Mailing List Archive

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 2:47 PM, Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@cox.net> wrote:
>
> I'm moving at the end of the month. The city is buying out the property
> and paying for movers, etc. They're actually supposed to give a 90-day
> notice, but they want to move faster than that, so they're actually
> paying to put me up in a nice short-stay hotel (3-star, Homewood Suites
> by Hilton) for that three months. There's more to the package as well,
> but that's the bit in focus ATM.
>
> That's nice as it's three months I won't have to pay rent and
> utilities... and it's definitely an upgrade from what I'm used to, as
> well, all paid.
>
> But they have wifi, and my internet here is all wired. So I need to
> arrange something to adapt to wireless.
>
> One option, I actually do have an old wrt54gl router, flashed to openwrt,
> tho I've always kept the wifi off. It's the old a/b/g and limited to 54
> Mbit/sec, but I could I suppose enable wireless, set it to client/adaptor
> mode (I guess that's what it's called), and keep the LAN side (primarily
> one computer, but I have my VoIP phone adaptor plugged into it too) setup
> exactly as it is.
>
> I don't really want to buy a router at this point, as if/when I upgrade,
> I want to build my own amd64-based router/system (as posted in a thread
> here a year or so ago, but I've not done it yet), and it's way to short
> notice to consider building that thing for the hotel. Tho I suppose I
> could buy a cheap one instead of an adapter for the computer /and/
> possibly a new phone adaptor.
>
> Alternatively, I could buy a proper modern wifi adaptor for the computer
> and upgrade to a different VoIP adaptor that has wifi as well... or just
> use the hotel phone (I don't have a cell) and stay local-only while I'm
> there.
>
> But, unless it's effectively an Ethernet connected router, so no drivers,
> I'll need to pick it up and install drivers and a wifi config before I
> actually move, so I don't get stuck needing a connection to get the
> drivers to use /for/ the connection.
>
> I could do either USB or PCIE card, tho I believe a PCIE connection's
> more robust, but OTOH, a USB connected device is more flexible in some
> ways.
>
> So recommendations?
>
> And reminder, a good howto on configuring the wrt54gl with openwrt for
> client mode, or whatever it's called (I haven't yet looked, it might
> actually be well covered on the openwrt site), would be useful and keep
> that option open as well.
>
> --
> Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs.
> "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
> and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman
>
>

Hi Duncan,
Not sure whether this is of any help but I was faced with similar issues
when I moved to Phoenix last January. The apartment in California was all
wired Ethernet, the house we bought had nothing.

In my case Comcast here was fast and offered their 'Blast Pro' or
whatever it's called which is pretty fast and the router had 802.11ac built
in but my office was at the far end of the house so I needed connectivity.
I ended up using the router I had purchased for the apartment (NetGear
R6200) but set it up in 'Bridge Mode'. My Gentoo box doesn't know it's not
wired Ethernet as the R62000 is just plugged in and handles everything.
It's had no trouble communicating with the Comcast router and I get about
175Mb/S so it's plenty fast, actually faster than Comcast wired service was
when we were in Sunnyvale.

Anyway, I guess if it was me I'd use the one you have short term while
at the hotel and then look at my house system when I landed someplace
permanent and try to go as fast as possible then.

Good luck with the move. Moving is tough. Stay cool in this heat.

Cheers,
Mark

Mark Knecht posted on Tue, 24 May 2016 15:11:20 -0700 as excerpted:

> Anyway, I guess if it was me I'd use the one you have short term while
> at the hotel and then look at my house system when I landed someplace
> permanent and try to go as fast as possible then.

Bridge mode. Thanks.

And sticking with the old router is a reasonable suggestion. I'm just
not sure it's actually going to be practical in the shared hotel
environment. But with G mode now quite outdated, provided the hotel
still offers that and I'd guess they do still offer at least G (tho maybe
not A/B), it /might/ mean I'm about the only one on it and
/could/ mean I even get better speeds than I would on the N and AC modes
if they're clogged.

I'll have to call and confirm they offer G mode...

Worst case, I don't have Internet for three months and watch TV and/or
get a lot of books read.

