Subject: Re: Wireless LAN and NetBSD?
To: Rafal Boni <rafal@mediaone.net>
From: Calvin Vette <cvette@borders.com>
List: tech-net
Date: 11/24/1998 19:00:29
Harris Semiconductor has 802.11 chips for about US$11 in quantity, which is part of
an RF chipset. They're at 11Mb/s (roughly ethernet speed), using a 2.4Ghz signal.
They claim distance at about 500 feet.

Cyrix' recently announced WebPad reference design uses the whole chipset. I don't
know of any manufacturer actually producing products yet (802.11 is still in a
working group, I believe). Cyrix indicated the reference platform would be
available for OEMs in the Spring of 99.

Try
http://www.semi.harris.com
and
http://www.cyrix.com/html/emerging/


Rafal Boni wrote:

> In the recent discussion on strong end-systems, someone made a comment about
> wireless LANs that got me thinking it would be real nice to set up a wireless
> LAN at home so I could roam with my laptop (the house is a royal pain to run
> cable in, and I'd rather not put a jack in every room either).
>
> Is anyone doing this at LAN speeds (I know metricom could do this at modem
> speeds, but I'd like at least .5Mbps) on NetBSD?? If so, what hardware are
> you using, are there driver/docs available, and (if you care to share) what
> is the approximate price point of the system for a small 2 or 3 node system
> with possible ethernet uplink.
>
> (I know linux has drivers for a few wireless cards, and I looked that the
>  ones that are supported but haven't found any, even approximate pricing
>  information)
>
> Thanks for any info!
> --rafal
>
> ----
> Rafal Boni                                                   rafal@mediaone.net