[clue-tech] going wireless

[Angelo Bertolli]

On Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 8:29 PM, Roy J. Tellason <rtellason at verizon.net>wrote:

> On Monday 08 December 2008 01:34:58 pm Angelo Bertolli wrote:
> > Roy J. Tellason wrote:
> > > I recently acquired this Sony laptop that isn't "new" enough to come
> with
> > > any sort of wireless built into it.  I've shrunk the installed XP down
> to
> > > 3G or so and have been running Slackware on the rest of it for a while
> > > now.
> > >
> > > I'm looking to get some idea of what I need to do to get wireless going
> > > with this machine.  There's some work that I'm looking at that seems to
> > > require it.  I don't even know if I want a pcmcia card or something
> > > that'd plug into a USB connector,  or if I have an open slot inside
> > > somewhere.
> > >
> > > A bit of reading on the subject tells me that there are issues with
> what
> > > appears to be the same adapter using different chipsets from time to
> > > time. Other than that,  I've not really much of a clue as to what I
> need
> > > to do here.
> > >
> > > Recommendations for both hardware and software would be appreciated.
> >
> > Yes, you generally can't determine compatibility based on the brand.
> > They can have different chipsets.  However, the good news is, just about
> > everything works now.  I don't have a single wireless device that I
> > can't get working with ndiswrapper.
>
> I used that for something before,  I can't recall just what at the moment,
> but I also recall running into something on one of the web pages that I was
> browsing yesterday or so that stated that this wasn't a good option for at
> least some applications,  that the mode the app wanted to use wasn't usable
> with ndiswrapper.


I'm not sure... it might take a little bit more resources, but other than
that, I don't see why it would be incompatible with any software.  It's a
kernel module, yes.  Sometimes it doesn't support everything your wireless
can do (e.g. monitor mode), but unless you're trying to use kismet or
airmon-ng, it shouldn't be a problem.  (And by the way, BackTrack 3 seems to
have drivers for just about any wireless device in that case:
http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack.html.)



> > The best advice I can give is not to buy the cheapest thing if it's
> > really new.  If you buy a card that's already a year old, you'll have a
> > good chance of it working with at least ndiswrapper.
> >
> > (Too bad ndiswrapper doesn't have its hardware list anymore.)
>
> I did see some hardware listed here and there.  Now if I knew what software
> I
> might want to run most I could load that up and get something handy to test
> cards with,  if I end up getting something local...


If you go to a local store that takes returns like microcenter, and you test
out the product within a reasonable amount of time,  you can take it back if
it doesn't work well...  actually that's probably a pretty good solution for
you.


Angelo
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