> Good luck with the move. Moving is tough. Stay cool in this heat.

Yeah. The two good points are (1) that the city is actually paying
commercial movers for the move, which I effectively signed off on today,
so worst-case, I don't do anything and let them do it all, but end up
storing a bunch of stuff I'd probably get rid of if I did it myself, and
not having the stuff I'd keep as sorted, but it does kind of lower the
stress as one way or another it'll get done, and (2) while it's
unpleasantly forcing me out of my familiar shell in the near term, the
change should be healthy for me long term.

As for the heat, I've not felt it much yet this year. Given that it's
happening at the very early tip of June, I hope/expect it won't be too
bad. I'm a bit worried about the move out of the temp housing at the end
of August, however. Except if I get my butt in gear and have things
sorted and a lot thrown out at this end on the first, then I'll have less
to deal with on the other end and it'll be already sorted.

--
Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman

N DOES NOT HELP at hotels. N over 2.4ghz forces ALL stations on that
broadcast bandwidth (yes even those not participating) to downgrade to
Legacy mode ( this behaviour is stupid, but that's what we get for
backwards compatibility of mac80211 that should hace been abandonded after
G for a complete redesign ). And there is always some device in hotels that
ensures you will almost never get anything useable out on 2.4ghz channels.

5ghz (a and ac or a+n) ammeloriates this, and because of the narroweer and
more abundant bands and channel options.

The chances are however likely you're get shapped to hell by their captive
portal before either of these issues. That class of hotel in the states you
will be lucky with 3 mbit per device, be happy with 10 or 15 for the
premium paid step option.

As others have said it is time to replace your G device (not least because
you are a culprit of said above behaviour ;-) ... you can get 3x3 dual band
dual proc ath9k+ath10k routers that are openwrt-able for 50-70$ (i liked
the tplink ac1750 v2 As a budget buy, but i hear the v3's require using
lftp mode to flash ).

Look on openwrt.org for suggestions.

Bridge mode is a BS proprietary method ONLY implemented on bcm2xxx chips.
You can achieve what you want with relayd (Bridges l2 broadcast domain of
ANY two networks regardless) on ANY router running openwrt.

-Joel
On May 24, 2016 9:13 PM, "Duncan" <1i5t5.duncan@cox.net> wrote:

> Mark Knecht posted on Tue, 24 May 2016 15:11:20 -0700 as excerpted:
>
> > Anyway, I guess if it was me I'd use the one you have short term while
> > at the hotel and then look at my house system when I landed someplace
> > permanent and try to go as fast as possible then.
>
> Bridge mode. Thanks.
>
> And sticking with the old router is a reasonable suggestion. I'm just
> not sure it's actually going to be practical in the shared hotel
> environment. But with G mode now quite outdated, provided the hotel
> still offers that and I'd guess they do still offer at least G (tho maybe
> not A/B), it /might/ mean I'm about the only one on it and
> /could/ mean I even get better speeds than I would on the N and AC modes
> if they're clogged.
>
> I'll have to call and confirm they offer G mode...
>
> Worst case, I don't have Internet for three months and watch TV and/or
> get a lot of books read.
>
> > Good luck with the move. Moving is tough. Stay cool in this heat.
>
> Yeah. The two good points are (1) that the city is actually paying
> commercial movers for the move, which I effectively signed off on today,
> so worst-case, I don't do anything and let them do it all, but end up
> storing a bunch of stuff I'd probably get rid of if I did it myself, and
> not having the stuff I'd keep as sorted, but it does kind of lower the
> stress as one way or another it'll get done, and (2) while it's
> unpleasantly forcing me out of my familiar shell in the near term, the
> change should be healthy for me long term.
>
> As for the heat, I've not felt it much yet this year. Given that it's
> happening at the very early tip of June, I hope/expect it won't be too
> bad. I'm a bit worried about the move out of the temp housing at the end
> of August, however. Except if I get my butt in gear and have things
> sorted and a lot thrown out at this end on the first, then I'll have less
> to deal with on the other end and it'll be already sorted.
>
> --
> Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs.
> "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
> and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman
>
>
>

G not N. Rather, if you have G only (or b for that matter) it causes the
old long and slow Legacy on air frame format to trigger. I wrote N meant G.

