Is there a firmware available for Buffalo b/g wlan nic WLI-CB-G54S-EU for Fedora Core 5 (kernel 2.6.15)? I have IBM x23 laptop with some Intel's 860MHz cpu. The nic is not listed to the list of supported nics in the setup. I am a new user with Linux. If this card is not supported is there some good/cheap wlan nic that is for sure suppported with the excellent Fedora core 5?

This is a confusing part of learning Linux for most folks.

Did you attempt to set up the card during the installation of Fedora? If so, did you just look at the regular section on NIC cards, or try the wireless setup? This is often missed by may installations folks do.

Anyway, your card may be able to be used. The important thing to know about Linux, is that it works different from Windows. Most card makers have firmware for Windows only. Fortunately, you may be able to use the Winows XP drivers in Linux, with a little work.

I'm not finding anything specific with Fedora and your card yet, but I believe it is a Broadcom chipset. There are some possible options, but, again, it will take some work on your part.

If you opt for a new card, choose one with a Orinoco or Prism chipset. These often work "out of the box" with linux, once you set them up in the network utility in Fedora. To give examples, see this list. look for the green areas, where the cards are known to work. Look at the Orinoco and Prism chipsets first.

Atheros chipsets slao work, once the appropriate package is installed to use your Windows drivers.

One word of advice. if you buy a new card, make sure that it is the exact model revision, as noted in the link that I gave. Different revisions of the same model may have different chipsets.