hostap with ralink based card?

Akaihiryuu · l33t Joined: 08 May 2003 Posts: 798 Location: Columbus, OH

I'm going to be putting a wireless card in my server...I'm in the process of moving and the access point belongs to another roommate, so I want to go with an internal wireless card instead of having an external access point. I'm thinking about this card: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16833124115 which I believe is based on the RALink chipset (from the information I can find online). Has anyone successfully used one of these with hostap? If not, does anyone know of a card that would be better for that? Any information would be appreciated.

Paczesiowa · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 11:46 pm Post subject:

dont buy ralink based card. to put it in master mode and use hostapd you need svn drivers, git kernel sources, patched hostapd and most likely it wont work at all. (maaaaybe if you are lucky you'll get working 1mbit connection crashing all the time)

just buy any card based on atheros chipset supported by madwifi-ng drivers, there are many people (including myself) running (stable, fast and secure) software access points with these cards.

Akaihiryuu · l33t Joined: 08 May 2003 Posts: 798 Location: Columbus, OH

Any ideas which manufacturers make cards with Atheros chipsets? It's very difficult to tell which cards use which chipsets. Also, using HostAP with an Atheros card, is it possible to run an 802.11g access point?

Paczesiowa · Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 1:18 am Post subject:

yes it's possible. and it's named hostapD, hostap is something else (some drivers I think) that one letter can give you many more valuable google hits:]

I use tp-link TL-WN551G. in poland you can get it for 15$

Akaihiryuu · l33t Joined: 08 May 2003 Posts: 798 Location: Columbus, OH

Ok, I'm going to have to do some research and see what I can find on Newegg. I'd prefer to use Linksys, Netgear, or D-Link (not a fan of Belkin except for their KVM switches). I remember seeing a database online somewhere that had a list of different cards by different manufacturers that listed which chipsets they used, but I can't seem to find it again. Does anyone know where to find such a list?

Akaihiryuu · l33t Joined: 08 May 2003 Posts: 798 Location: Columbus, OH

I found a great list on Atheros cards. Apparently Atheros cards are advertised as 108mbps:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=314974

Akaihiryuu · l33t Joined: 08 May 2003 Posts: 798 Location: Columbus, OH

I found an Atheros card that's reasonably priced:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122134

Paczesiowa · Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 5:48 pm Post subject:

usually hardware is much cheaper in usa than poland, so I dont understand why you cant buy atheros-based card for <15$, and why there are no tp-link cards on newegg.

and I would just buy the cheapest card, dont be too picky about brands. they just buy the same atheros chipset, solder it to pcb, print manual, burn drivers etc. and wifi card isn't complicated piece of hardware there isn't anything that could broke.