[Preston] wireless network card: 802.11g with Linux support

[Guy Heatley]

(Thanks to Mike Bach for tipping me off about this one.)

If anyone wants to buy a wireless card with a 802.11g rating (54MBps)
supported under Linux, get yourself down to "Staples" (formerly
"Office world") on Corporation St in Preston.

They are selling the Belkin F5D7010 (version 3.000uk) which actually
uses the Ralink 2500 chipset. Ralink have GPL'ed their drivers for
this chipset so the device works perfectly under Linux. These are
PCMCIA, but I think there are PCI versions with the same chipset from
Belkin.

I know they work because I have just got one -  and it works a treat!

They are 20 quid BTW.

I have always found buying wireless hardware for Linux a pain because
manufacturers seem to change the chipsets whilst keeping the same
model number. Subsequently the new chipset would be unsupported on
Linux.

Commonly the only thing that gives the chipset away is the version
number, of the device, but this often isn't quoted e.g. in catalogs
etc.

Cheers!
--
Guy