Re: [Wirelessdriver-support] Re: PowerBook G4 15"/OS X 10.3.2/Proxim Orinoco Silver 802.11b/g

[Barry H. <ly...@al...>]

On Dec 22, 2003, at 1:03 PM, Robert Friede wrote:

>> From: Amanda Walker <am...@al...>
>> Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 17:17:55 -0500
>> To: wir...@li...
>> Subject: [Wirelessdriver-support] Re: PowerBook G4 15"/OS X  
>> 10.3.2/Proxim Orinoco Silver 802.11b/g (Barry Hawkins)
>>
>
>> The Orinoco combo cards are based on an Atheros chipset, not the
>> Lucent/Agere/Intersil/whoever-owns-them-now chip set that the
>> WirelessDriver and IOXperts driver support.  The b/g and a/b/g  
>> chipsets
>> are completely different, and would require a new driver written
>> completely from scratch.
>>
>> Because of the nature of the Broadcom and Atheros chipsets, it's  
>> highly
>> unlikely that there will ever be a completely open source driver for
>> them, though Sam Leffler has done a good job striking a deal with
>> Atheros for his Linux and FreeBSD drivers (the module that talks to  
>> the
>> hardware is distributed in binary only).  The big issue is that much,
>> much more of the radio operation is exposed to the host, which makes
>> the FCC very concerned about who should be able to twiddle the virtual
>> knobs.  Operating at frequencies and power levels that you're not
>> licensed for is a big no-no, especially since some of the allowable
>> bands are surrounded by military-use bands :-).
>>
>>
>> Amanda Walker
>> (author of the IOXperts driver)
>
> Okay, but which pc cards do support the g specification? I haven't  
> seen any yet. I too have a useless-to-macs Proxim b/g card foolishly  
> purchased.
>
> Thx,
> Bob Friede
Bob,
	Here's a link to a post on the Debian PowerPC mailing list:

"Re: Recommended Orinoco PCMCIA card?"
(http://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2003/debian-powerpc-200312/ 
msg00521.html).

	It has a link to a page with some test data for using certain cards  
for 802.11g with Linux, but some of the info may be of help.  It looks  
like 802.11g for Mac is either AirPort Extreme or nothing for some time  
to come.  Those Proxim cards look like the only thing they're good for  
is returning to the store.  Buy.com gave me an RMA# for mine.

Regards,
-- 
Barry C. Hawkins
All Things Computed
site: www.allthingscomputed.com
weblog: www.yepthatsme.com