-Joel
On May 24, 2016 10:04 PM, "Joel Wirāmu Pauling" <aenertia@aenertia.net>
wrote:

> N DOES NOT HELP at hotels. N over 2.4ghz forces ALL stations on that
> broadcast bandwidth (yes even those not participating) to downgrade to
> Legacy mode ( this behaviour is stupid, but that's what we get for
> backwards compatibility of mac80211 that should hace been abandonded after
> G for a complete redesign ). And there is always some device in hotels that
> ensures you will almost never get anything useable out on 2.4ghz channels.
>
> 5ghz (a and ac or a+n) ammeloriates this, and because of the narroweer and
> more abundant bands and channel options.
>
> The chances are however likely you're get shapped to hell by their captive
> portal before either of these issues. That class of hotel in the states you
> will be lucky with 3 mbit per device, be happy with 10 or 15 for the
> premium paid step option.
>
> As others have said it is time to replace your G device (not least because
> you are a culprit of said above behaviour ;-) ... you can get 3x3 dual band
> dual proc ath9k+ath10k routers that are openwrt-able for 50-70$ (i liked
> the tplink ac1750 v2 As a budget buy, but i hear the v3's require using
> lftp mode to flash ).
>
> Look on openwrt.org for suggestions.
>
> Bridge mode is a BS proprietary method ONLY implemented on bcm2xxx chips.
> You can achieve what you want with relayd (Bridges l2 broadcast domain of
> ANY two networks regardless) on ANY router running openwrt.
>
> -Joel
> On May 24, 2016 9:13 PM, "Duncan" <1i5t5.duncan@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> Mark Knecht posted on Tue, 24 May 2016 15:11:20 -0700 as excerpted:
>>
>> > Anyway, I guess if it was me I'd use the one you have short term while
>> > at the hotel and then look at my house system when I landed someplace
>> > permanent and try to go as fast as possible then.
>>
>> Bridge mode. Thanks.
>>
>> And sticking with the old router is a reasonable suggestion. I'm just
>> not sure it's actually going to be practical in the shared hotel
>> environment. But with G mode now quite outdated, provided the hotel
>> still offers that and I'd guess they do still offer at least G (tho maybe
>> not A/B), it /might/ mean I'm about the only one on it and
>> /could/ mean I even get better speeds than I would on the N and AC modes
>> if they're clogged.
>>
>> I'll have to call and confirm they offer G mode...
>>
>> Worst case, I don't have Internet for three months and watch TV and/or
>> get a lot of books read.
>>
>> > Good luck with the move. Moving is tough. Stay cool in this heat.
>>
>> Yeah. The two good points are (1) that the city is actually paying
>> commercial movers for the move, which I effectively signed off on today,
>> so worst-case, I don't do anything and let them do it all, but end up
>> storing a bunch of stuff I'd probably get rid of if I did it myself, and
>> not having the stuff I'd keep as sorted, but it does kind of lower the
>> stress as one way or another it'll get done, and (2) while it's
>> unpleasantly forcing me out of my familiar shell in the near term, the
>> change should be healthy for me long term.
>>
>> As for the heat, I've not felt it much yet this year. Given that it's
>> happening at the very early tip of June, I hope/expect it won't be too
>> bad. I'm a bit worried about the move out of the temp housing at the end
>> of August, however. Except if I get my butt in gear and have things
>> sorted and a lot thrown out at this end on the first, then I'll have less
>> to deal with on the other end and it'll be already sorted.
>>
>> --
>> Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs.
>> "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
>> and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman
>>
>>
>>

Joel Wirāmu Pauling posted on Tue, 24 May 2016 22:04:02 -0700 as
excerpted:

[.N replaced with G in a followup, editing it inline here to help anyone
who finds only this post later.]

