> >>>> I'm talking about the USB wireless adapter (I don't think I can > >>>> connect the antenna to my laptop directly), > >>>> not the passphrase key... > >>> > >>> Ah. I've got a Hawking HWUG1 USB WiFi adapter that works fine > >>> with Gentoo (I had to download driver source from somewhere). > >>> It's got an R-SMA connector for use with external antennas. > >> > >> I've had good luck using these together: > >> > >> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164015 > > > > Yup, that's the one I have. That's a good price on it, too. > > > >> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164110 > > > > I've also got one of those antennas and it's exellent. It > > provides a little (1-2dB) more gain as my double-biquad > > reflector, but it's a lot cheaper (assuming your time is worth > > much), and a bit easier to use, since it will sit nicely on a > > table or windowsill. > > Seems a nice combo, indeed. > A curiosity: by itself, the Hawking USB adapter has more or less > sensitivity than the simple Airport glued to my Macbook motherboard?
I think it depends a lot on the maturity of the drivers. As I said, my Netgear PCI card uses the madwifi drivers and vastly outperforms the Hawking adapter. The Hawking's drivers are fairly new (rt2x00) and madwifi has been around for quite a while now. I do have another rt2x00 adapter that performs noticeably worse than the Hawking. It's a Linksys and it has no external antenna. Also worth noting is that this item: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833315075 uses rt2x00 but has some type of failure issue. Possibly heat related, possibly not. I've experienced it firsthand. - Grant -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
