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* Vitals [1]
* Official Details [2]
* Pictures [3]
* Operating Systems [4]
* Windows [5]
* Linux [6]
* BSD\'s [7]
* Firmware [8]
* Adding an external antenna [9]
* Misc Notes [10]
The Netgear MA101 is a compact USB 1.1 wireless adapter with support
for Windows, Linux and (at least one flavour of) BSD.
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
Product Details [11] 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
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 GPL driver [12] for the various Atmel-based USB drivers:
I strongly recommend reading the HOWTO [13] 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 (Atmel AT76C50x chipset) 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
The OpenBSD [14] atu driver supports the MA101, see the atu(4)
manpage for more info:
atu manpage [15]
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.
Nodomainname [16] has more information.
There is also information on creating a USB cantenna [17], 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.
Links:
------
[1] http://melbournewireless.org.au/#vitals
[2] http://melbournewireless.org.au/#official_details
[3] http://melbournewireless.org.au/#pictures
[4] http://melbournewireless.org.au/#operating_systems
[5] http://melbournewireless.org.au/#windows
[6] http://melbournewireless.org.au/#linux
[7] http://melbournewireless.org.au/#bsd_s
[8] http://melbournewireless.org.au/#firmware
[9] http://melbournewireless.org.au/#adding_an_external_antenna
[10] http://melbournewireless.org.au/#misc_notes
[11]
http://www.netgear.com/products/prod_details.asp?prodID=105&view=hm
[12] http://atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net/news.html
[13] http://atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net/howto/howto.html
[14] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?OpenBSD
[15] http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=atu&sektion=4
[16] http://www.nodomainname.co.uk/MA101/MA101.htm
[17] http://www.nodomainname.co.uk/cantenna3/cantenna3.htm
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