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Wireless Networking w/o An Access Point?
vluther asks: "I was curious if anyone here had used any wireless networking solutions for their house/SOHO. I'm a perl hacker, not a networking guru, I can do basic stuff, but I am nowhere near a network admin. I have tried to describe my setup below, hopefully it will help. I've been looking at the WebGear Aviator 2.4, and the Symphony from Proxim, but both of them come with an option of buying an "access point", which claims to allow for "seamless integration" with your existing wired network. Yet the average home networking kit these guys sell doesn't come with the "Access Point", the thing even costs $399 for Proxim's, and $599 for WebGears. My question is, will I need to purchase one of these if I have my existing setup or can I just buy the Networking kit from Compusa, and get my Internet access/filesharing going?"
"I can't get a wired network because I rent the place, besides running wires from basement to second floor is ugly. My setup is as follows:
- 1 Desktop connected to net via SDSL, Running Windows 98 SE, (in basement)
- 1 Desktop running Linux connected to net via SDSL (I have two static IPs).
- 1 IBM Thinkpad, + 1 IBM Aptiva looking to get on the net via the SDSL, but they are two floors up
If he (she?) needed convincing that wireless would be easier, I think you just accomplished that. : ) ,my favorite, Electrical Non-metallic Tubing, a ribbed flexible plastic tubing known as "smurf pipe" because of the bright blue color. That way, you can upgrade just by pulling wire or cable or fiber or whatever the "next big thing" is.
It sounds as though this is part of a house or other privately owned structure instead of a cookie-cutter apartment complex. If the landlord is a person instead of some company, why not approach them about "improving" their property for them for free? (much better than getting caught and evicted) Tell them it will help them to rent the place to another nice geek when you move out. If possible (check local building codes, including electrical) use some sort of conduit, like schedule 40 PVC or
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
You say you are renting this place - a three level apartment (a basement and two above ground floors). You say you can't run wire because you are renting. I say you haven't tried.
As someone who has lived in SEVERAL apartments, and is currently renting a house (with express permission to do damn near anything I wish, short of busting out a wall!), I can tell you it is EASY to run wire, even if you have to go through concrete.
The thing is, you have to want to do it - rent a SawsAll and go for it! I have seen the "normal" maintenance guys tear the SHIT out different rooms in the apartments I have lived in (mostly for plumbing problems), and restore them to the way they were with hardly a seam afterward. If maintenance drones can do it - YOU CAN TOO! Learn how to do simple drywall repair, patching and plasterwork, and learn how to paint. I cannot tell you how many times I have "restored" an apartment I had "trashed" when I moved out - and got my deposit back, in full, EVERY time.
You may need to cut and drill a bit, but it isn't that hard to route cable in an apartment. It become massively easier to do it if the place is built out of wood or concrete block (in the case of wood, drill and cut. For block construction, pull an outlet out of the wall, and see if the wires run down past the "floor" you are on, and follow them to where they are going - sometimes, you can find another outlet inline vertically with each other - count bricks!). If the apartment is a concrete box construction (massive walls and ceilings of reinforced concrete), then you will need a concrete drill. Pull back the carpet in a corner and go for it.
In the end, when you move out, do what patching you need to - do it neat, and blend the paint. Ask what color paint they use (tell them you need some for touch up repair - sometimes they'll give you a pint), or take a sample and have it color matched. Or wait until they paint one of the apartments, then "walk in" on the paint crew and ask. Many times apartments and other rentals will use the cheapest stuff they can find (Conco Brand Cottage White is a favorite in my area).
Final note - when you move out, close all drapes/blinds, and close all doors (cabinets, closets and interior). Do the inspection during late evening, on a Friday is best. This is so they won't bother to do too thorough of an inspection - and they may skip over some of the finer points, and miss others (got to get home, away from work, weekend is here). However, this in NO WAY should keep you from doing the best job you can repairing what you have done, so do that portion properly, without haste. Then blame anything that is noticed on a past repair.
It can be done - I know, I have done it - YOU CAN TOO.
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
If I buy three wireless LAN equiped laptops (such as those ibooks or PCs with cards, whatever) and arrange them so that laptop A is at one end of a very long room, and laptop B is at the other end of the room, so that B and A *cannot* communicate, but I place C in the middle such that B and C *can* talk and A and C *can* talk -- does the obvious thing happen ?
That is, does C begin re-broadcasting packets going between A and B so that they get to right place ?
As I understand things, this is a software issue -- do the machines recognize when to configure themselves as routers ? If only some OS's or drivers do it, which ones ? If I install linux on an ibook or PC with the wireless LAN card, can I make linux do the right thing ?
If there were two wireless ethernet devices on the machine in the middle, I think I could figure out how to make linux do this. But can linux re-route packets through a single interface device ? I know it is possible to re-route things heard on one device to be broadcast on another, since that is what my IP-masqing linux box connected to cable modem on one card and the apartment-mates machines on the other does.
ZoomAir has something they call "AcessPoint Software" which does this on a machine with one wire card and one wireless card. Can this software be tricked to use a single wireless card as a bridge between two networks ? Furthermore, can you configure it to automatically recognize the situation in which it should start routing, and stop when it shouldn't ?
I've been doing google searches -- does anyone have any URLs of where to start ?