Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Wireless - Windows vs Linux

Plain and simple - when it comes to wireless, Linux ROCKS!!! Here's a brief comparison.

Windows (testing done on XP / Vista)
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Dumb. Plain and simple. Ever use a wireless laptop or desktop and use windows with a USB wi-fi card that Winblows wont connect with without a driver? If so you know exactly what I am talking about. If not, then you're lucky. Mine is a Trendnet TEW 429-UB-A that is ZD1211 firmware. And guess what? I had to install the driver for it to work. Before I figured that out though, I also installed the client utility and it wont uninstall... >:( so now I must have both up for Wi-Fi to work. Why wont it work? I'll tell you why. My network is WPA secured. Alright, I eventually got it to work. But it wouldn't go down without a fight. Stupid.

Linux (testing done on multiple distros, screen shot from Fedora 8 if I'm not mistaken)
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Pretty good, actually. Drivers are almost not heard of here, as they should work automatically on most distros, especially those using NetworkManager or its front ends. My wireless works nice. WPA is supported through a package called wpa_supplicant and it works, usually. Fedora 9 had a WPA update that broke my system, and I tried many times to be sure, then installed Ubuntu. I tried F10's Alpha, no luck. Beta, fastest WPA connecting speed I've ever seen in my life. And Preview has a Initramfs error, so I'm re-downloading just to be safe. Went down and up without blinking. Perfection. Even Mandriva uses Mandriva Control Center to control wireless. And everything lives in harmony. Wonderful.
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Support the Penguin - Use Linux

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