- sorting out non-free firmware

Posted Jun 23, 2005 19:56 UTC (Thu) by mmarsh (subscriber, #17029) [Link]

Except that you don't necessarily know until you buy the card, take it home, spend a few hours trying to get it to work, and then finally taking it back to the store. That describes my recent experience trying to get a LinkSys wireless card working in my laptop. Fortunately, I had an old card known to work that I'd borrowed from someone I work with, and which I ultimately bought from him to spare me the hassle of finding a new card that works.

The bulk of the wireless cards out there might very well work perfectly with Linux, but many of them seem no longer to be on the market. Even hardware guides from December were recommending cards that I couldn't find at someplace like Staples or Office Depot.