List of laptop (pcmcia) wirelss network cards

[Gary Allen Vollink]

TroyGeek,

  http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl/

This is the closest to a Hardware Compatability List for Fedora.  
RedHat's compatability is actually behind Fedora, in that most devices 
are added directly to the Kernel, and Fedora is rarely more than a few 
weeks behind Linux kernel releases.

Many folks are surprised to find out that there are hardware providers 
that do fully and partially support Linux.  They don't sell in CompUSA, 
but they are out there.  Though I will admit that I'm not aware of a 
manufacturer that sells wireless network cards specifically for Linux.

However - as you have already experienced... Unless a Linux driver is 
explicitly offered by the manufacturer - it may not work.  Also, as a 
rule of thumb in new network stuff... wait until a device has been on 
the open market for at least 6 months before expecting that a Linux 
hacker has figured it out (this is my personal rule-of-thumb, other's 
results may vary).

You may also be heartened to hear about the Utopia Project.  Sadly, it 
doesn't have an official web-page (anymore), but it's a living-kicking 
sub-project under Novell/Ximian that is meant to make the Linux desktop 
much easier to deal with when it comes to Hardware.

If you're still sure you want to go back to Windows though, I won't 
blame you.  Linux is a lot like a pet.  It can be rewarding, but is 
occasionally a bit of hard work.

Thanks,
Gary Allen Vollink



TroyGeek wrote:

> There's always a debate as to whether to buy or build (get it working 
> on your own) when it comes to software. As i've already spent over 10 
> hours just trying to get a wireless card to work with no avail, there 
> comes a time when you have to decide whether you want to spend many 
> more hours trying to get this to work or to buy. Not everyone has 
> ample time to sit and try to get device drivers working, but yes I 
> always try to search the web and mailing lists when I have trouble. 
> However, when all the options found on the Internet for getting this 
> to work are exhaughted, paying a little money to fix the problem and 
> saving potentially hours of more work which I don't have seems like a 
> viable option. Giving up on using Linux because I haven't been able to 
> get a wireless card working yet wasn't the route I wanted to go in.
>
> thank you though.
>
> ~ T r o y ~
>
>
>