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dareon · 2010-01-18, 09:37

I just bought an Acer Aspire Revo 1600 and am trying to find out what wireless usb cards will work with the live distro of xbmc.

I think that this MB has a pcie inside for a laptop type wireless card, but what do you recommend, what is working for you?

redstorm · 2010-01-18, 18:37

My tip would be to get a dual band wifi card, some of the cheaper ones are only single band i.e. 2.4GHz only, if you want good 802.11n speeds getting a card that supports the 5GHz band is key. 2.4GHz for backward compatability.

I found out the hardway as my Zotac ION came with a Atheros AR9281 which is only 2.4GHz I think the AR9280 is the dual band version...

Even though it supports the N spec it rarley gets to 108Mbps due to the congestion of the 2.4GHz band.

dareon · 2010-01-18, 22:36

Ok, that is for the speed, but how do I know if the card will be supported? I don't want to buy one and then find out it doesn't work at all. I've searched the site, but haven't found anything. Any suggestions?

Nogga · 2010-01-18, 22:59

I got a Acer Revo 3600 as well and as I installed an ordinary Ubuntu installation and installed XBMC on top all has run well.

So the builtin card is fully supported.

Do not ask me on how to install it in a XBMC live environment, but just google for WIFI install ubuntu - that should point you in the right direction.

**TiredOldMan** · 2010-01-18, 23:16

dareon Wrote:Ok, that is for the speed, but how do I know if the card will be supported? I don't want to buy one and then find out it doesn't work at all. I've searched the site, but haven't found anything. Any suggestions?

I purchased an Aspire Revo 1600 from NewEgg.com (USA) along with an extra 1Gb ram stick. When I opened the system to install the ram I noticed the PCI-e slot and decided to order a WiFi card for it. That was a mistake.

What I didn't notice until later was that the system did NOT include any antenna for the WiFi card. I contacted Acer USA about purchasing the antenna as a spare part. They told me they do not sell any parts for the system. I was directed to other third-party suppliers for parts. All any of them carried was ram and replacement hard drives.

I did get a set of Acer laptop antenna from e-Bay and had to use wire cutters to cut them down to size before I could install them. Since the Revo MB chip set is Intel I ordered an Intel WiFi card - 4965-AGN which was reported to be well supported by Linux.

I never got it to make a connection! I could see my access point and those of 6 or 8 of my neighbors. I know it was reading the access point because when I made changes to the access point they were reflected in the ubuntu network manager display. After about a week I abandoned the effort and bought a NetGear WiFi USB dongel.

The NetGear USB stivk was connected and running 10 minutes later.

Good Luck in your quest.

dareon · 2010-01-19, 05:20

I am thinking about getting the netgear w111 or something. Do I have to do anything particular to get it working within a live installation, or will it just work?

Thanks

dareon · 2010-01-19, 07:59

After reading around some more I have come to the following conclusion and would just like to know if it is correct.

I can use any wireless card as long as it has a linux install. I just have to hit ctrl alt F1 or whatever and then install it with the cmd line.

How do I give it the information for the network though and is my thinking correct?

Thanks