[Paul42]

Hi,

Want to upgrade my mini 9 to wireless n. Have beem reading around but threads r quite old.

It seems that Intel 5100/5300 r good any other surgestions Broadcom?

I see there is an intel 6000 series while they r half height u can but adapters - so any good.

Also I live in a small tower block which is wired up (so I am a small ISP) and have some wireless around the building; which would be the best card to use with sw that I can use to try & crack my network?

I am also looking more for range than speed. So if I get one that requires 3 ariel I may not bother with the 3rd.

Running XP with a view to upgrading to win7 when I have too.

Thanx

Mini9 (Vodafone) 3G 2Gig BT .3mg Cam 32G Runcore WiFi G XP

[holmes4]

If you get a card that takes three antennae, you should use all three. I found that the Intel 5300 did not work at all well until I added a third. The 5100 takes two and is otherwise the same. All of the Intel cards are good.

I am not exactly sure what you're looking for as far as software goes or what you mean by "crack my network". If you mean being able to run something like Wireshark, you may want to consider a USB WiFi adapter that can take an external antenna. You'll likely get better range and can find some that will work with monitoring software.

[Paul42]

cannot post

---------- Post added at 05:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:32 PM ----------

Originally Posted by holmes4

If you get a card that takes three antennae, you should use all three. I found that the Intel 5300 did not work at all well until I added a third. The 5100 takes two and is otherwise the same. All of the Intel cards are good.

I am not exactly sure what you're looking for as far as software goes or what you mean by "crack my network". If you mean being able to run something like Wireshark, you may want to consider a USB WiFi adapter that can take an external antenna. You'll likely get better range and can find some that will work with monitoring software.

Hi,

Sorry abut above post I could not post because I had included link & still could not even after taking links out. It also seems to have merged my posts.

Thanx for ur reply. I will prob stick a 2 wire card then as I believe 3 does not give more range. I was going to look at the 3 wire approach but I don’t want to break my mini as cannot afford to replace it & also there is no other suitable replacement form factor wise. Also it looks like the pictures of how to do it have disappeared from this site Intel Wifi Link 5300 + 3rd Antenna Mod

When u say all Intel cards r good does that include the 6000 series I know they are half height but I can get an adapter here Half Size to Full Mini PCI-E Card Convertor Adapter | eBay.

I obviously would like my cake & to be able to eat so:

Intel 5000 & 6000 (if ok) have A but not for MAC
Broadcom 1505 no A & MAC
Broadcom 1510 A & MAC
Broadcom 1520 A but no B MAC?

Also the Broadcom’s seem to be available as official Dell parts.

Atheros don’t really seem much reference to them & the mini 9.

What is the linux situation with the above cards?

I am assuming that the more modern card the better i.e. less battery drain, more range etc.

So it’s starting to look like the Broadcom 1510 is the best card?

Pricewise they r all about they same on ebay

Is there any reason why any of these cards will not work with the wireless switch SW? And is there anything else I should know?

Cracking wise I don’t know myself yet. There are several hostile people who are in range & know more about wireless hacking than me so I need to know about breaking into wireless networks so I can stop them breaking into mine. Range in this case is not a prob as one of the buildings the access points is in my hallway. Range would be good for the garden but I don’t want to go USB.

Thanx

---------- Post added at 05:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:34 PM ----------

OK,

Looking round it seems I am in for a world of pain with the broadcom 1510 particually win7 drivers. I don't care that much about MAC.

So it now looks like a Intel 6200 & adapter is the best card.

ANy one with experience & will it work with the wireles switch sw?

[Paul42]

Ok been looking round the bay & found a Intel 6250 which adds wimax for not a lot more.

New Intel Centrino Advanced N WiMAX 6250 6250agn 622ANXHMW | eBay

Would think twice about this supplier but they r the people I will be getting my half height adapter from + they do have good feedback.

Any one with experience of the 6250 in the mini 9?

Also I've just had the wireless card out in the mini and there are 2 screw holes that look like they are in the perfect place for a half size card - do I actually need an adapter?

Half Size to Full Mini PCI-E Card Convertor Adapter | eBay

Going to order tomorrow night.

Thanx

[holmes4]

I will caution you that some people have been unable to get the Intel drivers to load with the suspicion that they bought a counterfeit card. Be careful who you buy from.

Just use WPA2 with a good password and you will have no worries about others cracking.

[Paul42]

Thanx,

I know what u mean but have decided to risk it. Got 50p (~$1) off my adapter.

I will report back on results.

[Nicchen]

Originally Posted by Paul42

Thanx,

I know what u mean but have decided to risk it. Got 50p (~$1) off my adapter.

I will report back on results.

Hey,, how did you go with this upgrade? what exactly did you end up buying and what were the results? I'm very curious as this is one upgrade i would like to make to my mini9 as well.

[Paul42]

It works.

You do need the half to full height adapter.


While you get plenty of screws with the adapter & card and the holes in the mini9 that r in the right place for a half height card they r too big for the screws used for the card. So u use the supplied screws to screw the card to the adapter and the holes in the mini serve as a sink for the screws.

U could possibly skip the adapter and rely on the cover holding it in place but for £2.50 I went for the adapter.

The WiMax drivers went on fine but wanted a reboot, I just installed the WiFi ones next they seemed to work but was only getting 130Mb so rebooted.

WiMax seems to work but I did not detect any WiMax networks but that is not so surprising as WiMax is not really used in the UK. U cannot use WiMax & WiFi at the same time.


If u don’t care about WiMax u can save £5 of the £15 cost and get a 6200 but I thought what the heck my mini9 is all about portability so got the 6250.


WiFi was still slow @ 130Mb so swooped the aerials round and dropped to 80Mb; so put them back & did some reading.

My router is not 5GHz however it is 2*2 spatial and so is the 6250 so I should be getting 300Mb. It turns out the Intel do not advise using 40MHz wide channels for the 2.4GHz band. A quick look in device manager and the drivers were installed to use 20MHz wide channels so I set this to 40Mhz and got 300Mb connection. So note that the driver must be set to default or 40MHz if u want 300Mb if u r using 2.4GHz only.

Range not got any comparison but 2 floors (130Mb) in my building and then another access point I have over so may have been able to get >=3 also this was below my router which at the moment sitting on top of a metal computer.

It also works with the wireless switch sw/buttons.


Got the kit from http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/wifi-china...id=p4340.l2559 the ebay supplier above nice fast del, did not come in retail packaging


Go for it very happy.

Could a Mod plz add 'Intel 6200/6250' to the thread title to make it easier for ppl to find. Thx