Author Topic: Testing Linksys Wcf54g Wireless-g Cf (Read 12193 times)

Lurker · « **on:** May 18, 2006, 12:06:36 pm »

I have finally managed to get an acceptable price for this card on eBay, considering that it is unknown to work with any Z distro at the moment. However, as per the OZ 3.5.4 release notes:

Quote

some 802.11g CF cards probably work now

and

Quote

I can provide OpenZaurus image + kernel with kernel modules which should work with Agere powered wifi cards. I'm curious will they work or not.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=115016\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

I am hopeful
Could someone please confirm that the OZ image+kernel that HRW is refering to is OZ 3.5.4? Will I need any additional modules or utilities not contained in stock OZ?

Sorry if I am posting this despite any recent developments. Searching for WiFi related items is always a pain as the model number is not always used in reference, and there are so many different terms in use: WiFi, 802.11b, 802.11g, Wireless-B, Wireless-G, "Wireless", WLAN, ect.

Anyhow, the card will be picked up tomorrow. Expect a report that evening.

Hrw · « **Reply #1 on:** May 18, 2006, 03:24:21 pm »

Show me 'pccardctl ident' output and I will look what I can do.

Da_Blitz · « **Reply #2 on:** May 19, 2006, 03:42:31 am »

802.11g CF: which cards? i am intrested in getting one

Lurker · « **Reply #3 on:** May 19, 2006, 08:48:13 pm »

Hrw:
(in 3.5.4-RC1 + GPE)
cardctrl info 1
Socket 1:
product info: "Linksys", "WCF54G_Wireless-G_CompactFlash_Card", "", ""
manfid: 0x0156, 0x0004
function: 6 (network)

In RC2 + GPE, pccardctrl gives a segmentation fault. This was tested on a newly flashed image on both C760 and C3000. I will attempt to file a bug report shortly...

Da_Blitz:
See title of thread
(Linksys WCF54G)

Searching the WiFi Alliance Certified Products database shows cards that I have not been able to locate in retail channels.
I can also provide a short list of manufacturers of 802.11G CompactFlash ICs, if you are interested. The issue with these ICs, though, is either the lack of open source drivers or the inability to obtain samples, ie. must be a qualified developer or commercial entity or whatever

Da_Blitz · « **Reply #4 on:** May 20, 2006, 01:42:59 am »

[qoute]some 802.11g CF cards probably work now[/qoute]

was in reply to that, they never mentioned which cards may work, i asumed the linksys one but i have seen others floating around

instead of CF look for pcmcia (not pc card) as the only difrence is the conector basically

Hrw · « **Reply #5 on:** May 20, 2006, 07:29:46 am »

For 2.4 kernels we provide Agere driver for cards with manfid 0x0156, 0003 and 0x0156, 0002 - wcf54g is handled by other driver (opensource) but we do not get it yet in OE. I tried one day to get it building but failed and did not find time to try again.

Lurker · « **Reply #6 on:** May 21, 2006, 11:54:49 am »

Hrw:
Many thanks for looking into this! Are these the drivers you speak of? Perhaps I should donate the card to you now, and pick up another one later? Just let me know the shipping details, and the card will be on its way come Monday

Da-Blitz:
Oh, ok; sorry for the miscommunication. What other retail Wireless-G CF cards do you know of besides the Ambicom WL54-CF (a Marvel chipset, for which AFAIK no Linux drivers exist)?
As for PCMCIA, my wish is to use the most compact Wireles-G solution possible for the Zaurus. I am still considering USB, but with all the other USB devices I wish to use with the Zaurus I am afraid of overloading the 12mb low-speed USB bus on the Zaurus. CF interface is 16mb, and the Wireless-G card would have that all to itself. Also, does not USB demand more of the host processor than CF would? Please, please, please correct me if I am wrong on any of these points

Da_Blitz · « **Reply #7 on:** May 21, 2006, 09:59:55 pm »

Actually the CF bus is shared between RAM and the microdrive as far as i know the usb bus would place less damand but it all comes down to speed and drivers, i dont know if there are usb wifi drivers in OZ, i belive that usb would be better for some applications (like streamin video) due to less strain on the RAM/CF bus (impacts performane badly) however you do need a cable

btw CF is 16MB/s and usb 12mb/s

as for cards i have seen 1 or 2 other OEM products but could not get much info on them and have scince lost the link (my bookmark libary now tops a couple of hundred links)

Hrw · « **Reply #8 on:** May 22, 2006, 02:52:23 am »

We have drivers for USB Prism (wlan-ng) and USB Zydas (zd1211) - probably even more - other systems based on OE use USB as main bus for most of components.

Hrw · « **Reply #9 on:** May 22, 2006, 05:59:47 am »

Quote

Many thanks for looking into this! Are these the drivers you speak of?[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=127972\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Yes, I was talking about those drivers. 718 are already in OE but wcf54g use 722 one.

Quote

Perhaps I should donate the card to you now, and pick up another one later? Just let me know the shipping details, and the card will be on its way come Monday

Currently I have to think what to do after OZ 3.5.4.1 release - more Zaurus work or maybe concentrate more on OE itself or other things. Having 802.11g card could be nice in a world where more and more hotspots are 802.11g only but I rarely use public hotspots

Lurker · « **Reply #10 on:** May 22, 2006, 11:48:45 pm »

Da-Blitz:
It's nice to know how wrong I was about USB vs. CF . Actually, one of my future plans is real-time streaming video from the Zaurus via WiFi and a USB webcam. That is why I was afraid of overloading the USB bus. However, based on your info USB is still the best option. Would you mind taking a look at my post in the Stuffing Serial Bluetooth Module Inside C1k Casing thread?

Hrw:
Perhaps one of the other devs would like to take the WCF54G off my hands? I don't mind giving it up considering the great deal I got on it. Anyways, I should be contributing more to the OZ development effort.
Thanks for all your hard work on OE and OZ!

Hrw · « **Reply #11 on:** May 23, 2006, 09:14:04 am »

Lurker: I did some digging in net I think that I can handle it - it could be fun to get something to work

Lurker · « **Reply #12 on:** May 23, 2006, 03:16:50 pm »

Hrw:
Ok, errrrr... does that mean you will take the card? If so, PM me with shipping details.

Lurker · « **Reply #13 on:** May 25, 2006, 05:05:16 pm »

*Update* Hrw will be taking the Linksys card in hopes to get it working with OpenZaurus

Browsing the FCC database this week, I have come across several other 802.11g CF cards. All are meant to be integrated into other devices, so it is doubtful that one could be found individually on the open marker. One would have to purchase the device to extract the card. Though most of these devices are expensive corporate PDA/inventory systems, I have found two that are comparatively cheap consumer devices:
Samsung MagicLAN SWL-2610C ---> Hauppauge Wireless MediaMVP
Chipset: Texas Instruments TNETW1130 ---> http://acx100.sourceforge.net/
FCC Listing

generic SiS 163-based ---> D-Link DSM-120 Wireless Music Player
(I could not locate any open-source driver info for this chipset)
FCC Listing

Da_Blitz · « **Reply #14 on:** May 26, 2006, 04:26:11 am »

might just have been a rebranded card

i doubt there would be many manufacturers that would support make somthing like this due to the need for a bridge chip when usb would be easier to use in an embedded enviroment

if this card works i will definattly be ordering one, i have always wondered if they were lower powered due to the shorter transission period or if the extra complexity made that a moot point

News:

Author Topic: Testing Linksys Wcf54g Wireless-g Cf (Read 12193 times)