On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 11:04:51 -0300, Bruno Lustosa <bruno.lists@gmail.com>
wrote:
>Hello, list.
> I am planning to build a wireless network at home, and was searching
> for a cheap wireless router and pci adapter.
> So far, I found the D-link 524 wireless router at an affordable price.
> I was wondering if anyone here could give directions for a good (and
> cheap, if possible) wireless adapter that has a good support for linux
> (no binary drivers if possible).
> Thank you!
>
This probably won't fit into your budget or plans, but it's worth looking at
and considering anyway.
In your situation I would buy a router with switch support, a wap and then
support each user with the necessary wireless hardware. My reason for
splitting your wireless router into a router and wap pair would be to allow
for easy upgrade of either half of the hardware installation at a later date.
Plus if one or the other part fails, no need to trash the whole deal and it's
easily expandable with the addition of more waps if needed.
I haven't any hands-on-experience with home size router boxes, but I would
imagine anything with a firewall inside with switch support would be good. As
for the wireless part... Since you are looking at cable boxes, the the usual
internet connection is 10baseT, I'd suggest sticking with 802.11b. You'll see
no web surfing performance improvement with 802.11g since your inet
connection is the ultimate bottle neck. Hardware at the 802.11b spec level is
cheap and highly reliable.
One of the best 802.11b hardware manufacturers is SENAO. I promote and support
it when ever I get a chance. The nicest feature of SENAO's 802.11b stuff is,
it'll do a full 200mw/23db. Most, if not all, of the "other stuff" in the
market place runs around 50mw or less. Your DI-524 is only rated at 30mw/15db
max. With that much power and a decent antenna, you will have no dead spots
in your setup... guaranteed. SENAO is based on either prism 1,2 or 3
chipsets, all supported under linux.
The only time 802.11g is an advantage is when you do transfers between two
users on the lan.... like sharing files, etc. In fact, in an R.F. noisey
environment most 802.11g hardware downshifts to slower speeds for reliable
connections anyways.... R.F. noise? Like 2.4g wireless telephones and
multimedia transmitters, etc.
A good place to buy senao from is:
http://www.aerialix.com/ Also, an interesting 802.11b resource from that website is:
http://www.aerialix.com/equipment/80211b_access_points.html Good luck and have fun and let us know how you make out with your new lan.
Jerry
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