Wifi Cards, I Need To Choose Between These 2

[Jon_J]

I'm getting a 2nd Zaurus at the end of January. Going to get a C3100, if it's not available, I'll get a C3200.
The only place that will take a money order through the regular U.S. mail is StreamlineCPUs, and this is where I found these cards.
I checked Dynamism, but they don't seem to carry CF network cards.
I have a choice between 2 WiFi cards, (there are 3, but the 3rd one is a 'G' card, and I'm sticking with 'B' for now)
I would post some pics, but attachments are not working at the moment.

Ambicom 802.11B WiFi Card WL1100C-CF ($69.99)
http://www.streamlinecpus.com/store/produc...79&cat=3&page=1

D-Link DCF-660W ($90.00) marked down from $143.00
http://www.streamlinecpus.com/store/produc...7&cat=14&page=1

If cost was the same on these 2 cards, which one would you choose? And why?

My second question is what is everyone's opinion on this LAN CF card?
CF Network Card ($99.00)
(looks like Socket Low Power Ethernet Card Ruggedized CF)
http://www.streamlinecpus.com/store/produc...7&cat=11&page=1

None of the stores in my area carry any compact flash I/O cards.
I have searched and personally asked salesmen. (They only have memory cards)
Bestbuy, Staples, CircuitCity, Officemax, Office Depot, Radio Shack.

[Capn_Fish]

The Ambicom WL1100C works great. It has worked for me under pdaXrom 1.1.0 Beta 1, 3, and r121. No tweaking needed. I don't know about Cacko, Sharp, or OZ.

[speculatrix]

I had the socket/symbol CF wifi card, and whilst it was excellent for power consumption I found it was not as sensitive as a Mercury Zonet/ZCF1100 card which was prism2, and I got WPA running more easily on the latter. Snag with a lot of CF cards is that you cannot be 100% sure of the chipset :-(

The mercury card doesn't stick out too far, about 12mm, the socket about 10mm, I think the DLink a lot lot more?

[Drake01]

I had the socket/symbol CF wifi card, and whilst it was excellent for power consumption I found it was not as sensitive as a Mercury Zonet/ZCF1100 card which was prism2, and I got WPA running more easily on the latter. Snag with a lot of CF cards is that you cannot be 100% sure of the chipset :-(

The mercury card doesn't stick out too far, about 12mm, the socket about 10mm, I think the DLink a lot lot more?
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Are you implying that you did manage to get WPA working with the Socket/Symbol card?  I've been kicking around the idea of upgrading my wireless network so that I can run WPA, but it seems like this is not supported with my Symbol card.  And after a particularly expensive Christmas, I don't see myself wanting to spend a lot upgrading hardware.

[speculatrix]

Are you implying that you did manage to get WPA working with the Socket/Symbol card?  I've been kicking around the idea of upgrading my wireless network so that I can run WPA, but it seems like this is not supported with my Symbol card.  And after a particularly expensive Christmas, I don't see myself wanting to spend a lot upgrading hardware.
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Sorry for that, no, I was trying to find out how to do it, because it also didn't work on the zcf1100. Someone then (I think it was HRW) suggested flashing the the zcf1100 with later prism firmware, and that worked, and then I had WPA working.

After doing a few tests to verify performance, despite negative comments about them here in the forum, I found the ZCF1100 had a more sensitive receiver and got a higher data rate at the margins of signal, so I sold the Socket/Symbol card without ever getting WPA to work with it.

The sockt/symbol wifi is based on the Spectrum chipset, it is a "soft mac" device which means it needs firmware uploading to it on initialisation - this is done on insertion by the pcmcia card control process which kicks off an uploader.

[enodr]

You might check these two articles about wifi cards for Zaurus if you care about size and WPA:

http://www.geek-fr.com/blog/what_size_is_yours

http://www.geek-fr.com/blog/update_the_pri..._of_a_wifi_card

[enodr]

You might check these two articles about wifi cards for Zaurus if you care about size and WPA:

http://www.geek-fr.com/blog/what_size_is_yours

http://www.geek-fr.com/blog/update_the_pri..._of_a_wifi_card
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Edit: if you look closely to the pictures of the Mercury Zonet/ZCF1100 you will see that this is exactly the same card as the Ambicom WL-1100C-CF, just sold under another brand. So my conclusion is: go for the Ambicom / Zonet. Note that Ambicom has also a G card which is the same size.

[speculatrix]

Edit: if you look closely to the pictures of the Mercury Zonet/ZCF1100 you will see that this is exactly the same card as the Ambicom WL-1100C-CF, just sold under another brand. So my conclusion is: go for the Ambicom / Zonet. Note that Ambicom has also a G card which is the same size.
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Hmm, looking at the pix my zonet is a bit different to the ambicom. I'll have to do some pictures.

[Jon_J]

Thank you for the replies everyone.
I'll get the Ambicom. It's also $20 less than the D-Link I mentioned.
I am completely satisfied with the two Ambicom cards that I already have.
Both the GPS and the 56k dialup cards were found at Staples
Also, thank you Enodr for the link and info about updating the firmware and card sizes.

Jon