Qualitative question about wifi card

I am constantly grateful for the amount of time and effort that that has been put into this site. Without it I am sure that many people would still have their HPC's sitting in the top shelf of the closet.

I am shopping for a wifi card and have looked through the HCL. I have also searched through more than 30 posts that include wifi in them. Almost all of the posts seem to be focused on getting a card that will work with an HPC and getting it to run. Being a computer addict with true mobile needs (not just portable needs) I am not only intereseted in finding a compatible card and getting it to work but also looking for something that will ease the drain on my battery (hense the large numbers of posts I have made on this site about batteries) and also have a large range.

1. Can I automatically assume that PCMCIA wifi cards will always use more energy than a CF card?
2. Can I automatically assume that CF cards will provide the shortest range?

Also...a wild and expensive question, if I had a CF USB card could I use a 802.11g USB adapter?

I am willing to take the time to back to the mfg's website and read endless streams of numbers and terms but I don't know what to look for. Can someone tell me which specifications to look for to be able to know what I am getting into re: power and range?

Thanks again!

My opinion only:

1. No
2. No

Also, a wild and expensive NO.

Rich

1. usually
2. usually
...
cf usb: wow, very wild guess but there's a chance. you can get usb wifi to work via a builtin usb host (even though not easily), dunno if the cf usb host is so much different in this respect

ive tried a few wifi cards... the dlink dcf660w seems to have a good range and does not eat more power than other cf wifis.
but i heard the 650w has even better range.

edit: or you can get a wifi card (usually pcmcia) that has support for an extra external aerie. that would be great for range. dunno about power consumption though

Edited by cmonex 2006-02-10 7:28 PM

Wow! Can you get a usb wifi to work on a j720 through the docking station?

I doubt you can use a usb card through the docking station, namely bcos the .j720 don't have a usb host. I use wifi extensively as well and my solution to the battery problem is to gel. extra Balteris. they're quite cheap on ebay and is a better solution imo.

nope, nope, you need the CF usb host card (the ratoc, version 1.1)

also don't forget there's not much chance to have the usb wifi working (certainly NOT easily). why would you want usb wifi?

Edited by cmonex 2006-02-10 7:45 PM

I'd go with the (Agere) Orinoco Classic - the range is very good, and you can attach a small antenna to it to increase it further. And, from my experience, it doesn't draw a lot of power.

I know from personal that the Avaya Silver pcmia ( it is a Orinoco clone) works well, with excellent range. The Ambicom cf card works equally well, both in a cf slot or in a pcmia adapter. The ZONET CF 1100 series works very well with H/PC2000( using ppc 2002 drivers) and not at all with H/PC pro.

All 3 provide a sometimes cheaper solution to the normal sought after cards.

The faster datarates of G are appealing, granted. As are the slightly better performance at range. However you have to be realistic about the bus capabilities in the Jornada - it simply isn't going to be able to handle it. USB 1.1 is only 12Mbps - so attaching a 54Mbps NIC to it wont do much good, and the Internal data bus from the IDE isn't going to be all that much faster - somewhere around 16Mbps I place it. Factoring in write time to CF (if applicable) and it will be significantly less.

On that note however, when Linksys first brought out a G adapter with PPC drivers, I was able to successfully modify, install and operate the driver system (without the card present I stress). So there may be some hope in that there are drivers floating about - leading one to conclude that there must also be a G reference driver set for CE3.

1. While there are 5v and 3.3v PCMCIA card, CF was desigend with power management in mind and so will generally provide better battery performance - as with anything there are going to be exceptions, saints and sinners.

2. Depends on the antenna surface area and mAh rating of the adapter - the higher the mAh, the worse the battery power. Some drivers allow this to be meddled with.

3. So long as you can find the necessary chipset drivers. As stated above, there is an untested chance that the Linksys will work.

Thanks for all of the info. I am ready to go without...wires, that is

BTW, while looking at an ebay auction item I found a pcmcia nic that said

"The Classic Gold Card can also be used as a radio in the ORiNOCO AP-1000, AP-500 and others products."

Any chance that this can also be used as a radio in a hpc?

The dreamer....

I'm not too sure over the direct answer to the question, the Gold 16-bit can work in the H/PC.

The AP-#### work like this:
http://www.digit-life.com/articles/wlan/apo2.jpg

Does that clarify?