiest to install in gentoo?

rbiswarup · n00b Joined: 26 Jan 2005 Posts: 26 Location: India

I have been searching the gentoo forums, ubuntu wiki and other net resources for the past one month, but is more confused than ever about which pci card to use on my gentoo desktop-Netgear with atheros chipset or smc with prism or intel pro?Any clue will be appreciated. Do I need to buy an access point which is of the same brand as the wi-fi card? Particularly is there any pci wi-fi card that would work out-of-the-box with gentoo installation cd?

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:20 am Post subject:

rbiswarup,

WiFi is a pain and mostly unsupported on the install CDs. Many modern WiFi cards use ndiswrapper, which is a method of using the WindowsXP drivers on linux. However, you need to be able to compile your own kernel for that.

PCI WiFi is generally a bad idea. The antenna is normally placed behind a steel box, which is the worst possible place for it. Choose one that supports a remote antenna. You do not need a WiFi card from the same manufactuer as your AP. They all work to common standards.

You should do a networkless install, (unless you can get a wired connection for the duration of the install) using the Universal liveCD, following this guide http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/2005.0/index.xml
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

rbiswarup · n00b Joined: 26 Jan 2005 Posts: 26 Location: India

Thanks for the reply, is there any performance loss if ndiswrapper is used - compared to a native driver like madwifi?
About antenna , do you mean a pci card with remote antenna or a USB or other device?

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:47 am Post subject:

rbiswarup,

I have never tried USB wireless, so can't comment. The important thing is to get the WiFi antenna away from the steel PC enclosure so it is able to work effectively.

Its difficult to compare ndiswrapper with native drivers because ndiswrapper is used where there are no native drivers for the chipset concerned. I don't know of any comparitive figures obtained where both driver sets are available.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.