best fedora-out-of-the-box pcmcia wifi?

[Bill Davidsen]

Mike wrote:
> Matthew Miller <mattdm <at> mattdm.org> writes:
> 
>> Does anyone have a recommendation for a modern PCMCIA/PC Card wifi card
>> which just works out of the box with recent Fedora? I can download a
> 
> I have an old laptop that I use with a usb wifi dongle - made by Edimax - I know
> that is not PCMCIA but this usb dongle just plugs in, boot the machine and it
> works... nothing extra needed...it uses the RT73usb module that is already in
> the kernel, and is painless.
> 
> I don't have the detailed spec to hand but I can get it over the weekend if you
> need it. 
> 
I suspect you may be thinking of the LinkSys WUSB54G, which is the one I use. 
They are about $40 at Radio Shack, which makes them pretty easy to find.

As for "just works," mine did until NetworkManager was "upgraded" a few months 
ago. After that it would not work for any reason, until I found a fix.

First I turned NM off completely. Then I used the network config to set the 
device to NOT NM, and "start on boot" so it would run. The device uses an 
encrypted connection to the access point.

About half the time I have to run "service network restart" after boot to get it 
going. This appears to be because the DHCP code is run before the connection is 
complete, and it has been suggested that the network should not be started until 
the supplicant is running to negotiate the key exchange.

After that it comes up, it stays up, it is dead solid reliable. I suspect that I 
could easily get it working without manual intervention, but I would rather not 
have custom boot strings if I can get around it.

Hope this gives you some direction.

-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com>
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot