Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [wildly OT]advice for a wireless antenna?
Sorry, I don't see how firmware can affect sensitivity. I've been involved in writing firmware for RF data communications stuff for a long time, and I've certainly never been able to affect sensitivity. I can say that I was really struggling to get a reliable wireless connection with the rt2x00 device and Hawking external antenna anywhere in my garage. I tried the madwifi device attached to the same Hawking antenna and the difference was ridiculous. I got a perfectly reliable signal from the back of the garage, the point furthest from the signal's source. Now that I think about it, I could have enabled outdoor mode for madwifi, but I can't check it right now. Could that account for the difference? What's madwifi outdoor mode? I googled but I can't find some readable information. The only info I have is from /etc/conf.d/ath_pci: # outdoor: Enable/disable outdoor use # countrycode: Override default country code options ath_pci outdoor=1 countrycode=0 Now that I look at that, the sensitivity difference could also be due to my unsetting the country code. - Grant -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [wildly OT]advice for a wireless antenna?
I'm talking about the USB wireless adapter (I don't think I can connect the antenna to my laptop directly), not the passphrase key... Ah. I've got a Hawking HWUG1 USB WiFi adapter that works fine with Gentoo (I had to download driver source from somewhere). It's got an R-SMA connector for use with external antennas. I've had good luck using these together: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164015 Yup, that's the one I have. That's a good price on it, too. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164110 I've also got one of those antennas and it's exellent. It provides a little (1-2dB) more gain as my double-biquad reflector, but it's a lot cheaper (assuming your time is worth much), and a bit easier to use, since it will sit nicely on a table or windowsill. Seems a nice combo, indeed. A curiosity: by itself, the Hawking USB adapter has more or less sensitivity than the simple Airport glued to my Macbook motherboard? I think it depends a lot on the maturity of the drivers. As I said, my Netgear PCI card uses the madwifi drivers and vastly outperforms the Hawking adapter. The Hawking's drivers are fairly new (rt2x00) and madwifi has been around for quite a while now. I do have another rt2x00 adapter that performs noticeably worse than the Hawking. It's a Linksys and it has no external antenna. Also worth noting is that this item: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833315075 uses rt2x00 but has some type of failure issue. Possibly heat related, possibly not. I've experienced it firsthand. - Grant -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [wildly OT]advice for a wireless antenna?
On Monday 12 May 2008, Grant Edwards wrote: On 2008-05-12, Grant [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: A curiosity: by itself, the Hawking USB adapter has more or less sensitivity than the simple Airport glued to my Macbook motherboard? I think it depends a lot on the maturity of the drivers. As I said, my Netgear PCI card uses the madwifi drivers and vastly outperforms the Hawking adapter. What do you mean by outperform? I can see how drivers can affect throughput. The Windows drivers for my Laptop's WiFi chipset (Intel Pro-something) only get about 1/4 of the bandwidth that the Linux drivers do. But, I don't understand how the driver can affect receiver sensitivity. That's purely a function of the design of the RF frontend. As modified by the firmware in the device. OK, it's not the driver per se, but it's certainly not the hardware either -- Alan McKinnon alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [wildly OT]advice for a wireless antenna?
On Monday 12 May 2008, Grant Edwards wrote: As modified by the firmware in the device. OK, it's not the driver per se, but it's certainly not the hardware either Sorry, I don't see how firmware can affect sensitivity. I've been involved in writing firmware for RF data communications stuff for a long time, and I've certainly never been able to affect sensitivity. Well, I don't write firmware for a living, but I do know electronics and I do know the stated reason for having these firmware blobs at all - to comply with legislation in the respective countries where the device is sold. The RF front end consists of amplifier and filter stages and possibly other stuff. The gain of the amplifier stages can easily be made adjustable under CPU control, so if a designer plans to do that, it would be trivial. Whether they currently actually DO that as opposed to it merely being easily possible is a question for someone else to answer. If that person is you and you know for a fact it is not done that way, then I shall stand corrected. -- Alan McKinnon alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [wildly OT]advice for a wireless antenna?
