Is there a wireless PCI/e card that is supported in the kernel?

From: Justin Piszcz
Date: Thu Mar 13 2008 - 08:39:56 EST


In the past, I used ndiswrapper etc but noticed that would freeze up my laptop occasionally..

Obviously for a server machine if you are going to add a wireless card you /probably/ do not want to be using ndiswrapper if it is an important host.

PCI-e: (D-Link DWA-556)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127218

PCI Cards:
This one seems to be the most popular one on newegg:
EDIMAX EW-7128G IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Wireless Card Up to 54Mbps Data Rates 64/128-Bit WEP, 802.1x, WPA, AES - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16833315041
Pros: Ubuntu 7.10 (Gusty Gibbon) picked up this card without any need for additional drivers. It has been running with 85% signal stregnth with the router in the next room.
But then:
Cons: Drivers are still under development. The rt2x00 driver is in the 2.6.24 kernel, but it's somewhat buggy. Kernels built from the rt2x00 devel tree do work significantly better. Regardless of the kernel that I tried, I was unable to put the card into master mode (for creating an access point).

GIGABYTE GN-WP01GS IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Wireless Adapter Up to 54Mbps Data Rates 64/128 bit WEP, WPA, 802.1x, AES - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839121008
Pros: Just dropped it in and it works in 2.6.22-14 Ubuntu Gutsy x86 (just tested WEP though). This was researched before purchase. Ralink open sourced their drivers and the rt61pci driver is part modern kernels. Very good price.

D-Link DWL-AG530 IEEE 802.11a/b/g 32-bit PCI Wireless Adapter Up to 108Mbps Data Rates 64-, 128-, 152-WEP 802.1x WPA.Wi-Fi Protected Access (64-, 128-WEP with TKIP, MIC, IV Expansion, Shared Key Authentication Supports Advanced Encrypti - Retail
Good reviews, but nobody mentions Linux.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127136

Any comments or success stories of GOOD working cards without the use of ndiswrapper?

Justin.
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