Wanted: Cheap, Linux compatible wireless card

[Sean Crago]

I've got a Hawking PCI card from MicroCenter in Vienna, VA that set me
back less than $30. Unlike most USB adapters in its price range it has
a decent sized boom on it and a port to attach a bigger one if need
be. If this is a desktop, just get one of these. It's cheap and Ubuntu
supports it out of the box. The only card-specific drawback is that
the Windows drivers are several years out of date, and, generally
speaking, suck.

http://www.hawkingtech.com/products/productlist.php?CatID=19&FamID=33&ProdID=232

Here's the lspci output from the Hawking card, if you're still
thinking about going down this road:
01:05.0 Network controller: RaLink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI

Uses the following modules, which ship with the stock Ubuntu kernels in Hardy:
rt61pci                25472  0
rt2x00pci              11264  1 rt61pci
rt2x00lib              22528  2 rt61pci,rt2x00pci


There is one major drawback that isn't specific to any one adapter,
though. iwconfig et al are a huge PITA, complicated further by
Debian/Ubuntu's underperforming networking initialization scripts.
Though I finally do have /etc/network/interfaces defined well enough
that it is finally reliably connecting to my WAP upon request, I find
myself having to run ifdown/ifup on every boot - Might be able to fix
this problem by moving the network initialization script further into
the boot process, but I really haven't the slightest idea why.

Unlike competently designed systems such as Maemo (where seemless
802.11 functionality matters a wee bit more than Ubuntu powered
laptops with wireless), Ubuntu causes far more problems running over a
wireless connection (regardless of the card) than it does over a
physical connection. The myriad poorly designed frontends to iwspy are
similarly inadequate and, if you'll forgive the repetition, incredibly
poorly designed. Don't even get me started on Xandros, and the Eee's
half-assed attempt to find a better solution to the aforementioned
problem.

In summary, you might end up with fewer headaches down the road if you
just pull some CAT6, but the above card will work at least as well as,
possibly substantially better than, any USB dongle.

Sean Crago
Kathmandu