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What is the recommended PCMCIA wireless card nowadays (with antenna?)

I have two IBM A31p laptops which do not currently support my Linksys WRT54G router's WPA2-PSK encryption on WinXP SP3.

What is the recommended wireless networking card nowadays?

It would be nice to be inexpensive but also allow an external antenna in case I needed extra range (I sometimes try to go wireless in the back yard).

Since the old IBM A31p laptop has only 1 USB port, it would be best to be PCMCIA for the wireless networking card.

Any suggestions for a good cheap wireless network card (that allows an external antenna)?

Reply to
Judy Zappacosta
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Hi, To match your router, one from Linksys.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

In the "olden" days, the most recommended PCMCIA card (with external antenna plug) was the Orinoco Gold 802.11g Wireless PC Card.

Rarely would one have an Orinoco router.

Did the recommendations change then such that nobody recommends the Orinoco anymore but that we need to find a compatible router card???

Reply to
Judy Zappacosta

Hmmm, Some different brand card does not like to talk each other smoothly. Just to minimize the possible unexpected headaches stay with same brand. Last time I used Orinoco was a few years ago.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

I use a EDIMAX usb adapter I think it cost about $30.00 (US) at Newegg. It work very well in all kinds of conditions.

Reply to
Rick

It's possible to retrofit an internal wireless card into the Thinkpad A31p. Various instructions on the web. This looks fairly sane:

The big headache is where to put the antennas. Some models came with internal antennas, others did not. The easiest, but worst performer is under the keyboard. Gluing them into the LCD display is best, but takes much more work. One antenna, connected to the MAIN port, is sufficient, with the other antenna in the base unit. I've done two of these. The problem was that the IBM BIOS checks if the wi-fi card has been blessed by the FCC for operation in the laptop. As I vaguely recall, the A31p checked the card, while the A31 did not. So, I had to buy Intel 2200BG cards made for IBM in eBay. About $20/ea.

Well, if it needs an antenna connector, your selection is limited.

For PCMCIA/CARDBUS, I like Buffalo Tech WLI-CB-G54S. The problem is that Buffalo doesn't sell it any more. None on eBay and only a few for sale on Amazon at high prices. Oh well.

2nd best is something from Ubiquiti.

The catch here is that there's no internal antenna so you MUST use an external antenna. +24dBm tx output (200 mw) on 2.4GHz.

I use an A31p running Ubuntu for site surveys. The 1024x768 screen makes it useless for anything more elaborate. When I plug in a CARDBUS adapter, and then throw it into my laptop back, I invariably end up breaking off the antenna section. I've trashed two Netgear something cards this way. If you're doing CARDBUS, be sure to unplug the card before carrying.

I would go for the internal MiniPCI card.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Pics please!!!

Reply to
Kimmy Boyer

Never fun to make of someone who speaks English with brokenness. It means another language is freind!

Reply to
Mohamed Elshayal

Well that's what I was thinking, but didn't have the guts to say.

Reply to
alexd

I to was going to comment on going wireless in the backyard, and the neighbors and everything but I hadn't thought to ask for pictures.

Back on topic; not to hijack the thread but is there a break even point where the hardware supports pccard (pcmcia) but won't really support later network protocols, like 80211.N for example?

This might influence the choice of pccard, wouldn't it?

TBerk I telescope in the backyard on the regular, but I've only gone wireless a few times...

Reply to
TBerk

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