I know this has been asked before, but with the release of 11.4, I thought I’d bring it up again.
I’ve been using RT73 wireless cards the last few years because the Linux support has been great - firmware comes with the distribution, drivers are built into the kernel, and all of the features (WPA, scanning with Kismet, etc) work without a problem. Now, in 11.4, there is a bug that causes a Kernel oops and system freeze when a large amount of data is transferred. I’ve filed bug report and the developers are working on it, but I have a system that I have to deliver to my dear old mom in three days and I don’t have the time to wait for a bug fix.
Basically, I need a card (manufacturer and model) that is:
-USB
-Firmware free, or has a firmware that comes with OpenSUSE 11.4
-Module that is pre-built and in the kernel*
-Fully functional**
-Uses the same chipset across all versions***
- I can’t risk the system not being able to get online after a kernel upgrade, which would be the case if I had to build my own driver module.
** I need WPA-PSK.
*** Since some manufacturers tend to re-release the same model # with different wireless chips, I want to avoid any card where I have to make sure that I buy “version X”.