Compact Flash WIFI?

RedGTiVR6 · 12-24-2004, 08:07 AM

I have seen numerous Compact Flash WiFi for PDAs. My question is, do you think they will work in XP?

Since I am using the MII12000 board I have a compact flash slot and a PCMCIA slot as well. The PCMCIA slot is going to be used by the Sound Blaster Audigy ZX 2 laptop sound card (so that I can have optical out). I'd like to have wireless but it's not critical at this moment. I have a USB wifi key, but it's d-link and it's crap and I don't think I will have an extra USB slot without getting a hub since I will be using a USB rom drive and usb GPS.....

any ideas? anything other than compact flash and USB maybe? I guess I could look for a shorter than normal PCI wifi card?

wizardPC · 12-24-2004, 10:02 AM

Get a USB Orinoco Gold from Ebay, though it MUST be connected to the board and not through a hub.

You've got 4 total USB connections on that board. There should have been a cable that came with it that you can plug into the board which gives you the two extra ports.

edikp · 12-24-2004, 10:24 AM

@RedGTI:

I'm not sure whether you are looking for comments by people that use Compact Flash WIFI in general or specific ones that use them with the MII12k. I'll provide you with a comment from the general side.

I've been using SMC2642W (by SMC Networks) with my laptop for 1.5 years and been very happy with its performance. This is a Compact Flash Type I card. It's inserted into a Compact Flash to PCMCIA adapter to use on my laptop.

On my carputer I use a Microsoft's USB Wireless NIC. And I have made a side by side comparison (with my laptop in the car) between the two. They both perform about the same way. The signal strength about the same and they lost the connection to my WAP router at about the same time as I was driving away from my house.

RedGTiVR6 · 12-24-2004, 10:41 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by wizardPC

Get a USB Orinoco Gold from Ebay, though it MUST be connected to the board and not through a hub.

You've got 4 total USB connections on that board. There should have been a cable that came with it that you can plug into the board which gives you the two extra ports.

nope - no back plate for additional USB ports, the M10000 that I have has the back plate that plugs into two white plugs on teh board and a yellow one for firewire. This board only came with the two USB ports that are on the board below the network connection location....

honnestly, I don't really feel like having a bunch of USB wires to worry about if at all possible (I'd rather not have wireless than have a USB hub to worry about finding a place for, etc...)

So, thus the question about the Compact Flash WIFI

my PCMCIA slot is already taken up by my sound card, so that's not useable...

Bailey · 12-24-2004, 11:32 AM

In for details...

I had no idea CF can be used as a system device.

grepzen · 12-24-2004, 11:37 AM

how/when is CF NOT used for system device?

wizardPC · 12-25-2004, 03:55 PM

I just can't imagine a CF WiFi card being very good in the car. I've got a Dell Axim with a CF WiFi card and the darn thing had to be sitting on my dashboard to pick up any AP's with ministumbler. Forget about actually using the internet.

I just think you oughta forego the whole wifi thing. Oh and for future reference on where your added USB ports are according to the manual:

RedGTiVR6 · 12-25-2004, 06:16 PM

I'm sure there was a place to add them, I just haven't throughly read the manual as I've been trying to build the audio system for the past few weeks as that's going to be the most time consuming part of this install.

I guess I will have to look for a USB plug for this board since the board didn't come with a backplate and the one I have from the M10000 is completely different from what would work for my set-up...

Bailey · 12-25-2004, 07:35 PM

Is this some sort of joke?

RedGTiVR6 · 12-26-2004, 08:21 AM

first question: WTF is that?

second question: WTF does that have to do with this thread?

wizardPC · 12-26-2004, 05:53 PM

THAT was no joke. I was having problems with my Puter rebooting because of heat. That was an experiment to see if cooling it down would help--thus proving that heat was the cause.

There is a whole thread dedicated to that fiasco around here somewhere. I think its called "My ideas to combat heat" or something. It ended up being a bad stick of RAM after everything

And I have no idea what that has to do with this thread

NOS TANG · 12-26-2004, 11:37 PM

Red, I use a Dlink CFII 802.11b card in my MII setup just becase I had it left over from my PDA that died. At first XP would see it but could not find a driver to make it work, I tried a couple different drivers for Dlink pcmcia cards they make and lucked out. It does ok now but I plan to wire up a ext antenna to it since it's in the dash. But it does allow me to run my 1xrtt modem card in the top slot and wi-fi under it. Going to a USB style is my plan once I get some other stuff completed first.

NOS

RedGTiVR6 · 12-27-2004, 06:52 AM

My problem with Dlink is that my experiences with them suck...lol

I have a usb wifi key from the last install, had the d-link wireless router and, the other computer in the house had the PCI wireless card, my laptop has wireless built in....

the d-link sucks for me. From 10' away with the other computer simply across the bedroom sized room, it would loose signal, same with the USB key and same with my previous laptop that I used the PCMCIA d-link card in before my current laptop....

just want to stay away from D-link if at all possible....lol

Jammer · 12-27-2004, 12:39 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by wizardPC

THAT was no joke. I was having problems with my Puter rebooting because of heat. That was an experiment to see if cooling it down would help--thus proving that heat was the cause.

There is a whole thread dedicated to that fiasco around here somewhere. I think its called "My ideas to combat heat" or something. It ended up being a bad stick of RAM after everything

And I have no idea what that has to do with this thread

Looks cool to me. I dont know how you got the air back there. Even on high I dont think the flow would be high enuff???

NOS TANG · 12-27-2004, 07:53 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Red GTi VR6

My problem with Dlink is that my experiences with them suck...lol

I have a usb wifi key from the last install, had the d-link wireless router and, the other computer in the house had the PCI wireless card, my laptop has wireless built in....

the d-link sucks for me. From 10' away with the other computer simply across the bedroom sized room, it would loose signal, same with the USB key and same with my previous laptop that I used the PCMCIA d-link card in before my current laptop....

just want to stay away from D-link if at all possible....lol

Not a big fan of them myself, I picked up the CF card for $20 a couple years back and it actually worked good in my PDA, so I said let me try it in the car.. Point is I never figured it would work under XP but the internal chipset was the same as used in the D-Link PCMCIA card. With some hacking around and finding a compatible driver made all the diff. I would say you could do the same with other brands of CF cards and have the same results. Let me know decide to go with.