Skip to main content

Unwiring Linux

I am a firm believer in Linux, or at least the idea of Linux. I have used Red Hat at work; I then favoured Ubuntu as an all in desktop with good server support as well. I have now installed SuSe 10.1 on my server at home.

All of these platforms have a common flaw, the lack of or at least the general lack of WiFi support.

Part of the problem is the slow adoption of WPA-PSK on Linux. Until very recently WEP was the only security (other than MAC address filtering) but this is old and so the move to WPA is essential if Linux is to move up to XP again.

Ubuntu Dapper and SuSe 10.1 are very good replacement desktops and I would easily jump across permanently if only we could solve the WiFi issue.

With SuSe the D-Link card I have is potentially supportable with Madwifi or Ndiswrapper. I couldn't get either to work at all. Then some more googling later I [finally] discovered that version C of the PCI card was not Atheros but Ralink. A quick trip to the site (via my laptop and trusty USB/SD stick) got me the driver make files. However the make didn't work.

This is also part of the problem with OS. The community aspect that is a strength (and nice to be part of) is also the biggest weakness. I found six postings on how to configure my card with SuSe, all of them were different and although I appreciate the time and effort people have taken to try and let others know all of them fall a part if it doesn't go exactly 100% as planned.

In the end I tried 4 out of 6 and none of them worked :(

I'm not completely techdense (TM) "the opposite of tech savvy" but while it's down to the user to build the drivers yourself WiFi; and in fact a lot of Linux, will remain the realm of the geek.

But.... there is hope on the horizon. Both Belkin and Linksys produce Wireless Ethernet bridge products that allow me to use the Ethernet interface on my Linux (or XBox, PS2, Tivo et al) hardware to wire to the bridge and then connect to my wireless network this way.

This bypasses the need for drivers and other software on my hardware, it's all on the network element.

So I've found the options, nominally, I am now faced with the usual challenge to try and find someone in Thailand or Singapore that can provide me with one.

If Linksys or Belkin are listening I am more than willing to help you distribute these products to fill a big gap in the OpenSource and home user market in Thailand.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PC over IP - The Teradici Effect

Teradici are hoping to blur the lines between PC and Data Centre. Their solution allows a use to view multiple screens and control the blade PC over IP. This is kind of like the dumb terminals with a new edgy deployment. The intention is that all of the computing power is performed offsite in a centralized area, the Data Centre, and this will save on power and maintenance costs as the engineers are co-located with the hardware and therefore don't have to go out to the client site for basic maintenance. The Teradici Company Article found in the Wall Street Journal

In the overlap of technology, marketing and social media the QR Code is critical

Outside of consulting on telecommunications, CIO advisory, and the business adoption of technology I also completed an MBA.  One of the projects was on the potential use cases of two dimensional barcodes. Today the QR Code , one of many types of 2D codes, is seen as being a critical component of any good marketing plan.  As a natural integration between social media and devices I would extend VMob Bob's question " What can a mobile operator learn from Facebook ?" and also ask how can they step and start to make innovations with the extensions to social media that already exist today?

Access as infrastructure, what does this mean for Telco 2.0?

Having recently attended a seminar by Catherine Middleton from Ryerson on Australia's NBN initiative it got me thinking about "access as infrastructure". The Australian Government is investing $B's of public and private capital in a national broadband network that is a fibre to the premise platform, although for distant and remote sites it will most likely be a fixed wireless solution.  The proposition from Dr. Middleton is that ubiquitous access will create a platform for services that separates competition from access, sounds like Telco 2.0. The question I posed was if the idea is a common platform but close to 10% of that access will be at 12Mbps rather than 100Mbps (fixed wireless versus fibre) then surely the lowest common denominator will prevail and services will be designed for 12Mbps.  You would then question the rationale of FTTP or FTTH when you could go fixed wireless.  Over time LTE and similar technologies will see an increase in speed that will of...