What do you mean by outperform? I can see how drivers can affect throughput. The Windows drivers for my Laptop's WiFi chipset (Intel Pro-something) only get about 1/4 of the bandwidth that the Linux drivers do. But, I don't understand how the driver can affect receiver sensitivity. That's purely a function of the design of the RF frontend. As modified by the firmware in the device. OK, it's not the driver per se, but it's certainly not the hardware either Sorry, I don't see how firmware can affect sensitivity. I've been involved in writing firmware for RF data communications stuff for a long time, and I've certainly never been able to affect sensitivity. I can say that I was really struggling to get a reliable wireless connection with the rt2x00 device and Hawking external antenna anywhere in my garage. I tried the madwifi device attached to the same Hawking antenna and the difference was ridiculous. I got a perfectly reliable signal from the back of the garage, the point furthest from the signal's source. Now that I think about it, I could have enabled outdoor mode for madwifi, but I can't check it right now. Could that account for the difference? - Grant -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [wildly OT]advice for a wireless antenna?
Grant ha scritto: Sorry, I don't see how firmware can affect sensitivity. I've been involved in writing firmware for RF data communications stuff for a long time, and I've certainly never been able to affect sensitivity. I can say that I was really struggling to get a reliable wireless connection with the rt2x00 device and Hawking external antenna anywhere in my garage. I tried the madwifi device attached to the same Hawking antenna and the difference was ridiculous. I got a perfectly reliable signal from the back of the garage, the point furthest from the signal's source. Now that I think about it, I could have enabled outdoor mode for madwifi, but I can't check it right now. Could that account for the difference? What's madwifi outdoor mode? I googled but I can't find some readable information. m. -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [wildly OT]advice for a wireless antenna?
On Sat, May 10, 2008 at 3:44 PM, Grant Edwards [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 2008-05-10, Grant [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm talking about the USB wireless adapter (I don't think I can connect the antenna to my laptop directly), not the passphrase key... Ah. I've got a Hawking HWUG1 USB WiFi adapter that works fine with Gentoo (I had to download driver source from somewhere). It's got an R-SMA connector for use with external antennas. I've had good luck using these together: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164015 Yup, that's the one I have. That's a good price on it, too. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164110 I've also got one of those antennas and it's exellent. It provides a little (1-2dB) more gain as my double-biquad reflector, but it's a lot cheaper (assuming your time is worth much), and a bit easier to use, since it will sit nicely on a table or windowsill. Seems a nice combo, indeed. A curiosity: by itself, the Hawking USB adapter has more or less sensitivity than the simple Airport glued to my Macbook motherboard? m. -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [wildly OT]advice for a wireless antenna?
I'm talking about the USB wireless adapter (I don't think I can connect the antenna to my laptop directly), not the passphrase key... Ah. I've got a Hawking HWUG1 USB WiFi adapter that works fine with Gentoo (I had to download driver source from somewhere). It's got an R-SMA connector for use with external antennas. I've had good luck using these together: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164015 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164110 Use the rt2x00 driver included in 2.6.24 kernels. I should mention though, I attached that antenna to a PCI madwifi card and it works much better. Obviously that won't work for a laptop or if you want to move the antenna a distance from the computer via USB cable as opposed to antenna extension cable. - Grant -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [wildly OT]advice for a wireless antenna?
I've had very good luck with home-made biquad reflectors: http://martybugs.net/wireless/biquad/ http://www.trevormarshall.com/biquad.htm I've build both a single and a double biquad using methods similar to the first page. I use thin-walled brass tubing instead of copper. Thanks, I'll have a look. What do you advice for it? Usb wireless key to use, You get the key from the network admin, don't you? I'm talking about the USB wireless adapter (I don't think I can connect the antenna to my laptop directly), not the passphrase key... m. -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
