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Everything Else => General Support and Discussion => Zaurus General Forums => Archived Forums => Accessories => Topic started by: Foxdie on December 12, 2003, 07:32:56 am

Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: Foxdie on December 12, 2003, 07:32:56 am
Heya all,

Does anyone know of a review of CF WIFI (Compact Flash Wireless Network cards) reviews specifically for Linux / Zaurus devices?

I\'m in the market for a good low-profile but good range CF WIFI card for my C760 and I\'d like to see a comparison review of all cards that will work for the Zaurus to determine which one\'s worthy of my pennies
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: Mickeyl on December 12, 2003, 07:55:36 am
The Socket/Symbol is great. Low profile, low power, good range, nice monitor mode drivers.
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: tawalker on December 12, 2003, 08:34:15 am
FWIW, I decided on the Buffalo WiFi CF card, as I\'d heard it worked well, it\'s not particularly large, and it was one of the less expensive cards I found.

The Buffalo seems to perform well, though I haven\'t compared it to any others. I would recommend this card, with at least one caveat: if you can, check the model number before you buy. There are at least two Buffalo WiFi CF cards out there; the WLI2-CF-S11 (which I bought) and the WLI2-CF-S11G (which seems to be more widely available). They both work fine with the Z, but to get the WLI2-CF-S11 working you need to edit the /etc/pcmcia/wlan-ng.conf file, to add the card\'s details.

Hope this helps - I\'ve been satisfied with the Buffalo card, but others\' mileage may vary.

Tim
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: allyrfriends on December 12, 2003, 10:01:27 am
The card available from shirtpocket and computer-component.com (http://www.computer-component.com/) is the cheapest I\'ve seen in the UK and it works well. I don\'t have another WIFI compact flash card to compare it to but the range seems to be about the same as for my Powerbook with a Buffalo PC card – both work throughout my house and down as far as my (small) garden reaches. It\'s also smaller than most other cards I\'ve seen and plain enough to be unobtrusive if not exactly attractive.
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: tawalker on December 12, 2003, 12:00:49 pm
32 pounds??!? And to think I coughed up nearly 45 for the Buffalo...

Ah well - you live and learn!

Tim
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: allyrfriends on December 12, 2003, 12:20:49 pm
Quote
32 pounds??!? And to think I coughed up nearly 45 for the Buffalo...

Ah well - you live and learn!

Tim

Awww. :) I bet the Buffalo card is good though!
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: pedro-escobar on December 12, 2003, 01:02:41 pm
Yeah, that\'s the famous Origo cf wifi card. It\'s a Senao clon an OZ know! And works very well (i\'ve one smc 2642W but i prefer that Origo :-))

Pedro
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: kaos42_ze on December 12, 2003, 03:29:11 pm
What about the D-Link 650W

(http://www.dlink.cl/productos/p_imagen/DCF-650W.jpg\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]

and the 660W

[img]http://ibuy.dlinktw.com.tw/images/prodimg/dlinkIA/Wireless/dcf-660w.jpg\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]

comparing those two .... anyone have any blurbs on them ?)
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: allyrfriends on December 12, 2003, 03:46:41 pm
The 650, I think, has an external aerial socket in the casing but that casing is HUGE.
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: mk500 on December 12, 2003, 04:48:36 pm
Yeah, I love my Socket/Symbol. I\'m actually using the smaller battery (like 750 comes with) on my 760 with the Socket card. I can browse for several hours without problems, and range is as good as my laptop. It\'s really amazing.

The 760 fits better in my shirt pocket with the thin battery. Now if only someone would make a wifi card that didn\'t have quite such a large antenna (Socket sticks out about .75\"...no worse than the others, and much thinner). What would be cool is an external antenna that is like a flat sticker so you could just stick it to the back of the Zaurus :-)

Quote
The Socket/Symbol is great. Low profile, low power, good range, nice monitor mode drivers.
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: offroadgeek on December 12, 2003, 06:57:55 pm
Quote
The 650, I think, has an external aerial socket in the casing but that casing is HUGE.

I have both the 650 and the 660, and I\'ve never seen any external connectors on the 650.  

The 650 is indeed HUGE!  It blocked both the headphone jack and the stylus on my 5500, which is why I upgraded to the 660.

Many people have reported that the dlink (both 650 & 660) suck a lot of power, but I haven\'t really noticed much difference with the 660 and my ambicom card.

I would definitely buy a dlink 660 again.  Though I\'ve just recently bought an ambicom and netgear card... so I don\'t think I need any more for a while!
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: allyrfriends on December 12, 2003, 07:34:46 pm
You have to pry the casing open to get at the connector. Actually, a thread (https://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=612) elsewhere on this board links to a site with a picture (http://store.a-spec.ca/TMP/Zaurus/P1000588.JPG) of it. I\'m sure I\'ve seen instructions somewhere too but I can\'t find them now...
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: Izydorr on December 13, 2003, 07:26:57 am
Is this what You mean by socket/symbol card?
http://allegro.pl/show_item.php?item=18665532 (http://allegro.pl/show_item.php?item=18665532)

Will this one work good with my SL5500?
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: Mickeyl on December 13, 2003, 08:11:26 am
Quote
Is this what You mean by socket/symbol card?
http://allegro.pl/show_item.php?item=18665532 (http://allegro.pl/show_item.php?item=18665532)
Will this one work good with my SL5500?

