On Saturday, 31 December 2016 11:13:53 PYST Steve Williams wrote: > Hi, > > I have decided to modernize my OpenBSD system from an old desktop PC to > something lower power. It seems that the PC Engines APU line is well > supported by OpenBSD and low power and the price point is rather attractive. > > I've never done wireless with OpenBSD. Since some of the APU cases come > with holes for two antennae, I thought it would be a new learning > experience to implement a wireless base station (router) in OpenBSD. > > I can't seem to find much information on what wireless cards people have > used in the APU system(s). > > The PC Engines website lists a WLE200NX which google reveals is a > Atheros AR9280 Wireless Mini PCIe 2.4/5 Ghz Dual Band card. I used the WLM200NX with an Alix as OpenBSD AP until the Alix was destroyed by lightning. Since then using an APU1 as router but no WiFi yet. > > According to athn.4, it should be supported and operate as a base > station (router). It seems that the WLE200NX is electronically the same as the WLM200NX. But I can't be sure until I get mine together with an additional APU2 sometime in Jan 2017. I'll make sure to report and send a dmesg.
In any case you need to decide in which band you want to operate (2.4GHz or 5GHz) and choose the right antenna respectively, unless you decide to order a dual-band antenna. The latter is said to perform worse but I couldn't detect a difference to the single-band antenna - at least @ 2.4GHz where the signal is very much interfered with. I went eventually with 5GHz because with that I'm alone in the neighbourhood. > Is this a card that people have had success with operating as a base > station (wireless router)? > > Is there a better Mini PCIe card that is supported by OpenBSD? If the WLE600VX is "better" or if it works at all w/ OpenBSD still remains to be seen. > > I'm not scrimping on money... I anticipate this running for 5+ years. > I've been on OpenBSD since the 2.7 days and have only had 2 different > sets of hardware (retired PC's). This would be the third and the only > "new" system :) > > Thanks, > Steve Williams All the best Eike -- Eike Lantzsch ZP6CGE "One man's signal is other man's QRM"
