If you end up needing the slower speeds, the older firmware will work better. The newer firmware has 2 problems. First, it reduces the maximum amount of power the 614+ can transmit with. Second, it will lose connection with the other side for no apparent reason. I was running it in bridge mode, so 4x wasn't available to me anyway. Actually, I had it locked down to 2Mbps as it seemed more consistent rather than allowing auto speed selection. From memory, the newest good firmware was 2.52.
Kev. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Lee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, September 01, 2003 10:21 PM Subject: Re: (clug-talk) Ask CLUG: Which Wireless Access Point? > > Richi Plana wrote: > > I am thinking of starting a wireless network at home and am wondering if > > I need to get an access point (or will Linux with a WiFi card connected > > the the Internet work?). > > I don't think a wireless card has the hardware resources required to act > as an AP. It'd be nice if there were PCI cards that had the ability to > act as an AP. > > > I'm looking at two Wireless AP options and was wondering if you could > > give me your opinion on which would work best for an all-Linux network. > > The two APs I'm condering are the D-Link AirPlus Xtreme G Wireless > > Router w/ 4-Port Switch (DI-624) and the Linksys Wireless-G Access Point > > (WAP54G). > > Is there already linux driver support for some 802.11g cards? If so, > thats pretty sweet. I haven't looked yet. > > I just bought the DI-614+ this weekend, which supports the non-standard > 802.11b+ protocol, which uses a different encoding (don't know if encoding > is the correct terminology) called Packet Binary Convolution Code (PBCC). > This encoding ups the theoretical max bandwidth to 22Mbps, which in > reality is reportedly closer to ~6Mbps. > > When I did the firmware and driver upgrades, I noticed that D-Link now > offers a "proprietary" 4x mode. The FAQ states that "4X mode is a > proprietary method of gaining increased throughput exclusive to the D-Link > Airplus family. 4X mode enables you to get up to 4 times actual > throughput increase over 802.11b devices when using D-Link Airplus > products that also support 4X mode." > > of course, none of this 4x mode is linux friendly, and I don't know if the > 2x PBCC stuff is linux friendly. In my case the only wireless client > using the AP/router is my gf's windows laptop, and so linux support hasn't > come into play. when it does, I assume standard 11Mbps 802.11b will be > all that linux is capable of. > > Dave > > >
