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Wireless adapter options for HTPC

Sep 4, 2011 12:57 AM

I just bought an older computer to use as an HTPC, but overlooked the fact that WLAN has not always been standard. So I'm going to have to add it myself. I was planning to get a USB adapter, but I don't necessarily want to sacrifice performance for mobility or ease of installation. It seems like the USB adapaters are generally less expensive than the PCI adapters, too. What should I go with?

stark stark

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Buy from Newegg.com, they're within a few dollars of each other. I've never used a USB adapter, though, always PCI. But I also haven't seen anything which suggests using one or the other causes a significant drain in performance.

kamnet kamnet
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Also, USB adapters typically don't work with Netstumbler.

rlapid2112 rlapid2112
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@rlapid2112: Depends on the adapter. I used to have ones that were nice, with killer antennas, and used Netstumbler (and other tools) with that laptop. They were Netgear devices, and were not small. The cable was long enough that you could set the device up on a ledge, while working on the laptop, to get better signal.

Gosh, I haven't missed working in ages, and I actually just had a pang of nostalgia for the bad old days. Interesting.

I used to disable the builtin wireless in the laptop and use the USB one by preference. Wonder if they still make those?

shrdlu shrdlu
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@shrdlu: I actually have 2 Aironet 802.11b PCMCIA cards; these cards were pre-Cisco. Only 11mb/s, but excellent signal-to-noise & reception capabilities.

rlapid2112 rlapid2112
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@rlapid2112: This item is what I had:

http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-WG121-Wireless-802-11g-Adapter/dp/B0000DBMDM/ref=sr_1_137?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1315370039&sr=1-137

Note that I do NOT recommend this currently. It is woefully out of date. Still, I loved that antenna. First available on Amazon in 2003 (which is forever, in the networking world).

shrdlu shrdlu
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@shrdlu: But, it is still for sale!

Here is the card I was speaking of (pictured in a PCI card mount):
http://martybugs.net/wireless/aironet4800.cgi

and here is the AP I used (I got them in a pre-sales kit in 1999):
http://www.shopping.com/Aironet-Cisco-AP4800-AP4800E-VA/info

rlapid2112 rlapid2112

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