Yes, that\'s what I mean. Works pretty good on SharpROM 2.38 and OpenZaurus 3.x - no idea about newer SharpROMs though.
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: outlaw on December 13, 2003, 09:09:39 am
I\'m using Sandisk Connect (http://www.sandisk.com/retail_connect.html) with my Zaurus 5500.
It is cheap (I bought it in Poland), works great both in my house and work (with special wall construction to prevent signal to go out from the building and, no, I\'m not working for gov. ).
It is good for battery - much better than Dlink but I found somewhere info that Symbol is the best choice if you want to work long without ext. power source. card is in one package with CF PC Card adapter - it was important for me, I\'m working mostly on laptop (and Zaurus of course:-)).
Works great with Sharp rom (2.38, 3.13) and OpenZaurus 3.3.5.
Now you can find in my town (Lodz) also Sandisk Connect Plus with both WiFi and 128MB memory in one card.
Links:
Connect+ review:
http://www.bostonpocketpc.com/modules.php?...wcontent&id=141 (http://www.bostonpocketpc.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=141)

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0301/03010906...sandiskwifi.asp (http://www.dpreview.com/news/0301/03010906sandiskwifi.asp)

============
outlaw

Sharp Zaurus 5500 + stylus from Wacom Graphire :-)
CF 128MB Kingston
SD 128 MB Pretec
WiFi CF Sandisk Connect
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: primerisk on December 13, 2003, 11:55:51 am
Has anyone used the Sandisk Connect card with 128MB (SDWCFB-128-768)?

Outlaw,
     Did you have to do anything special to get the Sandisk Connect wifi card to work?
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: Anonymous on December 13, 2003, 12:06:44 pm
In my opinion, Socket ranks #1, followed by Ambicom.  Netgear is a power sucker and has a high rate of return.  (It always worked for me) Read the number of posts on WiFi in Sharps forums and you\'ll find Netgear as the most troublesome wifi card and SanDisk as the most troublesome memcard.
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: outlaw on December 13, 2003, 02:26:38 pm
Quote
Outlaw,
     Did you have to do anything special to get the Sandisk Connect wifi card to work?

No, it\'s working (with Zaurus 5500) just right from a box.
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: primerisk on December 13, 2003, 03:55:13 pm
Thanks outlaw!  I\'m going to run off and pick up one of the Sandisk Connect cards with the 128MB built in.
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: outlaw on December 13, 2003, 06:36:13 pm
Quote
Thanks outlaw!  I\'m going to run off and pick up one of the Sandisk Connect cards with the 128MB built in.

But remember - my Sandisk is wifi only! Check before buy because I don\'t know if Connect Plus need any driver or special software for Zaurus 5500.
Post here after try - maybe I\'ll also buy it :-)
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: 2devnull on December 13, 2003, 08:05:53 pm
I had the Sandisk Connect Plus but it did not work. I think even if you get one part working the other part won\'t work (mem vs. wi-fi). The Sandisk Connect works but not the Connect Plus so don\'t waste your money. It may be worth it if you can get both parts working, but I doubt it would work simultaneous.
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: offroadgeek on December 13, 2003, 08:42:06 pm
I spoke to a SanDisk rep at the last convention I went to in Vegas, and he mentioned that the were working on getting the Connect Plus cards to work on the Zaurus.  He said that they currently only recognize the wifi, not the mem part.  

At least they said that they are working on resolving the issue.
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: aiharper on December 23, 2003, 12:16:52 am
A bit aged, but this can give you a starting point for general chipset performance:
http://www.trowcom.co.uk/Z-Batt.htm (http://www.trowcom.co.uk/Z-Batt.htm)
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: jh on December 23, 2003, 09:36:29 am
Is this  auction on ebay  (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3066814271) the symbol/socket card?  It\'s $25, dutch auction, 19 items left + free shipping in the US (first class mail).

jason
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: Nodus on January 07, 2004, 04:14:22 pm
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=3070208610 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=45000&item=3070208610)
same guy 37 left as of now at 30 free shiping
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: allyrfriends on January 07, 2004, 05:52:19 pm
Awesome. I just bought one. Thanks, Nodus.

You know, Expansys (http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=SYM-CFLAN) are selling these for £135. That\'s $245. But this cost £16.50. Yay!
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: soycap on January 07, 2004, 10:23:43 pm
Thanks! Great find!
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: davisfactor on January 11, 2004, 10:27:06 pm
Here is a link to some information about connecting an external jack to a dlink cf card:

http://www.mail-archive.com/smartbridges@p...g/msg10599.html (http://www.mail-archive.com/smartbridges@part-15.org/msg10599.html)

Looks rather interesting.
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: Cyburbia on January 12, 2004, 09:47:02 pm
I was going to ask the same thing as the OP.  

I just can\'t get the Netgear MA701 that\'s bundled with my Zaurus to recognize any networks.  The card is recognized and it lights up, but even when I place it next to my wireless network, nothing is detected.  My network was detected once, but only for a few seconds; it still wouldn\'t connect.  I\'ve followed the instructions at http://notebook.zaurus.net (http://notebook.zaurus.net), and still nothing.

Can anyone recommend a card that doesn\'t require any drivers, kernel recompiles, config file changes, or other heavy duty mods?  I just want to plug it in, and have it work.
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: Anonymous on January 19, 2004, 05:50:02 pm
Does the Sandisk Connect Plus with both WiFi and 128MB work well (ie easily for us non linux programmer types) with a Zaurus 5600?
Title: WIFI CF Card Review?
Post by: Pele on January 30, 2004, 02:09:05 am
Get em while they\'re hot guys!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=3075084155 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3075084155)

Ends Feb 6th...

Just for future reference, Symbol and Socket are the same card, right?