DWA-510 Dlink Wireless PCI Adapter

[Bismuth]

Hello All,

I am planning on setting up a wireless network at home, and would like to use the DWA-510, however, as my system runs Linux, I would like to know if it works in Linux before I purchase this card.

I have asked a retailer, who says it doesn't work in Linux, and D-Link themelves, who say it does! From what I have been able to find out, you could get it working in conjunction with NDISwrapper.

So, should I get this card, or look for a Linux-compatible alternative?. The DWA-510 is within my budget, from what I have seen the cards that are basically "guaranteed" to work in Linux are more expensive.

Suggestion, comments and so forth would be most welcome!.

B

 

[sn3rd]

Seems like it SHOULD work, depending on how much effort you're willing to put in. I haven't had any failures using the ndiswrapper method. You might have trouble with wpa-supplicant though (for encrypting your wireless network).

 

[MyWorld]

Most wireless lan cards work with ndiswrapper with only a handful of cards natively supported by the kernel, but if you are looking for a really good card in Linux, try and get the Atheros chip set.
Gigabyte wireless lan cards came out with it, a super chip set for Linux with more features than a Swiss army knife!

Just do a search for Atheros and Gigabyte, there was a site not too long ago that listed all the models and the relevant chip set being used, makes shopping so much easier.

As soon as I have a chance I'll have a look if I can find the site, but Google should be able to give you some results.

The reason I would go the extra mile to buy the Atheros card:
ndiswrapper is limited to only giving lan connection, so if you would like to do more advanced routing (like using your Linux box as a wireless AP), MAC address spoofing, wireless hacking, etc. then you will need Atheros.

And don't give me that blank stare, educational hacking, like testing your own network and playing with your own wifi network to see what the hacking hubbub is all about.

 

[Bismuth]

Just in case someone also asks this question, I can confirm that the DWA-510 works seamlessly in Ubuntu 8.10. Configuration was a breeze, and I transferred files over the connection with no problems. Did not require NDISwrapper or anything like that.

B

 

[MyWorld]

It would be great is you could give us more info on the card, like what chipset it uses.

lspci

I'm very curious to see what driver set they are using on that card.

 

[Bismuth]

It would be great is you could give us more info on the card, like what chipset it uses.

lspci

I'm very curious to see what driver set they are using on that card.

Ok, will check it at home later. I never got confirmation that it uses the Atheros chipset, but even the local D-LInk guys said it would work. The linux PC is not an AP, just a client, but the AP I've got , the DAP-1160, claims to be FOSS and Linux-compatible, so I guess it should work for more advanced routing.

On a side note, I hosed my XP partition this weekend, so I have decided on a complete format, and will only reinstall Ubuntu once I've made the necessary backups.

B