I bought on Ebay this pcmcia wifi card.


It works great under GNU-Linux with the madwifi drivers having an Atheros AR 5112a chipset.



From the 3Com web site:

  • It supports IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g wireless networks, 256-bit WPA encryption and 40/64-bit and 128-bit shared key WEP encryption for legacy clients help keep wireless transmissions private
  • It supports speeds up to 108 Mbps (11a and 11g users in 108 Turbo mode) at distances up to 100 meters.

    What I didn't like was the internal antenna range, quite disappointing, for sure NOT 100 meters :-(, so before looking on Ebay again, I opened it, finding a little connector (Hirose MS-156).

    Look below for the disassembled card picture and for a detail of the connector.




    That damn little bastard connector... No pigtail ready made for it, I have to solder the cable on the card...



    UPDATE: Got the pigtail:





    Removed the connector from the card:



    and soldered the pigtail... thanks to my friend Davide who did the soldering.
    I hope it works:)