> [G} DOES NOT HELP at hotels. [G] over 2.4ghz forces ALL stations on that
> broadcast bandwidth (yes even those not participating) to downgrade to
> Legacy mode ( this behaviour is stupid, but that's what we get for
> backwards compatibility of mac80211 that should hace been abandonded
> after G for a complete redesign ). And there is always some device in
> hotels that ensures you will almost never get anything useable out on
> 2.4ghz channels.
>
> 5ghz (a and ac or a+n) ammeloriates this, and because of the narroweer
> and more abundant bands and channel options.

Valuable tip. Thanks!

> The chances are however likely you're get shapped to hell by their
> captive portal before either of these issues. That class of hotel in the
> states you will be lucky with 3 mbit per device, be happy with 10 or 15
> for the premium paid step option.

3 Mbit... isn't the 640 Kbit I was using on DSL for awhile. AFAIK 3 Mbit
was what the cable modem was capped at when I first got cable internet.
(Some places were 1.5 Mbit still but Cox had upgraded most of their
territory to 3 Mbit by that point.) It's usable. I just won't be able
to do package sources updates and watch youtube at 1080p any longer. I
may not be able to do 1080p without buffering at all. But 720p for a few
months won't kill me, especially since a lot of content is either 720p
original/max or 1080p still image anyway.

> As others have said it is time to replace your G device (not least
> because you are a culprit of said above behaviour ;-) ... you can get
> 3x3 dual band dual proc ath9k+ath10k routers that are openwrt-able for
> 50-70$ (i liked the tplink ac1750 v2 As a budget buy, but i hear the
> v3's require using lftp mode to flash ).
>
> Look on openwrt.org for suggestions.

Makes sense.

Ultimately I want to put together an amd64-based router, as I said, in
ordered to be able to put gentoo on it, and build at least base packages
for it and my main machine at the same time. The problem I'm hoping to
solve is that openwrt is great, but it's different than my main machine
and single purpose, so I really don't have time to learn how to master it
properly. Similarly, when I had an x86 netbook, I had a 32-bit chroot
image on the main machine to build its packages, but I found it was lucky
to get upgrades once a year, which made them always a major pain. So I
decided making everything amd64 based and building most packages only
once, was definitely the way to go.

But $50-70 for temporary solution of a few months, and as a fallback when
I do get the amd64-based router, isn't bad and can be considered a minor
expense associated with the temporary, especially given that I'll not be
having to worry about rent or utilities. I /may/ not even worry about
reflashing it to openwrt, but I definitely want to keep the option open,
so want an openwrt compatible device.

> Bridge mode is a BS proprietary method ONLY implemented on bcm2xxx
> chips. You can achieve what you want with relayd (Bridges l2 broadcast
> domain of ANY two networks regardless) on ANY router running openwrt.

Thanks. Another valuable tip. =:^)


I'll be working thru Friday, but have the weekend and early next week
(thru Wednesday anyway) off for the move. So unless I simply reconfigure
the G for the first few days and see how it goes, I'll probably make the
trip to Fry's Sat/Sun/Mon, of course cross-checking frys.com against the
openwrt site to get an openwrt compatible before I go.


So there's a few more days left for recommendations if anyone else has
any. =:^)

--
Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman

On Wed, May 25, 2016 at 10:49 AM, Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@cox.net> wrote:
>
> Ultimately I want to put together an amd64-based router, as I said, in
> ordered to be able to put gentoo on it, and build at least base packages
> for it and my main machine at the same time. The problem I'm hoping to
> solve is that openwrt is great, but it's different than my main machine
> and single purpose, so I really don't have time to learn how to master it
> properly. Similarly, when I had an x86 netbook, I had a 32-bit chroot
> image on the main machine to build its packages, but I found it was lucky
> to get upgrades once a year, which made them always a major pain. So I
> decided making everything amd64 based and building most packages only
> once, was definitely the way to go.
>
> But $50-70 for temporary solution of a few months, and as a fallback when
> I do get the amd64-based router, isn't bad and can be considered a minor
> expense associated with the temporary, especially given that I'll not be
> having to worry about rent or utilities. I /may/ not even worry about
> reflashing it to openwrt, but I definitely want to keep the option open,
> so want an openwrt compatible device.

