[GLLUG] Compatibility Among Netgear Wireless PCMCIA Cards

[Marr]

Folks,

This post is to let anyone interested in Linux-compatible wireless PCMCIA 
cards know about my recent experiences with a couple of different Netgear 
cards.

I've been successfully using a Netgear WG511 PCMCIA card for the last year. It 
works in various versions of Slackware by using the 'Prism54' driver, which 
works with the Intersil Prism chipset in the WG511:

   http://prism54.org

A couple weeks ago, I bought another WG511, since it was on sale at Staples. 
Unfortunately, it is now 'v2', which uses the Marvell chipset, which has no 
native Linux driver. After some non-trivial efforts, I was able to get the 
card to work using version 1.2 of 'ndiswrapper':

   http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net

Unfortunately, it seemed a bit unstable, causing a lockup on at least 3 
occasions, 2 of which completely locked the machine (mouse, keyboard, clock). 
I also discovered that trying to load the 'ndiswrapper' driver would lock up 
the machine _every_ time if I booted to the bare console (i.e. not running 
X11)!

After a bit more research, I decided to return the WG511v2 card and purchase 
the WG511T, which is $10 more expensive, but was also on sale and comes with 
the 'Atheros' chipset, which is (apparently) better-supported and uses the 
'MADWiFi' ('Multiband Atheros Driver for WiFi') driver:

   http://madwifi.sourceforge.net

This driver was much simpler to deal with than the 'ndiswrapper' stuff. A 
simple driver compile/install and a reboot -- hotplugging on Slackware 10.0 
picked up the card automatically. The WG511T + MADWiFi was much easier to get 
working than the WG511v2 + 'ndiswrapper'. As an added bonus, I've seen no 
lockups at all so far (under limited testing, admittedly) and I can use the 
WG511T without booting into X11, if desired.

I noticed that Staples has these cards on sale again this week for $39.94 
($69.98 - $20 instant savings - $10 'Easy' rebate) in case anyone is in the 
market for a Linux-compatible PCMCIA WiFi card.

Be careful because Staples is also selling the more-problematic WG511v2 card 
for $29.94 ($59.98 - $20 instant savings - $10 'Easy' rebate).

Aside: The math "sharps" will notice a $0.04 discrepancy in the prices, but 
that's actually how they're printed in the ad! :^)

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Netgear or Staples -- I just had good 
luck with that card so far and wanted to let people know.

Bottom Line: The WG511T seems like a good choice for $40. It's capable of what  
Netgear calls 'SuperG' (with speeds up to 108 Mbps) but that's only possible 
with Netgear's SuperG-capable routers, of course. Count only on getting 
regular 802.11g speeds (54 Mbps) out of it otherwise.

Hope this is useful to someone....

P.S. I'm cross-posting this independently to the 3 LUG lists I'm subscribed 
to. Advance apologies to anyone who gets this more than once.

Bill Marr