Best Wireless PCMCIA or CF for NEC790

Does anyone know what specific PCMCIA or CF wireless card is best for installing & running in NEC790? I notice some that can be made to work are real headaches to get installed and running and are a hassle each time the user links.

There also appear to be cards that install and work like a glove, which ones? Just those readily available and available for less than $70

I'll bet the socket communications low power cards are great but near impossible to find.
It would be nice if I could get a card that works with Jornada 680 or 720 as well as NEC 790.

How much can I expect to pay for a decent used card?

I already searched the forum. The wifi card posts seem scattered. Perhaps a comprehensive string could be archived for those unfamiliar with wifi for Handhelds?

---Bruised

I would check the HCL, but also...

I use a DCF-660W with the Linksys WCF11 drivers. The thing works like a charm. It is a CF card, but with my 790 I tend to use it in the PCMCIA slot via a PCMCIA-->CF adapter ($12 Locally). Works quite well, just don't use the Dlink driver as it is bloated. The Linksys one is instant on, and it just... works.

Good luck with your 790!

well it's a good idea to collect all information to the same thread... others have already tried but it somehow didn't work out

so..
you want to avoid:
linksys
netgear

excellent cards or at least fairly good ones, with good drivers.. (that's the point here, drivers):

orinoco
cisco
and a lot of *standard* prism based cards, for example my senao works a charm!

oh and some details about certain brands:

socket: must be very good.. i'd like one
pretec: non-standard prism and crappy performance, avoid it.

about drivers:
use the included one unless it's not working well.. *and* if it's a standard (!) prism card, you should use the reference drivers or the hawking one from the HCL. (my experience)

about platforms:

orinoco and standard prism cards will work on *everything* from CE 2.0 up to ce.net 4.2 (and surely on 5.0 too)

in the end, my recommendations: orinoco, socket (if it's really good), and senao (because this is my card!)

I thank you for the quick replies. I do see Orinoco and prism chipsets mentioned a lot in posts for Linux systems, Casio PDAs, and different NEC mobilepros and Jornadas.

My only interest is to set up my NEC 780\790s & my Jornada for public hotspots, library, etc. Since all of them are at least 802.11b & 802.11g capable and auto configure, I can use them with any 802.11b compliant wifi setup.

Apparantly, a orinoco or standard prism chipset card is easiest way to go with my Linux notebook systems. I've read posts by highly experienced linux users who complained investing 8 or more hours to get netgear installed and working with a Linux distro.

Now, if I can just get my hands on an Orinoco or a DCF-660W CF card. I already have a few PCMCIA to CF card adaptors. I use them empty in my NEC MPs to keep the flimsy case over the PCMCIA slot from cracking when I pick up the NECs.


---Bruised

One caveat about the ORiNOCO card: look for the name of the company producing it. It should be Lucent Technologies or Agere Systems. The card was later marketed by Avaya and by Proxim Corp, but those companies reduced the quality (and compatibility) while raising the price. You can find lots of ORiNOCO cards on eBay all the time.

I bought a Sandisk Low Power wifi card, complete with PCMCIA->CF adapter for just over $20 on the electronic bay. Works like a charm with the WCF11 drivers, and dirt cheap at that... Lower power usage as well.

I have cisco 340 card worked on simpad but the speed is slow. Ping time to the route/gateway is around 150 ms. How is the typical ping time of yours?

thanks

Anyone know anything about Ambicom 16-bit WL 1100 B-PC (Type II PC Card)?
I am looking at buying one from Ambicom, which claims the card is specially "engineered" for CE2.11, CE3.0 & Linux mobile PCs. It is the only card I found so far that claims Linux support and is new design and made for mobile devices.

If the Ambicom ad is true, I should be able to use it on my Linux desktop & notebook systems and all my mobile devices (Jornada 680, NEC 780 & 790, & Casio BE-300) I only need it to work on my NEC790 to use with public hotspots but it would be fun to play with it on all my systems.

When they claim "engineered for", I assume they merely mean they include the drivers and support for all Windows desktop and CE versions and Casio BE-300?

...As for eBay, I am finding mostly sellers who claim their card works for NEC 780/790 but do not name the card and none of the photos are good enough to magnify so you can read the maker and name, something I find odd enough to avoid these eBay crap shoot buys.

---Bruised

My CE choices
Prismed based CF first (Dlink 660, low power, great performance)
Prism based pcmcia 2nd, (NetgearMA401, Belkin f5d6020, med power draw)
Mix and match drivers to your liking

My Linux choices
None, don't have it on anything wireless

My avoid choices
Spectrum (very low power draw, very low performance, nice drivers)
Cisco (500ma draw, are you kidding me?, it should be sub-space capable)

Can anybody tell us if this Sandisk card will work in a NEC790, etc.? The Specs say it will work with Pocket PC 2003 and others higher than Professional 2000 and its isn't mentioned if it is 16-bit or higher.

http://store.yahoo.com/saveateaglestore/sacowica12wi.html?c=ns

---Bruised

Edited by bruisedquasar 2005-08-15 9:26 AM

it works on a jornada 720.
if there are MIPS drivers it will on the 790 too.. but no PPC2000 support means no MIPS support.
but still there's a chance, standard prism drivers, though dazz reported he still needed the original sandisk drivers as well.