*** [#vitals Vitals]

** [#official_details Official Details]

** [#pictures Pictures]

** [#operating_systems Operating Systems]

*** [#windows Windows]

*** [#linux Linux]

*** [#bsd_s BSD's]

** [#firmware Firmware]

** [#adding_an_external_antenna Adding an external antenna]

** [#misc_notes Misc Notes]



The Netgear MA101 is a compact USB 1.1 wireless adapter with support for Windows and Linux.



!!! Vitals

* '''Manufacturer :''' Netgear

* '''Model :''' MA101

* '''Type :''' USB Wireless Adapter

* '''External Antenna Jack:''' None (comes with a small dipole antenna)

* '''Chipset:''' Atmel

* '''Power :''' 13dB

* '''Receive Sensitivity :''' 

** -84dBm@1Mbps

** -87dBm@2Mbps

** -89dBm@5.5Mbps

** -91dBm@11Mbps

* '''Drivers URL :''' See below

* '''Available New :'''

* '''Average Price :''' ~ $150

* '''Vitals last updated :''' 5 June 2003



!! Official Details

(http://www.netgear.com/products/prod_details.asp?prodID=105&view=hm Product Details) states the following...



11Mbps wireless desktop PC networking Reliable, 802.11b standards-based networking USB Powered, No need to open the PC WEP encryption to ensure privacy. Supports Win98/Me/2000 5 year limited warranty 

(for Linux support - see below)



!! Pictures

{http://www.netgear.com/images/products/large/ma101_big.jpg MA101}



!! Operating Systems

!!! Windows

Information here (TBA)

Comes with drivers for Microsoft Windows 98/2000 and Millennium on CD-ROM.

* If you experience problems under win2k, the Belkin F5D6050 driver can be tweeked to work.

* Does not seem to work under win2k3 server

   -  Netgear claim win2k3 driver is in the pipeline (23/06/03)

!!! Linux

There is a (http://atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net/news.html GPL driver) for the various Atmel-based USB drivers:



I strongly recommend reading the (http://atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net/howto/howto.html HOWTO) as it is invaluable for getting the MA101 up and running with Linux.



Note that there are two revisions of the MA101 (you can tell by looking at the sticker under the unit). 

* Rev A doesn't seem to be supported by the 'official' driver anymore as the developer dropped Intersil support: use the 20021209 release if you have a Rev A unit. 

* Rev B is definitely supported.

I have noted packet loss of ~ 40% when running the 029921209 driver with a Red Hat 2.4.18 kernel. Upgrading to 2.4.20 and the 2.1.1 driver is meant to fix that, but I found that setting "RTS threshold" to 200 with the lvnet tool (that comes with the driver) solved the problem.



!!! BSD's

To the best of my knowledge, there is no driver for Free/Net/OpenBSD yet.



!! Firmware

TBA



!! Adding an external antenna

There is no external antenna socket, and the MA101 comes with a five year warranty; if you're happy to void the warranty, adding an external antenna is quite easy.

(http://www.nodomainname.co.uk/MA101/MA101.htm Nodomainname) has more information.



There is also information on creating a (http://www.nodomainname.co.uk/cantenna3/cantenna3.htm USB cantenna), which you could do with a MA101



!! Misc Notes

* Quite small: 107 x 87 x 24mm

* USB 1.1 and happily runs over long (for USB) distances. I have it working reliably over > 6 metres and am going to test it over 10 metres next.

* See [NodeGHA] for more information about this adapter