[CentOS-docs] Wireless Wiki ??

Michael A. Peters
Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:19:30 -0000

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.