Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [wildly OT]advice for a wireless antenna?

[Grant]

>  >> What do you mean by "outperform"?  I can see how drivers can
>  >> affect throughput.  The Windows drivers for my Laptop's WiFi
>  >> chipset (Intel Pro-something) only get about 1/4 of the
>  >> bandwidth that the Linux drivers do.
>  >>
>  >> But, I don't understand how the driver can affect receiver
>  >> sensitivity.  That's purely a function of the design of the RF
>  >> frontend.
>  >
>  > As modified by the firmware in the device. OK, it's not the
>  > driver per se, but it's certainly not the hardware either
>
>  Sorry, I don't see how firmware can affect sensitivity. I've
>  been involved in writing firmware for RF data communications
>  stuff for a long time, and I've certainly never been able to
>  affect sensitivity.

I can say that I was really struggling to get a reliable wireless
connection with the rt2x00 device and Hawking external antenna
anywhere in my garage.  I tried the madwifi device attached to the
same Hawking antenna and the difference was ridiculous.  I got a
perfectly reliable signal from the back of the garage, the point
furthest from the signal's source.

Now that I think about it, I could have enabled outdoor mode for
madwifi, but I can't check it right now.  Could that account for the
difference?

- Grant
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