I used to think about doing this myself, and there's some good reasons to
do it security wise, but in the end I decided it was just a bunch of work
with
more than incremental electricity costs. The cost of running a full blown
machine adds up over the course of a year or two. There's noise, heat and
the risk of downtime due to some hardware failure. There's backups to
consider
so that I don't have to reinstall and build from scratch after a big
failure.

Anyway, I think the cost difference is bigger than $50-$70 by the time
you're
a couple of years into it, but from a project POV I always thought it
sounded
like fun and I'd learn something to boot.

Now, from a selfish POV I'm lobbying that you do not watch TV and read books
for 3 months as we depend on you here Duncan!

Cheers,
Mark

Openwrt's build system is great. But as others have said running any non
single purpose router at your edge has a lot of drawbacks. Not least that
usable pcie wireless cards that work well in station mode are expensive.
Whereas you can get the same chip in wifi router form for pennies AND you
get a whole SoC platform and switch to go with it. You can always use you
general purpose machine as a router and have the AP just be your air
interface. But seriously Openwrt is MUCH easier to manage and cheaper.
On May 25, 2016 10:49 AM, "Duncan" <1i5t5.duncan@cox.net> wrote:

Joel Wirāmu Pauling posted on Tue, 24 May 2016 22:04:02 -0700 as
excerpted:

[.N replaced with G in a followup, editing it inline here to help anyone
who finds only this post later.]

> [G} DOES NOT HELP at hotels. [G] over 2.4ghz forces ALL stations on that
> broadcast bandwidth (yes even those not participating) to downgrade to
> Legacy mode ( this behaviour is stupid, but that's what we get for
> backwards compatibility of mac80211 that should hace been abandonded
> after G for a complete redesign ). And there is always some device in
> hotels that ensures you will almost never get anything useable out on
> 2.4ghz channels.
>
> 5ghz (a and ac or a+n) ammeloriates this, and because of the narroweer
> and more abundant bands and channel options.

Valuable tip. Thanks!

> The chances are however likely you're get shapped to hell by their
> captive portal before either of these issues. That class of hotel in the
> states you will be lucky with 3 mbit per device, be happy with 10 or 15
> for the premium paid step option.

3 Mbit... isn't the 640 Kbit I was using on DSL for awhile. AFAIK 3 Mbit
was what the cable modem was capped at when I first got cable internet.
(Some places were 1.5 Mbit still but Cox had upgraded most of their
territory to 3 Mbit by that point.) It's usable. I just won't be able
to do package sources updates and watch youtube at 1080p any longer. I
may not be able to do 1080p without buffering at all. But 720p for a few
months won't kill me, especially since a lot of content is either 720p
original/max or 1080p still image anyway.

> As others have said it is time to replace your G device (not least
> because you are a culprit of said above behaviour ;-) ... you can get
> 3x3 dual band dual proc ath9k+ath10k routers that are openwrt-able for
> 50-70$ (i liked the tplink ac1750 v2 As a budget buy, but i hear the
> v3's require using lftp mode to flash ).
>
> Look on openwrt.org for suggestions.

Makes sense.

Ultimately I want to put together an amd64-based router, as I said, in
ordered to be able to put gentoo on it, and build at least base packages
for it and my main machine at the same time. The problem I'm hoping to
solve is that openwrt is great, but it's different than my main machine
and single purpose, so I really don't have time to learn how to master it
properly. Similarly, when I had an x86 netbook, I had a 32-bit chroot
image on the main machine to build its packages, but I found it was lucky
to get upgrades once a year, which made them always a major pain. So I
decided making everything amd64 based and building most packages only
once, was definitely the way to go.

But $50-70 for temporary solution of a few months, and as a fallback when
I do get the amd64-based router, isn't bad and can be considered a minor
expense associated with the temporary, especially given that I'll not be
having to worry about rent or utilities. I /may/ not even worry about
reflashing it to openwrt, but I definitely want to keep the option open,
so want an openwrt compatible device.

> Bridge mode is a BS proprietary method ONLY implemented on bcm2xxx
> chips. You can achieve what you want with relayd (Bridges l2 broadcast
> domain of ANY two networks regardless) on ANY router running openwrt.

