At 09:10 PM 10/14/2004 -0400, you wrote:
Doug McGarrett wrote:
At 06:51 PM 10/14/2004 -0400, doc wrote:
Can anyone recommend a natively compatible PCMCIA/PC-Card wireless G nic that has a connector for an external antenna?
I bought the Buffalo model but it is not natively compatible, requires a NDIS-wrapper/XP Driver kludge.
If I understand your question correctly, you would like a wireless card with a connection for an external antenna. That's never going to happen. All these devices are manufactured and certified to FCC Part 15 requirements, which specify a maximum RF field strength. This can only be guaranteed by shipping the equipment with a built-in antenna, or an external one that has a unique connection, so that no off-breed or gain antenna may be connected. I spent the last 20 years of my active employment building stuff that complied with FCC requirements, both Part 15 and others. Imagine the problems that could be created if you could attach a Yagi antenna to your wireless card! And would you really want everyone in the entire county to be able to demodulate your data? --doug (wa2say)
My Buffalo AirStation WLI-CB-G54A has an external antenna connection, problem is that no native Linux driver is available & I don't want the mess of the NDISwrapper kludge.
I am guessing that someone other than Buffalo makes one with the connector, just need one with a Linux native driver.
You can look up Part 15 yourself. All the FCC regs are on the Internet. I don't have the hard-copy book here, so I can't tell you the specific paragraph. But it definitely states that any antenna connection shall be unique, and not standard-- you can't have a BNC, or an RCA jack, or an SMA, etc. There are specially manufactured "reverse" connectors that you can't buy in stores, for detachable antennas. And the unhit must be tested and certified with the antenna that it's intended to be used with. --doug--wa2say