Wireless Networking RALINK chipset Wireless NIC's

> I see there are quite a few vendors selling cards build
> with Ralink's chipset. I'm using one myself,
> the SMCWPCI-GM which uses Ralink's RT61 chip.
>
> Is this the most popular solution? Besides mine,
> there are Gigabyte, Linksys and a few others that use it.
> I took a look at the various web sites to get some idea of
> driver support. Almost all the companies offered old drivers,
> while Ralink themselves, offer their
> reference drivers, updated frequently new as of
> December 2006. I'm using it myself, since it
> seems to contain the driver, utility and if I'm not mistaken,
> even updated Firmware thrown into the package
> somewhere.
>
> In my case, the driver on the CDrom was almost a
> year old, the driver at SMC site wouldn't install at all.
> What with the slightly unusual installation procedures,
> The hit and miss of the wireless signal itself
> (I'm currently in an apartment. No Line of site,
> 5 - 8 of my "neighbors" showing up in the ste
> survey). Im amazed it works at all.
>
> Dave

>> I see there are quite a few vendors selling cards build
>> with Ralink's chipset. I'm using one myself,
>> the SMCWPCI-GM which uses Ralink's RT61 chip.
>>
>> Is this the most popular solution? Besides mine,
>> there are Gigabyte, Linksys and a few others that use it.
>> I took a look at the various web sites to get some idea of
>> driver support. Almost all the companies offered old drivers,
>> while Ralink themselves, offer their
>> reference drivers, updated frequently new as of
>> December 2006. I'm using it myself, since it
>> seems to contain the driver, utility and if I'm not mistaken,
>> even updated Firmware thrown into the package
>> somewhere.
>>
>> In my case, the driver on the CDrom was almost a
>> year old, the driver at SMC site wouldn't install at all.
>> What with the slightly unusual installation procedures,
>> The hit and miss of the wireless signal itself
>> (I'm currently in an apartment. No Line of site,
>> 5 - 8 of my "neighbors" showing up in the ste
>> survey). Im amazed it works at all.
>>
>> Dave

>The Airlink 101 usb wifi I bought uses the chipset. You may be able to
>find the thread we did on RALINK in this newsgroup. As far as I can
>tell, most of the sniffer software likes the Prism 2.5 chipset.

>I see there are quite a few vendors selling cards build
>with Ralink's chipset. I'm using one myself,
>the SMCWPCI-GM which uses Ralink's RT61 chip.
>
>Is this the most popular solution? ...

Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

>

>>I see there are quite a few vendors selling cards build
>>with Ralink's chipset. I'm using one myself,
>>the SMCWPCI-GM which uses Ralink's RT61 chip.
>>
>>Is this the most popular solution? ...

>
>Wi-Fi heavyweights include Atheros, Broadcom, Conexant (Prism), Intel,
>Marvell, and Realtek. I'm personally partial to Atheros.