[gentoo-user] AC WiFi Card

[gentoo-user] AC WiFi Card

[Ralf]

Hi folks,

I want to get rid of my old Wifi AP. As I already have a gentoo server
in my flat, I'd also like to use a Wifi AP using hostapd.
And, of course, I'd like to use the latest AC standard, as my laptop
supports it. Additionally, I'd also like to use good old 2.4GhZ as
fall-back.

So I was looking for some PCI-E Wifi Card, that supports AC standard. I
was thinking about sth. like this [1]. A friend of mine told me, that I
should take care when buying AC hardware, as there is rare kernel support.

Does anyone of you successfully use AC hardware in AP mode, Dual stack
(5GhZ / 2.4GhZ)?
What kind of hardware would you recommend (and is known to work without
any painful hacks)?

Cheers
  Ralf

[1] http://www.tp-link.de/products/details/?categoryid=3212&model=Archer+T9E

Re: [gentoo-user] AC WiFi Card

[Alec Ten Harmsel]

On 2015-11-11 11:53, Ralf wrote:
> So I was looking for some PCI-E Wifi Card, that supports AC standard. I
> was thinking about sth. like this [1]. A friend of mine told me, that I
> should take care when buying AC hardware, as there is rare kernel support.

Intel, in general, has great Linux support.

> Does anyone of you successfully use AC hardware in AP mode, Dual stack
> (5GhZ / 2.4GhZ)?
> What kind of hardware would you recommend (and is known to work without
> any painful hacks)?
>

I do not run any APs, but I manage plenty of laptops with 5GHz Intel 
chipsets, and never had a problem. Is there any reason you are not using 
a dedicated AP instead of a wireless card in AP mode?

Alec

Re: [gentoo-user] AC WiFi Card

[Ralf]

On 11/12/2015 01:08 AM, Alec Ten Harmsel wrote:
> On 2015-11-11 11:53, Ralf wrote:
>> So I was looking for some PCI-E Wifi Card, that supports AC standard. I
>> was thinking about sth. like this [1]. A friend of mine told me, that I
>> should take care when buying AC hardware, as there is rare kernel
>> support.
>
> Intel, in general, has great Linux support.
>
>> Does anyone of you successfully use AC hardware in AP mode, Dual stack
>> (5GhZ / 2.4GhZ)?
>> What kind of hardware would you recommend (and is known to work without
>> any painful hacks)?
>>
>
> I do not run any APs, but I manage plenty of laptops with 5GHz Intel
> chipsets, and never had a problem. Is there any reason you are not
> using a dedicated AP instead of a wireless card in AP mode?
I also thought so, but according to a friend of mine, running a card in
AP or monitor mode is quite different as running a card as client.
Especially if you want to have a dual stack ability.

Ralf
>
> Alec
>

Re: [gentoo-user] AC WiFi Card

[Alec Ten Harmsel]

On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 09:05:02AM +0100, Ralf wrote:
> On 11/12/2015 01:08 AM, Alec Ten Harmsel wrote:
> > I do not run any APs, but I manage plenty of laptops with 5GHz Intel
> > chipsets, and never had a problem. Is there any reason you are not
> > using a dedicated AP instead of a wireless card in AP mode?
>
> I also thought so, but according to a friend of mine, running a card in
> AP or monitor mode is quite different as running a card as client.
> Especially if you want to have a dual stack ability.

That makes sense. In my apartment I have a dedicated Netgear router and a
dedicated TP-LINK AP. The AP was around $20, and has fantastic range.
Having a dedicated AP sounds way easier to me than trying to do a
dual-stack thing.

Now that I think a bit more about it, having a wireless AP and a
wireless client on the same chip doesn't sound good, since one MAC
address would be doing two functions. That said, I am not even close to
a networking guru; I hope someone else can chime in.

Alec

Re: [gentoo-user] AC WiFi Card

[Alan McKinnon]

On 12/11/2015 13:52, Alec Ten Harmsel wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 09:05:02AM +0100, Ralf wrote:
>> On 11/12/2015 01:08 AM, Alec Ten Harmsel wrote:
>>> I do not run any APs, but I manage plenty of laptops with 5GHz Intel
>>> chipsets, and never had a problem. Is there any reason you are not
>>> using a dedicated AP instead of a wireless card in AP mode?
>>
>> I also thought so, but according to a friend of mine, running a card in
>> AP or monitor mode is quite different as running a card as client.
>> Especially if you want to have a dual stack ability.
> 
> That makes sense. In my apartment I have a dedicated Netgear router and a
> dedicated TP-LINK AP. The AP was around $20, and has fantastic range.
> Having a dedicated AP sounds way easier to me than trying to do a
> dual-stack thing.
> 
> Now that I think a bit more about it, having a wireless AP and a
> wireless client on the same chip doesn't sound good, since one MAC
> address would be doing two functions. That said, I am not even close to
> a networking guru; I hope someone else can chime in.

I also dislike trying to make hardware do two things, it always feels
hacky to me. Doubly so for workstation-grade wifi, quality in those
things is pretty shitty compared to decent equipment.

When it comes to creating a network in your living/work space, I always
prefer to just do it right and lay out the money for something decent.
Buy a real AP, position it in the place that gives best performance and
all your client hardware can use it. Sure, it costs some money but it's
money well spent on infrastructure and makes life so much easier. Moving
house? Take the AP with to the new house. 4 mates show up who want to
share stuff with you? An AP handles this much better than trying to get
a workstation to do it.



-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com