thelinuxlink.net

I'll be getting Cable internet, finally! No more dial-up! So I will have 1 jack for the internet but I have 2 computers in my house that use the internet simultanously (3 if you include my bros laptop, but he's hardly ever home). Now I would like to go wireless because the next Nintendo system is going to have WiFi and my Nintendo DS has WiFi so that way I could use they easily over the internet. The only problem is I don't know how well Linux supports Wireless adapters. Could anyone recomend a good WiFi adapter and maybe even a wireless router? A builtin firewall would be nice too

If you have an old p1 or p2 lying around, I highly suggest using that. Buy a few NICs for like $2 a piece, a wifi NIC for like $10, and hook it up. You won't be able to plug and play, but there are some really nice advantages to using a regular computer for a router:

• You can run dns caching and/or authoritative services
  You can implement a tried and true firewall (iptables), which you will need for NAT anyway
  You will gain a lot of knowledge about how linux does networking

I think the last reason is the sticking point. I have learned so much about how packets are treated by routers after reading the iptables man page.

If you want a minimalist box to run this stuff on, I suggest Gentoo. They even have a home router guide, which really can't be used until you install it.

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/home-router-howto.xml

I don't really have any old computers, most I raid for good parts and give some to friends and such. Besides the fact that me setting up another computer to run permenantley might freak out my mom.

Well, whatever floats your boat. Oh, and by the way, almost every wireless card works on Linux. If they don't work natively in Linux, you can use ndiswrapper to use a windoze xp driver, which has saved me in the past.

bosshoff wrote:Well, whatever floats your boat. Oh, and by the way, almost every wireless card works on Linux. If they don't work natively in Linux, you can use ndiswrapper to use a windoze xp driver, which has saved me in the past.

Ok Im probly going to get:
GIGABYTE GN-WPEAG PCI Wireless Network Adapter
Zonet ZSR2104WE Wireless Broadband Router

According to the Linuxquestions.org HCL this card will work with ndiswrapper:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/showp ... oduct=1927


Should you want a card natively support by the kernel without having to use ndiswrapper.

I hear aironet cards work really well.

Wireless support is such a pain in the ass that it is a good idea to look around at what is available and then head over the the LQ HCL or do a search for linux and the card in question. That should give you a pretty good start on whether the card works natively or with a work around like ndiswrapper.

Be cautions of any version numbers as some cards change chipsets so what worked as a past version may not work in the latest version of the product.

Yeah, the native Linux things will give you extra goodies, like monitoring and statistics...and I hear they are needed if you plan on cracking any wireless encryption

I have also heard that the Prism 2.5 chipsets are the best for Linux. If I were going to buy another wireless card, I would definetely go for this one:

http://moonblinkwifi.com/pd_zcom.cfm

It is the card used by the dudes to set the record for unamplified wireless transmission (175 miles!!!). It might be a little overkill for your situation, though.

bosshoff wrote:Yeah, the native Linux things will give you extra goodies, like monitoring and statistics...and I hear they are needed if you plan on cracking any wireless encryption

I have also heard that the Prism 2.5 chipsets are the best for Linux. If I were going to buy another wireless card, I would definetely go for this one:

http://moonblinkwifi.com/pd_zcom.cfm

It is the card used by the dudes to set the record for unamplified wireless transmission (175 miles!!!). It might be a little overkill for your situation, though.

Yeah a little overkill plus it's for laptops. I couldn't find any native linux network adapters. Could someone get me a link to a good one under $40. It needs to go up to 54Mbps at least. The aironet ones are very expensive.

EDIT: I might get this adapter. It says it supports Linux....although it doesn't say the brand so I can't search the HCL to confirm it.