Slashdot Mirror
Cheap Wireless 802.11b Bridging
eggboard writes "You can bridge two wired networks using two cheap Linksys 802.11b access points. This isn't exactly new, but the article I wrote, which just went up on Friday, describes in excruciating detail how to configure the units. The big news is really price: the WAP11 described is about $185 with a manfacturer's rebate. Using higher-gain antennas than the ones shipped with the WAP11 and/or tuning line-of-sight access, you've either figured out how to hook up a neighborhood of separate wired networks, or how to link multiple offices cheaply."
The WAP11 comes with a USB connection for configuration using a Windows-only application.
Is an official Linux version planned? Or will it be left to the OSS community to write one for themselves?
Apart from that, sounds cool.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
So how feasible would it be to blanket a city, say the size of Chicago, with wireless Internet, a la Metricom, only using 802.11b? Is it possible? Can you do it with a handful of hubs and some major antennas? (How about wiring the Sears Tower, eh? Hehe.)
I've seen the site that plans to do it on a user-informal level... But would this be a feasible business or non-profit venture? (Say UofC and UIatC in Chicago, or AUofP and UofPatS in Paris...?)
Sorry for my lack of knowledge on the issue. I just make sure my WiFi station and cards are working and go on...
Thanks for any answers.
jrbd
if you are lucky enough to have an antenna within your computer you could very well set it up as a wireless hub.
;).
I set up a wireless network consisting of 1 Win2k Athlon, a Dual g4 X tower, and an X TiBook for arround $350.
It's been working fine (as long as the 'puter with the software router doesn't go down). I saved about 300 bucks
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
It would be great to see these wireless
nodes forwarding packets via each other,
from node to node, not just from node to
net. Let's say your and my net connections
went down for an hour. In the meantime, my
packets could hop from my node, to yours,
to someone else's, and so on until they
reached a node that had connectivity. By
effectively combining several ISPs,
reliability and bandwidth would be boosted.
We'd still need ISPs, but we'd need them a
lot less, so they might be inclined to offer
better prices and products.
Why must people keep coming out with things that make me feel like I wasted the ~$600 I spent building a wireless to wired router/bridge out of one of these (the 1030N if you are wondering). Granted I could have saved some money if I had be brave enough to try to use a DiskOnChip instead of buying a 2.5" HDD...
Oh well, when I built it I still think it was cheaper than any of the other available solutions. Except of course for the P-133 box it replaced...but I wanted something that would sit on a shelf in the garage very unobtrusively.
BTW: here is the box sans hard drive.
------
Where are the slash-groupies? I distinctly remember being promised slash-groupies!
I've just used the Linksys firmware to upgrade
my netgear me102 access point and used the Linksys
SMNP utility to configure it.
In fact I think it should work on any PRISIM chip
based 802.11b access point.
One thing I noticed though. After upgrading the firmware I had to unplug the ME102 and plug it back in brfore I could access it again.