<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 8:29 PM, Roy J. Tellason <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:rtellason@verizon.net">rtellason@verizon.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
On Monday 08 December 2008 01:34:58 pm Angelo Bertolli wrote:<br>
> Roy J. Tellason wrote:<br>
> > I recently acquired this Sony laptop that isn't "new" enough to come with<br>
> > any sort of wireless built into it. I've shrunk the installed XP down to<br>
> > 3G or so and have been running Slackware on the rest of it for a while<br>
> > now.<br>
> ><br>
> > I'm looking to get some idea of what I need to do to get wireless going<br>
> > with this machine. There's some work that I'm looking at that seems to<br>
> > require it. I don't even know if I want a pcmcia card or something<br>
> > that'd plug into a USB connector, or if I have an open slot inside<br>
> > somewhere.<br>
> ><br>
> > A bit of reading on the subject tells me that there are issues with what<br>
> > appears to be the same adapter using different chipsets from time to<br>
> > time. Other than that, I've not really much of a clue as to what I need<br>
> > to do here.<br>
> ><br>
> > Recommendations for both hardware and software would be appreciated.<br>
><br>
> Yes, you generally can't determine compatibility based on the brand.<br>
> They can have different chipsets. However, the good news is, just about<br>
> everything works now. I don't have a single wireless device that I<br>
> can't get working with ndiswrapper.<br>
<br>
I used that for something before, I can't recall just what at the moment,<br>
but I also recall running into something on one of the web pages that I was<br>
browsing yesterday or so that stated that this wasn't a good option for at<br>
least some applications, that the mode the app wanted to use wasn't usable<br>
with ndiswrapper.</blockquote><div><br>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: <a href="http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack.html">http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack.html</a>.)<br>
</div><div> <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
> The best advice I can give is not to buy the cheapest thing if it's<br>
> really new. If you buy a card that's already a year old, you'll have a<br>
> good chance of it working with at least ndiswrapper.<br>
><br>
> (Too bad ndiswrapper doesn't have its hardware list anymore.)<br>
<br>
I did see some hardware listed here and there. Now if I knew what software I<br>
might want to run most I could load that up and get something handy to test<br>
cards with, if I end up getting something local...</blockquote><br>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.<br>
<br><br>Angelo<br></div><br>