inside a DLink DWL-120

Bob Edwards Robert.Edwards at anu.edu.au
Tue Sep 11 11:45:44 EST 2001


The D-Link DWL-120 is a USB - IEEE 802.11b interface. Some have suggested
that it might have some popular PCMCIA card inside, but this is not the
case. I appears to be based on a Harris/Intersil reference design with
a USB interface added. The main chips in it (other than the DSSS radio)
are:
 U20 - Atmel AT76C503A (56602) - some sort of microcontroller
 U303 - tm(TE/CH) T14L1024N (RAM?)
 U5 - (Intersil) HFA3861BIN
 U17 - ATMEL050 25040N (USB interface?)

The PCB says GEMTEK WL-281 (stylized M in GEMTEK)

Just thought some people might be interested in what's inside.

Why is this unit interesting? Well, if you need to locate an IEEE802.11b
device near a mast-top dish etc., this device might be just what you were
looking for. USB is good to 5M at a time, and with hubs this can be
extended out to 25M, so you can have your radio near your antenna (cuts
down on cable losses), and have your router down inside the house etc.

Cheers,

Bob Edwards.




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