My older WinXP laptop with a PCMCIA slot has no wireless capability.
I'd like to add a card but from experience, I know my signal is weak in my house due to multiple levels from the basement to the second floor.
Is there a good strong, not too expensive PCMCIA wireless card you'd recommend that I can purchase on the Internet?
Erica Eshoo hath wroth:
Ok, no model number. Why make it easy?
"Older" might mean a laptop that only has a 16 bit PCMCIA slot, but that's probably too old. If the PCMCIA card doesn't fit in the slot, it's a 16 bit slot.
Fine. In that case, you need a PCMCIA wireless card with an external antenna connector. If it's too weak, just add an antenna.
WLI-CB-G54HP
About $50:
The card has an external antenna connector, which might be handy. I have two of these and they work well enough. The range is nothing spectacular, but if you want PCMCIA, it's good enough. For more range, look into external antennas, or wireless devices with an integral directional antenna.
Sorry about not giving enough details. I didn't know it matters. IBM Thinkpad T23
That's an OK price, so if it's strong, I'll try it.
Where do the "external antennas" plug into a laptop if not through the PCMCIA port?
Looks like a lawsuit.
Consider a USB WiFi adapter. I've put one on a USB externder cable as far as 30 ft long to get a clear shot with the AP.
Even 3 ft can get it hiogh up amd maybe get a better signal.
Erica Eshoo hath wroth:
Yes, it matters. The T23 has an internal MiniPCI wireless card. Unfortunately, the stock card is usually a combination wireless and modem, or modem and ethernet. If you have no card installed, there's room for a MiniPCI card, and you have the internal antenna connectors, methinks you should consider this possibility. Don't get the stock card as it's 802.11b only and you get something that does 802.11b/g. I'm not sure what to recommend for a MiniPCI wireless card. I kinda like the Atheros based chipsets.
Internal antenna installation:
If not, the specs show that the PCMCIA connector can handle a Cardbus card, so just about anything will work.
Once you have a decent radio, the range is totally dependent on the antenna. In the case of the PCMCIA card, the side of the antenna is important. Bigger really is generally better.
There's a rubber plug at the end of the Buffalo card. Underneath is an "Orinoco" or "MC Card" connector. You buy a "pigtail" coax cable that adapts this connector to whatever external directional antenna you find useful.
Erica Eshoo hath wroth:
MC Card to RP-SMA pigtail for $8.
snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (Axel Hammerschmidt) hath wroth:
"The notch on the left hand front of the device is slightly shallower on a CardBus device, so a 32-bit device cannot be plugged into a slot that can only accept 16-bit devices. Most new slots are compatible with both CardBus and the original 16-bit PC Card devices."
I've run into this problem with older laptops many times. I have a supply of old Orinoco (16bit) cards for these laptops. However, the T23 has a PC Card slot and will take both 16 and 32 bit.
I've had little luck with adjusting the position of relatively low gain antennas, such as those found on most wireless access points. With only 2dBi of gain, the pattern is almost hemispherical. Reflectors and external antennas work much better. So does repositioning the wireless router.
I don't see any indication this T23 has a wireless card installed. Is there a program I can run which will tell me positively if there is a wireless card or not in this IBM Thinkpad T23?
On Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:28:54 GMT, Erica Eshoo wrote in :
Open Device Manager and look under Network Adapters. Also check to see if any devices aren't properly installed.
[cross-posted to comp.sys.laptops.thinkpad]
If she can still find one of these, this would be the best choice for a weak signal. However Buffalo cannot sell into the U.S. any more, so it'd have to be existing stock from a retailer. NewEgg still has some, "
A friend gave me an Enterasys Networks wireless card, serial number
00-01-F4-A5-78-FA.It has a tiny pull-out plug on the part that sticks way out of the PCMCIA slot. He didn't have the "antenna" that attaches to the pretty gold connector behind that pull-out plug.
Where does one get such a teeny tiny antenna anyway?
I would suspect that is the Orinoco card, in one of its many incarnations. That is the best supported card by Linux, and one of the best radios in its day, but for some reason, never found a stable home. Orinoco, Proxim, Enterasys, Cabletron, Dell branded... I forget. Do a Google search on the FCC-ID, and you'll find several names for the same card.
Yes. The Enteresys Networks card looks EXACTLY like
It has an FCCID of IMRWLPCE24H and below the FCC ID, it says "Cabletron Systems, Inc." A google for that FCCID found lots of references. Thanks. I didn't think of that.
I guess it would be nice to have the extra range of the "pigtail" (or is it extra speed?) - but first I'll set it up without the pigtail to see what happens.
What specifically does adding the "pigtail" buy us?
What's a good card for an old laptop? The same kind of card that's good for anew laptop. If it has a PCMCIA slot, then go to eBay and get a used Cisco AIR-CB21AG-A-K9.
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