On Mon, Jul 22, 2024 at 06:24:00PM -0400, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:

As I remember it, a WiFi node can be in one of at least three modes:

- STA (station): an ordinary client

- AP (Access Point): a host

- Ad Hoc: for point-to-point between peers

There may well be newer modes for doing mesh networks

For ordinary PCs, there don't seem to be good WiFi cards that have Linux drivers for AP mode.

I use a Linux PC for a router but I attach an AP box (like a wireless router) to provide WiFi in my house. (Those AP boxes are running Linux but the have their own SoC with a WiFi interface, with drivers for AP mode.)

It would be nice if I could just use an appropriate m.2 WiFi card instead. My understanding is that there are no good cards with good AP drivers. For example, the Intel AX210 is considered a good card with good drivers, but not for AP.

Does anyone have a better solution?

https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers QCNCM865 for example is wifi7, uses ath12k driver and supports AP mode it seems. And is m.2 E keyed. No idea how good the driver is yet, but at least it seems there are some qualcomm and mediatek options that should support AP mode. -- Len Sorensen