Re: NTLK 802.11 and Newton Wireless Connectivity Tested!

From: Bill Davis (newton@ecity.net)
Date: Mon Jan 24 2000 - 03:12:10 EST


On 1/21/2000 3:49 AM, David Arnold [mailto:arnold@dstc.edu.au] wrote:

>sadly, things aren't so simple.
>
>IEEE 802.11 is a standard with 3 different sub-sections describing
>the "physical" layer: DSSS, FHSS, and SSIR (i think).
>
>Proxim aka RangeLAN IEEE (and their licensees, including the HomeRF
>coalition) use the Frequency Hopping/Spread Spectrum (FHSS) standard.
>
>Lucent aka WaveLAN IEEE (and their licensees, notably Apple) use the
>Direct Sequence/Spread Spectrum (DSSS) standard.
>
>the upshot of this is that (to my knowledge) the AirPort is compatible
>with WaveLAN IEEE cards (at both 1M, 2M and 11M), but is incompatible
>with the Proxim cards (and the NewtonOS driver). the different is not
>something that can be overcome in driver software.

Argh! Shot down again. I didn't know that. Thanks for the info....even
if it is bad news. Oh well, "Never give up, Never surrender!" ;-)

Hmmm...I wonder how much a RangeLAN hub is? And card for a Mac
powerbook? Probably too much....Apple's pretty much started a trend
towards affordable pricing for the home user for wireless. Or at least
made enough noise about it to get it on most people's radar screens.

>so we're stuck with hoping someone can hack the Proxim driver source
>code, and the Linux WaveLAN driver source code together into a WaveLAN
>driver (hint hint!)

Do we have the source code for the Proxim driver???

Maybe that fellow in Japan who was done some Ethernet drivers (or are
they hacks to the 3Com driver?) and was working on a WaveLAN driver will
actually produce one! I'd pay money for it! $50 at least. (I think he
reads NewtonTalk, too! If you're still out there, PLEASE do a WaveLAN
driver!)
 
 - Bill

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