Thanks. Another valuable tip. =:^)


I'll be working thru Friday, but have the weekend and early next week
(thru Wednesday anyway) off for the move. So unless I simply reconfigure
the G for the first few days and see how it goes, I'll probably make the
trip to Fry's Sat/Sun/Mon, of course cross-checking frys.com against the
openwrt site to get an openwrt compatible before I go.


So there's a few more days left for recommendations if anyone else has
any. =:^)

--
Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman

On 05/25/2016 12:47 AM, Duncan wrote:

>
> I could do either USB or PCIE card, tho I believe a PCIE connection's
> more robust, but OTOH, a USB connected device is more flexible in some
> ways.
>
> So recommendations?

I have been using the AWUS036NHA with success and stability.

Driver is ath9k_htc (in kernel sources)

grep -i ath9k /usr/src/linux/.config
CONFIG_ATH9K_HW=m
CONFIG_ATH9K_COMMON=m
# CONFIG_ATH9K_BTCOEX_SUPPORT is not set
# CONFIG_ATH9K is not set
CONFIG_ATH9K_HTC=m
# CONFIG_ATH9K_HTC_DEBUGFS is not set

(sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-4.4.6)


http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALFA-AWUS036NHA-802-11n-Wireless-N-Wi-Fi-Adapter-with-fast-throughput-speed-/380537024693

Joel Wirāmu Pauling posted on Wed, 25 May 2016 11:29:18 -0700 as
excerpted:

> Openwrt's build system is great. But as others have said running any non
> single purpose router at your edge has a lot of drawbacks. Not least
> that usable pcie wireless cards that work well in station mode are
> expensive. Whereas you can get the same chip in wifi router form for
> pennies AND you get a whole SoC platform and switch to go with it. You
> can always use you general purpose machine as a router and have the AP
> just be your air interface. But seriously Openwrt is MUCH easier to
> manage and cheaper.

[Replying to both your post and Mark's]

I've left out much of the context of the amd64 router discussion as it it
happened in a thread here last year, as it wasn't apropos to the
immediate adapter discussion. Here's a link to my original post starting
that thread, and you can follow the links from there to the thread in the
fancy or classic interface:

http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.amd64/17039

(I asked two questions there, but only the router one got much response.)

The recommendation there (originally by Thanasis, whose reply I like here
as well, tho I'm not replying directly to it ATM) was a 25-watt 4-core
amd cpu and a matching mini-ITX or micro-ATX mobo and case.

As originally envisioned, I'd get a mobo with one free PCIE slot, into
which I'd plug a 4xGigabitEthernet card, which runs about $100 on
pricewatch.com (tho refurbished are available somewhat cheaper), making
that card the single most expensive component. Making it into a wireless-
AP was an option, but I mostly intended to stay wired, for better
security.

25 watt peak CPU, probably 12 watt or so idle, say 25 watt idle total
power draw. That's not /too/ bad. Certainly better than repurposing and
old normal machine at perhaps 100 watt idle, especially here in Phoenix,
where all that heat has to be paid for in AC costs as well.

And I meant what I said there about finding the hassle of keeping
openwrt's somewhat different setup and config in mind, as opposed to all
gentoo, and about the hassle of having to build everything multiple
times. That's the biggest factor that kept me from doing much with
either my existing limited router or my netbook, and would consequently
be for me the biggest advantage of an amd64 router (and netbook
replacement).

I could use it for other things too, then, of course, and would, possibly
including streaming music or youtube, etc (if I didn't care about 1080p
+), when I didn't want to turn on the main machine, maybe as a personal
server, etc.

--
Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman

Duncan posted on Tue, 24 May 2016 21:47:57 +0000 as excerpted:

> But, unless it's effectively an Ethernet connected router, so no
> drivers,
> I'll need to pick it up and install drivers and a wifi config before I
> actually move, so I don't get stuck needing a connection to get the
> drivers to use /for/ the connection.

Hmm, Fry's seems to have a...

Netgear WNCE3001 Wireless Dual-Band Internet Adapter for Smart TV and Blu-
ray

http://www.frys.com/product/6776745

It's a dual-band N600 "bridge", with a single Ethernet port to plug in
whatever Ethernet device and connect it wirelessly.

