Whither 802.11a in Linux?

Revar asks: "My local net admin recently installed an 802.11a 54Mbps wireless network. Under Windows, the speed is great and at 5Ghz, it has much less interference then the 2.4Ghz 802.11b wireless. The problem is, I cannot seem to find any 802.11a PCMCIA cards that have Linux or MacOS X support. Are there any, or is no-one actually working on this?" Whenever new hardware is released patience, when wating for Linux support, is a necessary virtue.

Comments

Virtue

[kzadot]

Whenever new hardware is released patience, when wating for Linux support, is a necessary virtue.

No, its not necessary at all. A much more neccessary (and more easy to obtain) virtue would be the motivation, and consideration for the open source movement that bought you linux in the first place, to attempt to actually hack up a quick driver yourself...

Re:Virtue

[Usquebaugh]

WTF,
who modded this up?

Easy to write device drivers! Hmmm, for some prehaps but for most of us it's not. Next time you need a new piece for your car I hope the mechaninc points you to a lathe.

Re:Virtue

[dubl-u]

How silly of them to think that the Linux movement actually wants people other than programmers to use the operating system.

It depends on what you mean by "the Linux movement". Sure, everybody wants lots of users. But very few people are interested in signing up to be the personal slaves of people who don't know a one from a zero and would like to stay that way.

A lot of open-source software gets written under the itch-scratching model. I want software to do X, so I write it until I'm happy, and maybe I write a little more because it's fun. Somebody else who wants X+Y writes the Y. But if no programmer wants X+Y+Z, then Z may never get done, no matter how many non-programmers want it.

This isn't meant to be exlusionary. Quite the opposite: a lot of Zs do get written for fun or out of generosity, and I've never dealt with an open-source developer who wasn't immensely welcoming towards those who wanted to learn enough so that they could contribute.

But by and large, the rule is "patches welcome". If you think "the Linux movement" should have better driver support, then you should start writing drivers or assist somebody who can.

d-link 650

[Tomah4wk]

Dlink produce a something 650 card that works very well. Also the cisco airnet, man orinco cards that use lucent chipsets. Just because a cards manufacturer doesnt claim to support linux doesnt mean they dont. Go to pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net, do a search for wvlan on google, or just 'wireless networing linux'. Slashdot really is not an alterntative to a simple google search. Use the web, thats what its for. This really is an incredibly simple question to answer yourself.

the problem

[tps12]

This is the attitude that holds Linux back. People will bitch and bitch about how they can't print, can't play Doom, and can't watch DVDs.

Well, boo fucking hoo. Linux Torvalds wrote himself a whole goddamned operating system, for Jesus sake. If you want a driver, write the damn thing yourself. You owe it to the community who gave you Linux in the first place.

The one problem with Free Software that I see, is the use of the word "free." No matter how many times we say "free as in speech," there is a huge contingent of doofuses who just hear "free" and the little dollar signs appear in their eyes. Everyone wants something for nothing, and the term misleads people into expecting it.

So, to all you Linux users who whine about missing features, unsupported hardware, stability issues, and security holes: pitch in and help us out, or please go back to Windows. We are all better off without you.