“Recently, I came across the Proxim “Symphony” line of
wireless networking products. They use the 2.4GHz technology found
in cordless phones to achieve a raw throughput of 1.6MBps.
This gives performance that is comparable with the ARCnet I ran
before Ethernet became ubiquitous. Even better, the product
line is widely distributed and is reasonably priced.”
“Proxim produces a full complement of wireless components in the
Symphony line. There are cards for both the ISA and PCI bus, and a
PC-Card for notebook computers. They also offer a Wireless Bridge
and Wireless Modem for users who need them. I found the interface
card products on the shelf at the local Best Buy, and the full line
of products on-line at OnSale/Egghead AtCost. There are many other
sources such as CDW, HardwareStreet.com, Office Max, Office Depot
and Staples. I ordered a PCI card for the Linux server and a PC
Card… for my notebook from OnSale AtCost for about $120 US and
$130 US respectively, with free shipping. As you will see below,
those of us fortunate enough to employ Linux as our Internet
connectivity server can avoid purchasing the Wireless Bridge for
about $370 or the Wireless Modem for about $225.”
“The Proxim web site at http://www.proxim.com/symphony/index.htm
has a complete set of information including on-line manuals,
software, FAQs and tech tips. Under operating system support, they
point you to Linux drivers from
http://www.komacke.com/distribution.html. Proxim does not directly
support Linux, but I had great help from Dave Koberstein, the rl2
driver developer, and other folks on the rl2-library mail list. You
can easily subscribe at http://www.komacke.com/maillists.html. The
rl2 part of the name comes from the original and much higher-cost
Proxim product line RangeLAN2. The mail list was instrumental in
answering several basic questions I had regarding the usefulness of
these cards under Linux and getting the driver working.”