implementing a single port PCI host adapter that talks to one card
is easier than implementing a target controller that has to talk
to various host adapters and OSes. You do not have to implement
all of the xfer modes and worry about enumerting devices, or
interrupts etc... I don't know if any of the miniPCI/PCI WLAN cards
require bus mastering or not.
If you want a simple WLAN interface for WiFi consider PRISM chipset
based PCMCIA/CF cards. They will run in 8bit mode, require few
address lines and don't require DMA to read/write to them. The hardware
interface is quite trivial and software isn't too bad. There are
Linux drivers.
ZWorld/RabbitSemiconductor has a devkit which is reasonably cheap,
and provides hardware, a WiFi card and software drivers. One of the
sample application does what you describe, it scans for hosts and
reads out signals/noise figures.
See ya, -ingo
Sr. Application Engineer, ZWorld Inc.
On a related note. How difficult would it be to control a single pci device
with a microcontroller?
I am asking this because I want to add 802.11 to a project I am working on.
I only need a very small subset of 802.11 functionality. I dont need to send
tcp/ip packets just get some network statistics (signal strengths and such).
And as I am on a shoe string budget (computer interfacing project for
university) dont want to shell out for some 802.11 developers kit.
Josiah