802.11a cards in RedHat 9.0

[Ruler2112]

I'm in the process of putting together a wireless network. I need a cardbux (PCMCIA Type II) card and a standard PCI card. The cardbus will be used in a tablet PC running XP. The PCI card will be in a box running RedHat 9.0. The problem I'm having is finding a card that has drivers for Linux. I've checked a lot of manufacturers web sites and e-mailed NetGear and D-Link because I couldn't find anything on thier site about it. D-link basically told me not to bother buying their product and NetGear told me that they don't have drivers for linux for 802.11a cards now, but may in the future. (No estimate of when though, which does not work with my boss.)

Does anybody here have any wireless cards running 802.11a under Linux or know of any way for me to make them work?

[Scott Tiger]

I think Vass got wireless working with his laptop, you might want to check with him. I think PB had a hand in it as well but he may not be willing to admit to it.

HTH's

EDIT - Ignore me. I just found out what 802.11a is. BAH!

[Scott Tiger]

And while we're at it this looks pretty good:

http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/

There's a bit of 802.11a stuff listed here - don't know if it'll help you or not though.

[storm2k]

three's not much 802.11a support for linux yet. most of the major support still lies with 802.11b, since it's been around for a while. i suppose if you're stuck with an a transmitter you might be a bit out of luck until some more robust support coems around, but you might also want to consider a g transmitter, which can work very fast with a card with g drivers (prolly more for windows) but still be backwards compatbile, so a b card with linux drivers can work for it.

[Ruler2112]

Thanks for the help guys. I guess I'll have to go with a B and hope that it's OK with the dozen+ 2.4ghtz cordless phones that are used in the immediate area. I hate companies who put out windoze-only stuff!


<rant>

To do what I've already done with RedHat in Windoze, I would've needed about $3 grand in hardware and software and it wouldn't have been as stable or secure. So far I've spent around $400 and a few hours. Actually one of the reasons I'm building the machine is to get a machine that others can print to that doesn't stop accepting print jobs at random- the XP machine with the printer on it. Searched around for forever about what's going on, but since a reboot clears up the problem, it's no big deal. (A buddy of mine was having a different problem with XP and called MS about it. He was told that since a reboot cleared up the problem, to just do that. When he explained that this was a mission-critical system that couldn't be down, they told him that reboots were part of normal system upkeep. Great attitude- don't actually bother fixing your product, just develop put off the people who complain.

</rant>

[Scott Tiger]

"When he explained that this was a mission-critical system that couldn't be down, they told him that reboots were part of normal system upkeep"

I can't believe they admitted to this...

[Ruler2112]

I found it rather amusing and more than a little disturbing when he told me about this. The company the dude was working for deals with the storage and processing of some pretty hazardous chemicals.

[Ruler2112]

Also, before you ask, no he didn't record the phone call. I would *love* to have a recording of it and play it back when I run into one of those yuppies who love MS products so much.

*edit- rephrased yuppie comment*