Slashdot Mirror
Are There 802.11 Cards That Accept A Wire?
Luti asks: "Does anyone know of a company that sells 802.11 dongles, or a PCMCIA card that has both a regular RJ-45 connector and an 802.11 antenna? I need to be able to connect my laptop at school (wireless), and at home through my server (due to price most likely wired). I just can't see the point in either a.) buying 2 pcmcia cards for their current prices, one 802.11 and one regular 10/100mbps, or b.) buying an 802.11 card and base station, or even a second card for peer to peer . Any suggestions? Anyone else in my position?" Interesting thought. I'm sure there are hardware manufacturers making these. Has anyone tried some of these out? What were your experiences, especially with regards to OS support?
Generally the computer industry has a pretty crappy record of making a card do more than one thing at a time. Notice that, with the exception of cards that integrate the various video i/o functionality, it's one function, one card, in terms of consumer available hardware. Combination modem/ethernet cards never really cought on, and the first ones had annoying quirks to them.
Unless somebody deliberately made a chipset that could go either way, I suspect that a combo-card would be a collision of the guts of a wireless and wired ethernet card with a CardBus bridge to link them. As a result, you would likely end up paying the cost for both cards, plus a premium and be aimed more to be a convenience item instead of a budget item.
Plus, many laptops aimed at business will have built-in ethernet, meaning that it is of limited market interest.
Gentoo Sucks