Saturday, November 26, 2005

How To Save Some Money

Are you one of those people who have a DS, recently bought Mario Kart but never had a chance to play online? You don't have a wireless router, and do not wish to spend $35 ($50 au) on Nintendo's Wi-Fi dongle? There is a solution, a wireless PCI card!

PCI cards normally act as wireles receivers for home/office networks. They pick up wireless transmissions from wireless routers nearby, or at certain access points. They can cost as low as $30 au ($20 u.s), and are also compatible with PCs as well as other wireless pheripherals, unlike the Nintendo Wi-Fi connector. But how can that help you?

What many people do not realise, is that these PCI cards have the ability to function as a wireless accesss point themselves. Most drivers which come with this hardware do not have such option, so basically, it can function as an AP, but can't be told to. Apparantly, a member of SCdev forums discovered a certain driver which has the exact feature. The driver for the gigabyte GN WPKG PCI. And amazingly, this driver can be used for virtually ANY wireless PCI card based on the Ralink R2500 chipset.

Here is a link to SOME of these compatible PCI cards:
http://ralink.rapla.net/

Here is a link to the driver download:
http://tw.giga-byte.com/Download/Download.asp?DownloadPath=/Communication/FileList/Driver/gn-wpkg%20v1.5&FileExtName=zip

Once you've bought a wireless PCI card on the list, download and follow these instructions, curtesy of Darkwind_776 of SCdev forums:

http://files.filefront.com/DS+WiFi2doc/;4365479;/fileinfo.html

It really works, I have followed the instructions and am now happily playing online via the Nintendo WFC. Setting up only took a few minutes. I've also found that as long as you have a fast enough internet connection, multiple DS consoles can play online simultaneously. Also, this allows players who have dialup internet to run WFC. I have been told that it hardly lags, even on dialup, though the connection takes longer to load.

Well, there you have it. On a last note, make sure the card you are buying is ON THE SUPPORTED LIST, or you have confirmation that it uses the R2500 chipset. The first PCI card I bought was a D-link Airplus wireless, and the drivers didn't detect the device. It was only after hours of trying to manually configure the drivers that I decided to return the card and try another instead.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey this is awesome! I happen to know of a computer store near the place I live, and they sell PCI cards!
I am planning on getting a Ralink R2500 (that's what it is called apprantly), if those instructions work I'll add you to my friends list :).

Anonymous said...

About Nintendo's Wi-Fi USB Connector. It's make for some small reson eg.

You don't have wi-fi at home and too young to install a pci card.

or

You have a non-DS support wi-fi router system. (non support wi-fi 802.11b ... eg. 802.11a (this one can't support) or set to g onyl 802.11g (this one need some setup))

or

You have a notebook that notsupport to DS and pcm (like pci for note book) have been used

or

You don't need to do any setup.

CK said...

Hmm, I can't totally agree with you on that one.

The USB connector can only be bought online, or via the phone for the Aussies, if you're too young to install a PCI card, I doubt you'd have access to a credit card.

The connector has drivers to be installed too anyway, the instructions for setting up the PCI card are very easy to follow, I set mine up in a few minutes.

If you've a got a non DS supporting router, the PCI card wouldn't be a problem either. Even if you have a standard ADSL modem, or even a dialup modem running dialup, you can play Wi-Fi wit the PCI card. You can't play with the USB connector.

Notebooks have their own alternatives to wireless PCI cards, they use their own PC cards. As long as they're based on the Ralink R2500 chipset they should work with Nintendo Wi-Fi.

The connector requires setting up, there are issues such as isp configurations and internet settings that may need to be adjusted. But I guess you're right, since Nintendo has support for setting up the connector on their site, it is definitely easier than setting up the PCI card.

But for most users, IMO PCI cards are the way to go. They're cheaper, you can buy from retailers, and can be used for PCs and notebooks, PDAs and anything else Wi-Fi supported too :).

CK said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

um ... it's like this ...

#1 you don't wish to open your pc. or don't have knowledge. (some japanness don't have that knowledge)

#2 eg. at your home you setup 802.11a wi-fi on a router and 3 pc. if you chaneg center router box to 802.11b all 3 pc will unconnect able ... so you have to change 1 router box and also 3 pci card. - -" ... also eg. at your work have router box set to 802.11g only.

#3 some note book support only 802.11a (especially old note book) and majority have only 1 pcm slot.

#4 sorry I mean config ... not setup. it take time for you ... isn't it?

But I agree with you wireless PCI card can really Save Money. ^ ^

Anonymous said...

This is great!!, now i can play at school too!

Anonymous said...

Hey darkenedjib, now that you have the card, be sure to check these DS demos:

http://akkit.org/DS/E3/

Just install the driver for the card needed to upload the demos to the DS.

Anonymous said...

Yeah! I defeated darkenedjib 4 - 0!

CK said...

<_<...

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