Re: [Sheflug] Wireless Networking Information

[Alan Dawson <aland [at] xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Quoting Darrell Blake <darrell [at] dunmanifestin.co.uk>:

> I'm thinking of switching my home network to wireless but am totally 
> confused so I'm hoping someone can shed some light on it. At the moment 
> I have a cable modem which, via a router, is shared between two 
> desktops, a laptop and an xbox.
> 

In my experience the following is true, your mileage may vary!

Client Cards
-----------

Orinoco based wifi cards or Prism based cards are well supported under Linux, 
and if you are using a modern distro ( 1 year old or less say ) should have no 
problems.  I have SuSE 8.2 on a laptop and that detected both types of wifi 
chipsets without problems.  I think it also did when it was running SuSE 8.0.

Unfortunately getting orinoco or prism cards is getting harder these days and 
they are getting more expensive compared to the other chipsets. I have been 
told that the other chipsets are becoming better supported under Linux but have 
no personal experience of them.

There was a brief dicussion on latest cards and drivers on Sheffield Public 
Wifi list here.

http://springnight.burngreave.net/pipermail/consumesheffield/2004-
January/000540.html

In theory you can get the unsupported drivers to work on Linux using the 
Linuxant wrapper -  though I've never tried it.

http://www.linuxant.com 

Access Points etc
-----------------

A wireless AP is a bridge between a ethernet network and a wireless one 
(whether 802.11a,b or g).  You could think of it like a hub for wifi.

A wireless router is an AP glued onto the side of a broadband router (like you 
already have).  

You could just hang an AP off of your existing wired hub or switch, and off you 
go.  Though of course it'd be good to read the manual first and become aware of 
the security implications.

The range you'd get is variable, and depends on many factors.. external 
aeriels, building materiels in your house..  Outdoors 1500 feet is possible if 
you have clear line of site.  Trees are the worst as their leaves absorb 
microwaves well.

As to particular Access Points.. If you are buying an AP buy an 802.11g one.  
It'll support legacy 802.11b clients but you'll get the performance boost if 
you have 802.11g clients -  and they will arrive on Linux sooner rather then 
later.

The Linksys WRT54G accesspoint / router actually runs Linux internally and 
there are some projects rewrite the flash to add extra functions.


Or you can use an old PC with an 802.11b card in and run pebble Linux on it ( a 
special version based on debian that makes an old PC into an AP ) if you feel 
adventurous (we do this in Burngreave for our Public access wifi networks )

HTH

AED
-- 
"The long revolution is creating small federated microsocieties, true guerilla  
 cells practising and fighting for this self-management. Effective radicality  
 authorises all variations and guarantees every freedom. "  
  
 
 

-------------------------------------------------
E-mail provided by the Burngreave Community Network
http://www.burngreave.net
___________________________________________________________________

Sheffield Linux User's Group -
http://www.sheflug.co.uk/mailfaq.html

  GNU the choice of a complete generation.