NOTE: this is a legacy post ported from the old blog platform for archiving purposes
This post is about the Linksys Wireless-B USB Network Adapter v4.0 and my experience with one of these devices.
I recently switched the network at my home from wired, using a combination of cat5, powerlines and some wifi, to _almost_ completely wireless.
I now have a 2wire 2700HG-B wireless (802.11b+g) and wired router, although it doesn’t route to its broadband link. I only got this because it was the cheapest, being “refurbished” from AT&T on eBay. Lucky me. I can’t say much for this router: the admin system is incredibly slow (possibly something to do with having no broadband link?) and simple.
My connection to the Internet is through a Compaq ProLiant DL380 G2 running Gentoo Linux and its attached Virgin Media cable modem. That machine is in turn my main server (yeah, so? :D) with file shares and such like. My technical experience with computers and networks is enough to form a confident opinion of any new PC hardware I get.
Throughout my findings I’ve not come across what v4.0 means at the end of the model name, it may be the hardware version or the firmware version. Saying that, I’ve not found a firmware updater, but then I’ve not looked.
I’ve had numerous problems with this adapter, so let me start:
- Installation is hell. The install CD (including the up-to-date version) autoruns, but it will flash a window then die if the drivers aren’t installed. So you have to install the driver manually then install the software.
- The software that linksys provide seems to be very buggy. So buggy that I couldn’t make it work at all. Even getting the software to exit was hard enough.
- Granted I’m using a cheap wireless access point, but none of my 3 other adapters lose connection (ok, perhaps once in a while). With the drivers that came on my CD the adapter drops the connection within a few minutes of connecting – it was impossible to use. With the updated drivers the connection drops at least once a day.
- Considering wireless technology is quite new and the protocols are still getting settled in, the driver has next to no options to ensure the best quality of connection.
In writing this, I came across what may have made my day: one good thing:
- I can’t remember what the eBay description said, but the online datasheet for this adapter doesn’t say it supports WPA encryption, and my network uses WPA. How great is that?!
So with this little piece of equipment I get a connection that I’m not supposed to have… allbeit unreliable and uber difficult to set up. The reason why I have this adapter knowing that it wouldn’t work on my network is, well, I guess I must have overlooked the lack of WPA support when I bought it. I’ve yet to test this on a WEP network which I imagine will work fine, trouble is I don’t have a spare access point to test with so that’ll have to wait.
Farewell!
