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bdl · 05-25-2003, 08:53 AM

You might consider going wireless. I've got a Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless router with a 4 port switch for my in-home LAN. Use the wireless router at your access point, it will share the net connection with everything in a 300' or so range within your home in wireless mode, and has 4 ports to connect 10/100 cabling. The model I have is really an older model, running 802.11b wireless over 2.4ghz channel. The newer models, such as the model WRT54G run Wireless 'G' at faster speeds, although I'm quite happy with my 'B' router.

As far as wireless cards/adapters are concerned, no problem supporting Windows, of course. Linux used to have great support for a wide range of PCI cards, it would seem that every manufacturer has since put out a card with a non-linux compatible chipset. I use the Linksys WUSB11 USB wireless adapter on my linux machines, works great. You can, of course, just run a regular network cable to the router also.

I live in a single story home, with a couple of walls and about 40' between one of my PCs and the router, signal strength is perfect. I've heard that the signal across different floors may be a problem, so if the router was upstairs it may not have the greatest reach to the floor below, I can't verify this, however.

05-25-2003, 08:53 AM	#3 (permalink)
bdl Senior Contributor Join Date: May 2002 Location: vta.ca.usa Posts: 555	You might consider going wireless. I've got a Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless router with a 4 port switch for my in-home LAN. Use the wireless router at your access point, it will share the net connection with everything in a 300' or so range within your home in wireless mode, and has 4 ports to connect 10/100 cabling. The model I have is really an older model, running 802.11b wireless over 2.4ghz channel. The newer models, such as the model WRT54G run Wireless 'G' at faster speeds, although I'm quite happy with my 'B' router. As far as wireless cards/adapters are concerned, no problem supporting Windows, of course. Linux used to have great support for a wide range of PCI cards, it would seem that every manufacturer has since put out a card with a non-linux compatible chipset. I use the Linksys WUSB11 USB wireless adapter on my linux machines, works great. You can, of course, just run a regular network cable to the router also. I live in a single story home, with a couple of walls and about 40' between one of my PCs and the router, signal strength is perfect. I've heard that the signal across different floors may be a problem, so if the router was upstairs it may not have the greatest reach to the floor below, I can't verify this, however.