The biggest caveat is that /some/ of the reviews say it drops the
connection if there's no actual streaming going on, so it works best in
streaming applications. However, others say it works fine for their
computer applications as well. I figure if I buy at the local Frys I can
return/exchange it if necessary.

And the two good points are #1 that I can plug it into the WAN port on my
old existing router, and keep the VoIP phone and computer connected to it
as I have them now, with probably very little reconfig of anything, as
the router's WAN is already set for DHCP, etc, for the cable modem, and
#2 the cost of $40+tx, appropriately reasonable for a temporary solution
of a few months.

It is only 100Mbit Ethernet, not gigabit, but so is the router, so that
shouldn't be a huge problem, tho I'd certainly consider it rather more so
if I were paying $100+ for it.

It's also N only, not AC, and not A/B/G, but I have the A/B/G on the old
router if I decide to activate it, and N only is /relatively/ current,
current enough for the price. I forgot to ask the hotel when I called
what bands, but surely they support N, and I'll double-check b4 I go to
buy it.

What's nice is that I should still be able to use that with the amd64-
based router when I set it up, so I can stay with my original plan of 5-
way (4LAN/1WAN) Gigabit-ethernet wired and only buy upgraded wireless for
it later if I decide to.

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"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
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Duncan posted on Sun, 29 May 2016 10:55:30 +0000 as excerpted:

> Duncan posted on Tue, 24 May 2016 21:47:57 +0000 as excerpted:
>
>> But, unless it's effectively an Ethernet connected router, so no
>> drivers,
>> I'll need to pick it up and install drivers and a wifi config before I
>> actually move, so I don't get stuck needing a connection to get the
>> drivers to use /for/ the connection.
>
> Hmm, Fry's seems to have a...
>
> Netgear WNCE3001 Wireless Dual-Band Internet Adapter for Smart TV and
> Blu-
> ray
>
> http://www.frys.com/product/6776745
>
> It's a dual-band N600 "bridge", with a single Ethernet port to plug in
> whatever Ethernet device and connect it wirelessly.

Well I got it yesterday, and today's the move. I'll be signing off the
net here and unplugging in a few minutes. With some luck I'll be back
on, using the bridge, 2nite or 2morrow. If I'm missing a few days (or
months, but I can't see that happening), you know things didn't go as
planned...

--
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"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman

Duncan posted on Wed, 01 Jun 2016 12:41:44 +0000 as excerpted:

> Duncan posted on Sun, 29 May 2016 10:55:30 +0000 as excerpted:
>
>> Duncan posted on Tue, 24 May 2016 21:47:57 +0000 as excerpted:
>>
>>> But, unless it's effectively an Ethernet connected router, so no
>>> drivers,
>>> I'll need to pick it up and install drivers and a wifi config before I
>>> actually move, so I don't get stuck needing a connection to get the
>>> drivers to use /for/ the connection.
>>
>> Hmm, Fry's seems to have a...
>>
>> Netgear WNCE3001 Wireless Dual-Band Internet Adapter for Smart TV and
>> Blu-
>> ray
>>
>> http://www.frys.com/product/6776745
>>
>> It's a dual-band N600 "bridge", with a single Ethernet port to plug in
>> whatever Ethernet device and connect it wirelessly.
>
> Well I got it yesterday, and today's the move. I'll be signing off the
> net here and unplugging in a few minutes. With some luck I'll be back
> on, using the bridge, 2nite or 2morrow. If I'm missing a few days (or
> months, but I can't see that happening), you know things didn't go as
> planned...

Took me a couple days to recuperate and get things back together in the
hotel, but I'm up and running on the old router now connected via that
wifi bridge, now. =:^) I won't get much sleep as I spent the nite
plugging stuff together (after getting it pretty much laid out yesterday)
and now on a selected few updates in my most common lists, and I don't
know how well it actually works just yet, but at least it works well
enough to send this reply...


