wireless (was Re: [plug] Linux thin clients)

[Matt Kemner]

On Tue, 26 Aug 2003, quoth Craig Ringer:

> Interesting. What chipset are the wireless cards - Hermes/Orinoco,
> Prism, or something else? I've got an Orinoco in my laptop, but I've
> heard Prism is the way to go for adding AP functions to your firewall.

HostAP supports prism2/2.5 only, but there is now also HermesAP which does
what the name implies.  I've not played with HermesAP[0] (even though I
have an abundance of RoamAbout cards, thanks to Skynet Global's kind
"donation"[1]) mainly because I got my prism2 working nicely and haven't
had the motivation to play, but I know a few people who tried it and had
success.

> Thanks for the info - I may well locate it further than that. Especially
> if I get a second wireless NIC (PCI, probably) I can hook up to a
> directional antenna... see if I can hook into perth wireless.

For a client connection, the Hermes based cards seem more stable than the
Prisms, so if you're looking to connect to the 'freenet, I'd recommend a
RoamAbout or similar in a PCI->PCMCIA cradle.  For a software access
point, Prism2 used to be the only way to go (HostAP) and in fact there are
several WaFreeNet APs running HostAP.

 - Matt

[0] http://hunz.org/hermesap.html
[1] thousands of $50 wireless cards became available as part of a
    liquidation sale, which were retailing for close to $300 at the time.