previous 802.11 thread (prism2 + managed mode, success with dlink)

[Damien Elmes]

jan newmarch <newmarch at infotech.monash.edu.au> writes:

> You do have to be careful, because some of the current drivers are
> incomplete/buggy. For example, Aironet PCI card is fine in ad-hoc mode.  
> Wavelan cardbus card is fine in my laptop in both adhoc and managed. For
> D-Link, there are 3 drivers. Only one of those supports PCI cards in adhoc
> mode (and in one application gets only 400kbps transfer rates - well short
> of 11Mbps).

I ended up springing for two d-link cards, both from Harris Technology in
Sydney. (www.ht.com.au). My laptop uses a DWL-650
(http://dlink.com.au/products/wireless/dwl650/) which seem to be a pretty good
deal at $160 a piece. For the desktop end, I got one of the integrated PCI
solutions (rather than a pcmcia->pci bridge, and associated card).
http://dlink.com.au/products/wireless/dwl520/ is the product I chose. At $200,
it was cheaper than a combo solution, and the detachable antenna meant I could
expand range if necessary.

Following the advice about having difficulty penetrating the walls, I
installed the desktop card in a machine upstairs. I'm assuming I'm using the
same driver you mentioned earlier (to get PCI cards in adhoc mode), and have
achieved about 615kbytes/sec. This drops by about 75-100k at the far end of
the house, and I get about 400k/sec outside when sitting in my car in the
driveway. Over all, I'm quite pleased by the link quality I'm getting around
the house.

My next two tasks are to implement an ipsec based tunnel, and set up the
desktop PCI card as an access point, as I'd like to be able to have access to
link quality statistics and the like. There's a page floating around on the
internet, at http://www.cafwap.net/prism2ap/, which outlines the process
needed to turn a prism2 based card into an AP. Has anyone followed these
instructions / done something similar? I'm wondering how to obtain the
firmware from Intersil. 

Delightedly-posting-disconnected-on-the-couch-ly,

-- 
Damien Elmes