Wireless Wiki ??
 

I went to the wiki and searched for both wireless and wifi and did not
find anything related to wireless cards in CentOS.
I think it would be stellar to have something similar to the laptops
page but for wifi chipsets.


I would propose it have three categories:

FOSS chipsets
Native driver but not FOSS chipsets (ie atheros via madwifi)
NDIS Wrapper


FSF has compiled somewhat of a list at
http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/net/wireless/cards.html

but of course, there's no way to know which of the FOSS cards have
drivers that are actually in the RHEL/CentOS kernel - and user
experiences would also be beneficial for people looking for a chipset
that meets their needs. Having a driver and working well are often two
different things ...


Unfortunately I do not have the wireless tech knowledge to contribute to
the wiki in this area, my only wireless experience with Linux is via the
madwifi driver (works wonderfully in CentOS but does taint the kernel) -
I've never had to mess with firmware, NDIS Wrapper, wireless
authentication beyond the very basics - but it would be imho be a great
resource to have in the wiki.


If it is there, then the search database needs to be adjusted so that a
search for wifi brings it up - because I didn't find it.


In anyone wants to undertake the task, I thank you in advance. I would
find it very useful, especially since I am considering replacing my
laptop in the next year or so and want to look into wireless options
that don't taint the kernel and "just work" as well as possible under
stock CentOS kernel.

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Wireless Wiki ??
 

On Tue, 2008-01-08 at 06:19 -0800, Michael A. Peters wrote:
> I went to the wiki and searched for both wireless and wifi and did not
> find anything related to wireless cards in CentOS.

Try searching "Text" rather than "Titles" and you will turn up some
material - largely in the "Laptops" pages.

> I think it would be stellar to have something similar to the laptops
> page but for wifi chipsets.
>
> I would propose it have three categories:
>
> FOSS chipsets
> Native driver but not FOSS chipsets (ie atheros via madwifi)
> NDIS Wrapper

Agreed that some Wifi info would be a good addition. Not sure the three
categories are the best way to organize, but that is a secondary issue.

I'd propose something like a master intro/index page with a single
sub-page for each chipset, each with a set of entries for individual
experiences containing:

CentOS version

Contributor

driver (your three categories?) and corresponding 3rd party
repos or sources as appropriate

security level (open/none, WEP-40-bit/104-bit,
WPA-PSK/EAP/Radius, WPA2, ...)

system services or daemons (wpa_supplicant, NetworkManager,
dhclient, ...) and config files

tips and comments.

> FSF has compiled somewhat of a list at
> http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/net/wireless/cards.html
>
> but of course, there's no way to know which of the FOSS cards have
> drivers that are actually in the RHEL/CentOS kernel - and user
> experiences would also be beneficial for people looking for a chipset
> that meets their needs. Having a driver and working well are often two
> different things ...

Yes.

[OT: I have been struggling with wpa_supplicant, NetworkManager,
nm-applet, etc. ever since I decided to upgrade the security on my home
network from WEP to WPA-PSK and the information out there is very
confusing. Every time I think things are working, something breaks
again. What is more frustrating from the CentOS perspective is that the
WEP->WPA transition was relatively painless on two Palm devices, my
Nokia N800, Windows XP on 3 multi-boot systems, and Fedora 8. Only
CentOS-5 (on IPW3945, IPW2200, and Atheros chipsets on some of the same
hardware that works with XP and/or Fedora 8) has been problematic. Need
to post a query to the Users list and see what help is available, but
haven't gotten around to documenting everything I've tried well enough
to pose intelligent questions.]

> Unfortunately I do not have the wireless tech knowledge to contribute to
> the wiki in this area, my only wireless experience with Linux is via the
> madwifi driver (works wonderfully in CentOS but does taint the kernel) -
> I've never had to mess with firmware, NDIS Wrapper, wireless
> authentication beyond the very basics - but it would be imho be a great
> resource to have in the wiki.

Don't have to be a tech guru to contribute. If you have something
working it would be worth writing up.

> If it is there, then the search database needs to be adjusted so that a
> search for wifi brings it up - because I didn't find it.

Having a page with Wifi/Wireless in the title will remedy that, as will
a full text search.

> In anyone wants to undertake the task, I thank you in advance. I would
> find it very useful, especially since I am considering replacing my
> laptop in the next year or so and want to look into wireless options
> that don't taint the kernel and "just work" as well as possible under
> stock CentOS kernel.

I'd be glad to help with a Wifi Wiki effort if I ever get things working
solidly again. I could at least document what was working under CentOS
with WEP and with "open" access points at work and on travel.

Phil


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Wireless Wiki ??
 

Philip R. Schaffner wrote:
In anyone wants to undertake the task, I thank you in advance. I would
find it very useful, especially since I am considering replacing my
laptop in the next year or so and want to look into wireless options
that don't taint the kernel and "just work" as well as possible under
stock CentOS kernel.


I'd be glad to help with a Wifi Wiki effort if I ever get things working
solidly again. I could at least document what was working under CentOS
with WEP and with "open" access points at work and on travel.


perhaps something for the Hardware section ? It can then be crosslinked
from the laptop pages.


--
Karanbir Singh : http://www.karan.org/ : 2522219@icq
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