ORiNOCO Wireless Client
User Guide
Chapter 1 Installation
8
1-5 System Requirements and Specifications
To begin using an ORiNOCO Wireless Client, you must have the following minimum
requirements:
1. A computer that meets the following specifications:
z
Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Millennium Edition (ME), or Windows 98 Second
Edition (SE) installed
z
PC Card expansion slot (32-bit CardBus) for ORiNOCO 11a/b/g ComboCard and
ORiNOCO 11b/g PC Card
z
32-bit PCI bus slot on your desktop for the ORiNOCO 11a/b/g PCI Card.
z
At least 64 MB of memory
z
A 300 MHz processor or higher
2. At least one other IEEE 802.11a-compliant, 802.11b-compliant or 802.11g-compliant device:
z
Customers in Europe who want to use the card in 802.11a mode need an
802.11a-compliant Access Point that supports Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS);
802.11a Peer-to-Peer Groups are not available in Europe (see the user documentation
that came with your 802.11a Access Point for details).
1-5-1 The IEEE 802.11 Specifications
In 1997, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) adopted the 802.11 standard
for wireless devices operating in the 2.4 GHz frequency band. This standard includes provisions
for three radio technologies: direct sequence spread spectrum, frequency hopping spread
spectrum, and infrared. Devices that comply with the 802.11 standard operate at a data rate of
either 1 or 2 Mbps.
In 1999, the IEEE modified the 802.11 standard to support direct sequence devices that can
operate at speeds of up to 11 Mbps. The IEEE ratified this standard as
802.11b
. 802.11b devices
are backwards compatible with 2.4 GHz 802.11 direct sequence devices (that operate at 1 or
2 Mbps).
Also in 1999, the IEEE modified the 802.11 standard to support devices operating in the 5 GHz
frequency band. This standard is referred to as
802.11a
. 802.11a devices are not backward
compatible with 2.4 GHz 802.11 or 802.11b devices. 802.11a radios use a radio technology
called Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) to achieve data rates of up to 54
Mbps. In addition, ORiNOCO Wireless Clients that support the 802.11a standard also support
