Buying a wireless card (finding the right chipset)

Well I've finally decided to take the plunge and get serious about wireless security(I know I'm a little late). I've been learning about sniffing and WEP but its looking like I'm going to have to order special wireless cards supported by the software I want to use. I understand I need a card with a chipset that supports promiscuous mode.

Now I've bought and exchanged two seperate cards that didnt support what I'm looking for and I thought I should ask the experts! My question is, do some cards support promiscuous mode through linux but not windows unless you have custom drivers? I have no problems using Ethereal or Cain with my on-board wireless, but am I going to have to buy two seperate cards to use AirSnort and Netstumbler? These apeared to require different chipsets.

So i guess what it comes down to is, if i need to buy a new card for my laptop, can I buy one that would support several programs like Kismet, AirSnort and Netstumbler? I found a wardriving kit that comes with netstumbler and an antenna, but how could I know if this is what I'm looking for?

Could anyone recomend a good card that fits the bill?

if you check this forum: http://www.antionline.com/forumdispl...s=&forumid=684
your will find this thread: http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=273016
which has a link that provides some decent info concerning diffrent wireless cards.

I'm in just about the same situation as that guy. Thanks for the link but most of that info is dated. I've looked at supported cards for different programs but I cant seem to find one that I know would be flexible. I'm thinking a wardriving kit with a PRISM chipset would be a safe bet but I really dont know about these things.

:-/

Is there not an up to date list of cards that can go into promiscuous mode, or should I just risk or buying the wrong card? I could really use some specific card recomendations

So far I'm considering the ORiNOCO 8470-WD Gold 802.11a/b/g ComboCard, for AiroPeek and AirSnort but I'm unsure if it would work with Netstumbler...

yea, almost all cards are supported by netstumbler, i have the clone of that card and it works fine for me.

but if in doubt the netstumbler site has all the supported cards in their FAQ...

in general if a card will work with airopeek or airsnort it should not have any problems with netstumbler. finding a card that works with airopeek, airsnort leaves you with a slimmer set of options though the ORiNOCO 8470-WD Gold 802.11a/b/g is supposed to have an atheros chip. I have found a more up to date list of cards listed on the auditor website listed under "PCMCIA wireless adapters known to work" but as always, double check the revisions if the manufactuer has made any, and good luck .
http://www.remote-exploit.org/index....itor_dev_list1

Netstumbler and a lot of the linux/bsd wardriving tools work with my Linksys WPC-55AG Dual band using the Ath (Atheros) driver. I also own a WMP-55AG, it's running on FreeBSD as a "soft" AccessPoint :)

SirDice, is there a version/revision number for that adapter and which drivers are you using for the linux app's? patched drivers?

No idea about version/revision numbers.. I can check it when I get home if you want. It was bought fairly recently though..

And AFAIK I'm using the regular ath drivers. I don't use Linux that often but WHAX runs it's wireless tools perfectly..

On FreeBSD-6-STABLE I'm definitely using the standard ath driver.. Have a look here on setting up an accesspoint or client..

Just an update.. When I plugin the pcmcia (WPC-55AG) in my XP laptop it reports a version/revision 1.2. Not sure if this is the driver or card's version/revision.