best fedora-out-of-the-box pcmcia wifi?

[Matthew Miller]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a modern PCMCIA/PC Card wifi card
which just works out of the box with recent Fedora? I can download a
firmware blob if I have to, but extra points for not having to. These days
all new laptops have wireless built in so all the current info I can find
seems focused on that.

[mike cloaked]

Matthew Miller <mattdm <at> mattdm.org> writes:
> Does anyone have a recommendation for a modern PCMCIA/PC Card wifi card
> which just works out of the box with recent Fedora? I can download a

I have an old laptop that I use with a usb wifi dongle - made by Edimax - I know
that is not PCMCIA but this usb dongle just plugs in, boot the machine and it
works... nothing extra needed...it uses the RT73usb module that is already in
the kernel, and is painless.

I don't have the detailed spec to hand but I can get it over the weekend if you
need it.

[Tony Placilla]

> > > On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at  5:38 AM, in message

, Mike  wrote:
> Matthew Miller <mattdm <at> mattdm.org> writes:
> > Does anyone have a recommendation for a modern PCMCIA/PC Card wifi card
> > which just works out of the box with recent Fedora? I can download a
>
> I have an old laptop that I use with a usb wifi dongle - made by Edimax - I 
> know
> that is not PCMCIA but this usb dongle just plugs in, boot the machine and 
> it
> works... nothing extra needed...it uses the RT73usb module that is already 
> in
> the kernel, and is painless.
>
> I don't have the detailed spec to hand but I can get it over the weekend if 
> you
> need it.

Based upoin a similar question I posted to this list about a month ago I purchased an Edimax PCI wireless for my kid's workstation & later got the USB dongle ( EW-7318USg) for my craptop.
It Just Works(tm)

The *easiest* wireless I've ever done & they are a linux-friendly company.

I've not tried it but the EW-7108PCg cardbus shows the same supported features

http://www.edimax.com/en/produce_detail.php?pd_id=5&pl1_id=1&pl2_id=...

[mike cloaked]

Tony Placilla <aplacil1 <at> jhuadig.admin.jhu.edu> writes:
> Based upoin a similar question I posted to this list about a month ago I

purchased an Edimax PCI wireless for
> my kid's workstation & later got the USB dongle ( EW-7318USg) for my craptop.
> It Just Works(tm)

Indeed the usb dongle is the same one that I use - it worked flawlessly on f8 
and f9 - though I have not tested f10 beta at this time.

[mike cloaked]

Mike <mike.cloaked <at> gmail.com> writes:
> > Based upoin a similar question I posted to this list about a month ago I
>
> purchased an Edimax PCI wireless for
> > my kid's workstation & later got the USB dongle ( EW-7318USg) for my craptop.
> > It Just Works(tm)
>
> Indeed the usb dongle is the same one that I use - it worked flawlessly on f8 
> and f9 - though I have not tested f10 beta at this time.

Actually I realised mine is the 7318Ug (not 7318USg)...

[Bill Davidsen]

Mike wrote:
> Matthew Miller <mattdm <at> mattdm.org> writes:
> > Does anyone have a recommendation for a modern PCMCIA/PC Card wifi card
> > which just works out of the box with recent Fedora? I can download a
>
> I have an old laptop that I use with a usb wifi dongle - made by Edimax - I know
> that is not PCMCIA but this usb dongle just plugs in, boot the machine and it
> works... nothing extra needed...it uses the RT73usb module that is already in
> the kernel, and is painless.
>
> I don't have the detailed spec to hand but I can get it over the weekend if you
> need it.

I suspect you may be thinking of the LinkSys WUSB54G, which is the one I use. 
They are about $40 at Radio Shack, which makes them pretty easy to find.

As for "just works," mine did until NetworkManager was "upgraded" a few months 
ago. After that it would not work for any reason, until I found a fix.

First I turned NM off completely. Then I used the network config to set the 
device to NOT NM, and "start on boot" so it would run. The device uses an 
encrypted connection to the access point.

About half the time I have to run "service network restart" after boot to get it 
going. This appears to be because the DHCP code is run before the connection is 
complete, and it has been suggested that the network should not be started until 
the supplicant is running to negotiate the key exchange.

After that it comes up, it stays up, it is dead solid reliable. I suspect that I 
could easily get it working without manual intervention, but I would rather not 
have custom boot strings if I can get around it.

Hope this gives you some direction.