Instead of focusing on the card brand / type I would reccomend you
focus on the chipset, The Recieve Sensitvity, and the underlying
driver level support.
There is a good list of cards and recieve sensitivity at
http://wiki.freenetworks.org/index.cgi/ReceiveSensitivity
Out of all the linux drivers the best of the bunch are the hostap
drivers. They support RF monitor, and other Injection functions that
many of the linux pentesting / wireless tools out there require.
ALL prism2.x based cards should be supported by hostap. That said I
would reccomend that you get yourself a prism2.x based wlan card.
The Senao SL-2511plus ext2 is an excellent card. It has DUAL MMCX
antenna connectors on board. It outputs 200mW of power and has
excellent recieve sensitivity. The downside, no integrated antenna.
You MUST use an external antenna at all times.
The SMC2532W-B card is also excellent. It has a detachable antenna
that reveals 2 RP-MMCX connectors. The antenna and connectors are very
"flimsy" on this card, so if you do pick one up be careful. Also, note
that the regular SMC cards are not that great, you'll only want the
2532W-B.
Demarctec also makes some prism2.x based cards with excellent recieve
sensitivity, external antenna jacks, and over 300mW power output. The
downside, is that they cost a bit more than other cards.
The forementioned Orinoco Gold Classic card, which has several
varaints also works well under linux, has an external antenna jack;
however the recieve sensitivity is not quite as good as that of the
Senao, SMC Eliteconnect, or Demarctec cards. It is also not supported
by the hostap driver, although you can make it support RFMON mode via
a patch.
The upside, you can find the non orinoco branded clone cards for dirt
cheap on ebay under the names avaya gold, enterasys, agere, etc. I
recently picked up some avaya silver cards (which I then flashed into
gold cards) for $5 each on ebay.
These cards have MC Card style antenna connectors.
Everything said I'd reccomend looking at the recieve sensitivity chart
I referenced above, choosing one of the prism2.x based Cards with
better recieve sensitvity and antenna jacks, and downloading and
installing the HOSTAP drivers. That should cover you for kismet, and
other linux wireless tools that require RF monitor mode and much more.
On 5/13/05, Michael C. McDonnell <michael@carolinatechservices.com> wrote:
I'm trying to find a wireless card for my laptop with an external
antenna jack and linux drivers but the linux part is eliminating every
one I have seen.
Suggestions...?
Mike McD
