Wireless on Trisquel

7 respostas [Última entrada]
Steven McDonald
Desconectado
Joined: 05/29/2010

Hello,

I am a Debian (formerly Ubuntu) user, and the only thing standing in my way of using a fully free system is my wireless card. I have been looking at the FSF's list of supported wireless devices at http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/index_html/net/wireless/index_html/cards.html, but my question is whether all wireless cards will work with all wireless networks.

I don't know very much about wireless networking, but I do know that there are a, b, g and n protocols available. I have found that some of the devices listed on the FSF's page are claimed to work with the "n" protocol, but I don't know whether that is backward compatible with existing infrastructure.

I also am unsure as to which wireless cards will plug into my system. I'm not greatly knowledgeable about hardware, but I hope to take this opportunity to learn something and I hope you can bear with my ignorance. :-) Here is the output of lspci; I don't know which part is relevant so I've simply pasted the whole thing:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 2 (rev 01)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 4 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 01)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)
03:01.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller
03:01.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 19)
03:01.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C843 MMC Host Controller (rev 0a)
03:01.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 05)
03:01.4 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev ff)
0c:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)

I would appreciate any general advice you can offer, and even moreso I would appreciate specific suggestions of what product to buy given that I know almost nothing about the differences between them. If I can get my wireless working with free software, I will definitely switch to using Trisquel.

Thanks for your time,
Steven.

AndrewT

I am a translator!

Desconectado
Joined: 12/28/2009

"I have found that some of the devices listed on the FSF's page are claimed to work with the "n" protocol, but I don't know whether that is backward compatible with existing infrastructure."

To take advantage of a wireless-N card's frequency, you must also have a wireless-N router. Most wireless-N cards have wireless-G and even wireless-B backward compatibility, so that any router works.

Wireless-N is a fairly new standard, so don't go forward with the assumption that you must have wireless-N or else. Only the very fastest cable and satellite broadband are likely to benefit from the speed of wireless-N over wireless-G.

The card I use can be inexpensively purchased here: http://cgi.ebay.com/D-Link-DWA-643-802-11n-Wireless-LAN-ExpressCard-34-Adap-/370381283688?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item563c71e168

We look forward to you to being a part of our community!

quiliro
Desconectado
Joined: 02/24/2009

We need to buy the most inexpensive wireless network cards available for
shipment to Ecuador. Ebay would be good. We need to buy 10 PCI and 10 USB.
Please provide information. Thank you.

--
Saludos/Greetings
Quiliro Ordóñez
593(2)340 1517 / 593(9)821 8696
Crónica de un Contrato con el Estado 1 http://quiliro.wordpress.com
Estas son opiniones personales y no representan la posición de ninguna
organización.

quiliro
Desconectado
Joined: 02/24/2009

2010/5/29 Quiliro Ordóñez <name at domain>

> We need to buy the most inexpensive wireless network cards available for
> shipment to Ecuador. Ebay would be good. We need to buy 10 PCI and 10 USB.
> Please provide information. Thank you.
>

We need cards that work with 100% free software and firmwar of course. ;-)

--
Saludos/Greetings
Quiliro Ordóñez
593(2)340 1517 / 593(9)821 8696
Crónica de un Contrato con el Estado 1 http://quiliro.wordpress.com
Estas son opiniones personales y no representan la posición de ninguna
organización.

AndrewT

I am a translator!

Desconectado
Joined: 12/28/2009

To find the best card to fit your needs, I suggest you browse http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/index_html/net/wireless/index_html/cards.html

Search Ebay, Amazon, and other websites to purchase them online.

quiliro
Desconectado
Joined: 02/24/2009

2010/5/29 <name at domain>

> To find the best card to fit your needs, I suggest you browse
> http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/index_html/net/wireless/index_html/cards.html
>
> Search Ebay, Amazon, and other websites to purchase them online.
>

Thank you, Roeplay. I am trying already doing it. My idea was to find the
cheapest available of all these cards based on the experience of people who
have recently bought any of them. There are many models and I am not very
skillfull in finding things at ebay. It would take me a month. If someone
off the top of his head has any data it would shorten my search. Thanks in
advance.

--
Saludos/Greetings
Quiliro Ordóñez
593(2)340 1517 / 593(9)821 8696
Crónica de un Contrato con el Estado 1 http://quiliro.wordpress.com
Estas son opiniones personales y no representan la posición de ninguna
organización.

AndrewT

I am a translator!

Desconectado
Joined: 12/28/2009

Most wireless cards start at $30, but brick-and-mortar computer stores tend to charge far more.

Steven McDonald
Desconectado
Joined: 05/29/2010

Thanks for the info; I may simply purchase the model you use since I know for sure it will work if you're using it successfully, and I know nothing about the alternatives. Hopefully I can have Trisquel up and running soon. :-)