Re: PC Engines APU2xx wireless card for router?
Thanks for the input! Happy New Year :) Cheers, Steve Williams On 31/12/2016 2:29 PM, Eike Lantzsch wrote: On Saturday, 31 December 2016 11:13:53 PYST Steve Williams wrote: Hi, I have decided to modernize my OpenBSD system from an old desktop PC to something lower power. It seems that the PC Engines APU line is well supported by OpenBSD and low power and the price point is rather attractive. I've never done wireless with OpenBSD. Since some of the APU cases come with holes for two antennae, I thought it would be a new learning experience to implement a wireless base station (router) in OpenBSD. I can't seem to find much information on what wireless cards people have used in the APU system(s). The PC Engines website lists a WLE200NX which google reveals is a Atheros AR9280 Wireless Mini PCIe 2.4/5 Ghz Dual Band card. I used the WLM200NX with an Alix as OpenBSD AP until the Alix was destroyed by lightning. Since then using an APU1 as router but no WiFi yet. According to athn.4, it should be supported and operate as a base station (router). It seems that the WLE200NX is electronically the same as the WLM200NX. But I can't be sure until I get mine together with an additional APU2 sometime in Jan 2017. I'll make sure to report and send a dmesg. In any case you need to decide in which band you want to operate (2.4GHz or 5GHz) and choose the right antenna respectively, unless you decide to order a dual-band antenna. The latter is said to perform worse but I couldn't detect a difference to the single-band antenna - at least @ 2.4GHz where the signal is very much interfered with. I went eventually with 5GHz because with that I'm alone in the neighbourhood. Is this a card that people have had success with operating as a base station (wireless router)? Is there a better Mini PCIe card that is supported by OpenBSD? If the WLE600VX is "better" or if it works at all w/ OpenBSD still remains to be seen. I'm not scrimping on money... I anticipate this running for 5+ years. I've been on OpenBSD since the 2.7 days and have only had 2 different sets of hardware (retired PC's). This would be the third and the only "new" system :) Thanks, Steve Williams All the best Eike
Re: PC Engines APU2xx wireless card for router?
Thanks! On 02/01/2017 3:17 AM, Stefan Sperling wrote: On Sat, Dec 31, 2016 at 11:13:53AM -0700, Steve Williams wrote: The PC Engines website lists a WLE200NX which google reveals is a Atheros AR9280 Wireless Mini PCIe 2.4/5 Ghz Dual Band card. According to athn.4, it should be supported and operate as a base station (router). Is this a card that people have had success with operating as a base station (wireless router)? Yes. Is there a better Mini PCIe card that is supported by OpenBSD? No.
Re: PC Engines APU2xx wireless card for router?
On Sat, Dec 31, 2016 at 11:13:53AM -0700, Steve Williams wrote: > The PC Engines website lists a WLE200NX which google reveals is a Atheros > AR9280 Wireless Mini PCIe 2.4/5 Ghz Dual Band card. > > According to athn.4, it should be supported and operate as a base station > (router). > > Is this a card that people have had success with operating as a base station > (wireless router)? Yes. > Is there a better Mini PCIe card that is supported by OpenBSD? No.
Re: PC Engines APU2xx wireless card for router?
On Saturday, 31 December 2016 11:13:53 PYST Steve Williams wrote: > Hi, > > I have decided to modernize my OpenBSD system from an old desktop PC to > something lower power. It seems that the PC Engines APU line is well > supported by OpenBSD and low power and the price point is rather attractive. > > I've never done wireless with OpenBSD. Since some of the APU cases come > with holes for two antennae, I thought it would be a new learning > experience to implement a wireless base station (router) in OpenBSD. > > I can't seem to find much information on what wireless cards people have > used in the APU system(s). > > The PC Engines website lists a WLE200NX which google reveals is a > Atheros AR9280 Wireless Mini PCIe 2.4/5 Ghz Dual Band card. I used the WLM200NX with an Alix as OpenBSD AP until the Alix was destroyed by lightning. Since then using an APU1 as router but no WiFi yet. > > According to athn.4, it should be supported and operate as a base > station (router). It seems that the WLE200NX is electronically the same as the WLM200NX. But I can't be sure until I get mine together with an additional APU2 sometime in Jan 2017. I'll make sure to report and send a dmesg. In any case you need to decide in which band you want to operate (2.4GHz or 5GHz) and choose the right antenna respectively, unless you decide to order a dual-band antenna. The latter is said to perform worse but I couldn't detect a difference to the single-band antenna - at least @ 2.4GHz where the signal is very much interfered with. I went eventually with 5GHz because with that I'm alone in the neighbourhood. > Is this a card that people have had success with operating as a base > station (wireless router)? > > Is there a better Mini PCIe card that is supported by OpenBSD? If the WLE600VX is "better" or if it works at all w/ OpenBSD still remains to be seen. > > I'm not scrimping on money... I anticipate this running for 5+ years. > I've been on OpenBSD since the 2.7 days and have only had 2 different > sets of hardware (retired PC's). This would be the third and the only > "new" system :) > > Thanks, > Steve Williams All the best Eike -- Eike Lantzsch ZP6CGE "One man's signal is other man's QRM"
PC Engines APU2xx wireless card for router?
Hi, I have decided to modernize my OpenBSD system from an old desktop PC to something lower power. It seems that the PC Engines APU line is well supported by OpenBSD and low power and the price point is rather attractive. I've never done wireless with OpenBSD. Since some of the APU cases come with holes for two antennae, I thought it would be a new learning experience to implement a wireless base station (router) in OpenBSD. I can't seem to find much information on what wireless cards people have used in the APU system(s). The PC Engines website lists a WLE200NX which google reveals is a Atheros AR9280 Wireless Mini PCIe 2.4/5 Ghz Dual Band card. According to athn.4, it should be supported and operate as a base station (router). Is this a card that people have had success with operating as a base station (wireless router)? Is there a better Mini PCIe card that is supported by OpenBSD? I'm not scrimping on money... I anticipate this running for 5+ years. I've been on OpenBSD since the 2.7 days and have only had 2 different sets of hardware (retired PC's). This would be the third and the only "new" system :) Thanks, Steve Williams
