I was pretty diligent when I went to add my new wireless card to my old Windows computer. I saw that it needed a USB connection to the motherboard to make the Bluetooth work. I checked it before I ordered it. I also educated myself as to all the different types of PCIe slots and if I had the right ones.

When I did the second one for the Linux machine, I wasn’t quite so diligent. I new that computer was newer and I knew that I hadn’t added any cards to it at this point, So, I went on the assumption that if I had all the space I needed on the old one, the newer one would be just fine. Well that wasn’t the case.

I did have three PCIe ports but all of my USB connections were taken. At first, I just disconnected the front ports to make sure that the wireless card was working, but it bothered me so I started looking. I discovered that there is a way to share these motherboard connections. See the video below.

Now, everything is right in the world. Since I was looking for this video to share here, I also discovered that there are devices that can add more motherboard ports if necessary. That is also good.

The one thing that wasn’t quite right was that my Linux computer already had an imbedded wireless card. I ran the right commands (I think) to check if that was the case. I got no return on validating a wireless card which is why I ordered it in the first place. However, when I installed the new card, it enabled the imbedded card. I had read that wireless driver installation can be tricky on Linux and I guess this is what I ultimately encountered.

Don’t get me wrong, I am glad that the plug and play worked. But, I kind of wish that I had known that there was already an imbedded wireless card. I don’t think it had Bluetooth capability which is what justified me keeping the card installed. I may have deprioritized it.

When I spoke about my network configuration a few weeks ago, I stated that everything that can be wired is wired. That is still true. I want wireless capability on my Linux machine as a test tool. I want to know if I can connect wired but not wirelessly or on Linux versus Windows versus iOS. Adding the additional Bluetooth connectivity seemed like an inexpensive luxury at $20.

Since I have been slow playing the Software Defined Radio scanner experiment, I heard somewhere that I needed two different radio receivers to make the thing work. The problem is that I am running out of USB connections outside of the computer. So, I have been looking at USB expansion cards. They do exist and they are pretty inexpensive. Believe it or not, they don’t require and USB connection to the motherboard, just a PCIe slot. So no worries there.

End Your Programming Routine: This is why I love techno junk. I would never spend $400 on a new, super duper graphics card but I would spend $20 for an enhancement. The fact that I can get 2nd or 3rd generation technology for a song makes a big difference on me wading deeper into the fray. Like I stated before, I have been out of the hardware game for a long time, it is nice to know that things work much smoother than they used to.