Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 13:35:42 -0600 From: "Kenneth D. Merry" <ken@kdm.org> To: Ben Nell <enemy.cow@gmail.com> Cc: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Hardware reccomendations Message-ID: <20040914193542.GA28935@nargothrond.kdm.org> In-Reply-To: <9cf39d604091412032d7f1bb6@mail.gmail.com> References: <9cf39d6040914085256593790@mail.gmail.com> <41471721.8050705@centtech.com> <20040914165631.GA27504@nargothrond.kdm.org> <9cf39d604091412032d7f1bb6@mail.gmail.com>
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On Tue, Sep 14, 2004 at 14:03:40 -0500, Ben Nell wrote: > On Tue, 14 Sep 2004 10:56:31 -0600, Kenneth D. Merry <ken@kdm.org> wrote: > > On Tue, Sep 14, 2004 at 11:06:57 -0500, Eric Anderson wrote: > > > Ben Nell wrote: > > > >Hi All: > > > > > > > >I am running FreeBSD 5.2 on a Dell Inspiron 8600, and I am interested > > > >in swapping out the mini-pci wireless NIC. It's a Centrino machine, > > > >and I believe that the 802.11b card that is currently present is a > > > >Broadcom. Regardless, it doesn't appear to be supported. I've used > > > >the NDIS wrapper driver found in current release, but I'm not happy > > > >with it's performance and would prefer to just replace the card with a > > > >well-supported 802.11g card. > > > > > > > >What I'm looking for is a reccomendation of chipset/brand/model from > > > >anyone. I'm fairly new to wireless networking and would appreciate > > > >any insight or personal opinions anyone would care to share. > > > > > > I bought a 'Netegriti' card (EM-500AG I think), and it works flawlessly. > > > > I've got one of those as well, and it seems to work well. > > > > I've got an Inspiron 8500. It fit in the minipci slot, but was shorter > > than the original Broadcom b/g minipci card. I think the antenna connectors > > on it were also swapped, when compared to the Broadcom card. There was just > > enough slack in the antenna wires to connect it up. > > > > It works fine in A, B, and G modes with the ath driver. I think the only > > thing missing is working Turbo (802.11a) mode support in the ath driver, > > unless that has been fixed in the past few months. > > > > Ken > > -- > > Kenneth Merry > > ken@kdm.org > > > > Thanks for the advice! I think the only problem is going to be > finding a reputable source to purchase the card from. I got mine from Discount Technology. Make sure you get the card that does a, b and g. They have another, cheaper card that only does a and b. http://www.discountechnology.com/ They're selling them for $100. Keep in mind that this card doesn't do the super-G stuff (i.e. double speed G), but will do 108Mbps in 802.11a, since it has an Atheros chipset. (Although, as I noted above, the ath driver wasn't working in Turbo mode as of a few months ago.) > Wireless has been my only issue with this laptop. With a replaced > wireless card and using Daniel O'Connor's guide to configuring the > 8600 (http://www.gsoft.com.au/~doconnor/I8600/) this is simply any > unbeatable setup. My 8500 has been fine, but the 8600 definitely looks nice. (The Pentium M probably generates less heat than the Pentium 4M.) Ken -- Kenneth Merry ken@kdm.org
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