--
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and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman

On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 2:37 AM, Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@cox.net> wrote:
<SNIP>
> Took me a couple days to recuperate and get things back together in the
> hotel, but I'm up and running on the old router now connected via that
> wifi bridge, now. =:^) I won't get much sleep as I spent the nite
> plugging stuff together (after getting it pretty much laid out yesterday)
> and now on a selected few updates in my most common lists, and I don't
> know how well it actually works just yet, but at least it works well
> enough to send this reply...
>
>
> --
> Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs.
> "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
> and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman
>

Good to have you back.

I assume at this point you're using stock software that came in the device?

Nice to know it's working.

Cheers,
Mark

Mark Knecht posted on Sat, 04 Jun 2016 05:07:47 -0700 as excerpted:

> I assume at this point you're using stock software that came in the
> device?

On the wifi bridge? Yes.

But I did notice it had a copy of the GNU GPLv2.0 along with the manual.
It's netgear brand, and I think they did have a settlement a few years
ago where they promised to comply with the license, and shipping the GPL
as part of the documentation does help with that.

At some point I may google the model number along with the Linux keyword
and see if it runs openwrt or similar, and how hard it is to reflash if
so. But that's a project for some other day, with its appropriate round
tuit. of course. =:^)

--
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"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman

Duncan posted on Sat, 04 Jun 2016 09:37:57 +0000 as excerpted:

> Duncan posted on Wed, 01 Jun 2016 12:41:44 +0000 as excerpted:
>
>> Duncan posted on Sun, 29 May 2016 10:55:30 +0000 as excerpted:
>>
>>> Duncan posted on Tue, 24 May 2016 21:47:57 +0000 as excerpted:
>>>
>>>> But, unless it's effectively an Ethernet connected router, so no
>>>> drivers,
>>>> I'll need to pick it up and install drivers and a wifi config before
>>>> I actually move, so I don't get stuck needing a connection to get the
>>>> drivers to use /for/ the connection.
>>>
>>> Hmm, Fry's seems to have a...
>>>
>>> Netgear WNCE3001 Wireless Dual-Band Internet Adapter for Smart TV and
>>> Blu-ray
>>>
>>> http://www.frys.com/product/6776745
>>>
>>> It's a dual-band N600 "bridge", with a single Ethernet port to plug in
>>> whatever Ethernet device and connect it wirelessly.
>>
>> Well I got it yesterday, and today's the move.
>
> I'm up and running on the old router now connected via that
> wifi bridge, now. =:^)

> I don't know how well it actually works just yet, but at least it works
> well enough to send this reply...

FWIW just did a speed test at the hotel's complimentary wifi level, which
is what I'm using. 1.3 Mbps down, 1.0 Mbps up. I'm streaming youtube
ATM, just fine @ 360p, eyeballing it at ~500-600 kbps average. Upping to
480p triggers buffering, so obviously won't be doing much 1080p the next
2-3 months, but 360p's not too bad @ the complimentary level, I suppose.

Anyway, given that I ran 608 kbps DSL for a couple years, I don't
consider 1 Mbit horrible, certainly not for complimentary...

I'm going to need to setup a keep-alive ping from the router, tho, as the
wifi tends to sleep when there's no traffic, and that play's havoc with
the VoIP dialtone.

--
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"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman

Duncan posted on Mon, 06 Jun 2016 05:25:14 +0000 as excerpted:

> FWIW just did a speed test at the hotel's complimentary wifi level,
> which is what I'm using. 1.3 Mbps down, 1.0 Mbps up. I'm streaming
> youtube ATM, just fine @ 360p, eyeballing it at ~500-600 kbps average.
> Upping to 480p triggers buffering, so obviously won't be doing much
> 1080p the next 2-3 months, but 360p's not too bad @ the complimentary
> level, I suppose.

FWIW, I've been streaming nearly constantly for near 24 hours now, and as
long as I keep it to 360p and thus under 1 Mbps average, it's
surprisingly stable. The hotel has multiple access points, apparently
enough that wifi bandwidth isn't seriously contested, and that 1 Mbit
average (allowing 1.3 Mbit for short bursts) level would appear to be a
deliberate per-user cap.

Rather better than I had feared and definitely survivable. =:^)
Tho of course at least 720p streaming, which would extrapolate to 5Mbps,
would be nice...

--
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"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman