Slashdot Mirror
Linksys Incorporates HomePlug Networking
mattyohe writes "It seems that Linksys is one of the first to prepare release for their ethernet router that uses the HomePlug 1.0 spec. Linksys claims the Instant Powerline EtherFast Router performs well by using the OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) scheme. OFDM forms numerous signals into a single signal for transmission and then is used again to find and automatically adapt to the specific frequency combination that enables successful communication. This product currently uses 56 bit DES encryption and would be excellent for networking in the home enviroment. Never worry about not having enough rj-45 jacks at a lan party, bring some power strips!"
I'm guessing it's not gonna work through a power line transformer (the grey garbage can up on the pole or the green box in your flowerbed). However, any of your neighbors who happen to be on the secondary side of your transformer will most likely be able to share your broadband connection.
You didplan on sharing, didn't you?
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
Well, this sounds all good, but what about some other practical issues? The first I can think of is now you have more noise in your power, the bane of any audiophile or DAW user. I have a tough enough time trying to keep my sound cabling away from my power lines as it is, will this product make the lines that much more noisy? The 60 cycles will still be there, but what frequency is the networking stuff on?
Also, what the hell are power cleaners going to think of this? I don't think putting more stress on your components is going to help them any. Might be a good idea to keep the network off of the circuits with your audio gear, unless your computer is your audio gear...
"Life's funny sometimes." "And sometimes it isn't." --Cat's Cradle
From Linksys's page (http://www.linksys.com/edu/part6.asp):
"Q. Will there be problems if I turn on or plug in devices like a power drill or hair dryer?
A. No. If the powerline characteristics change during a session, the Instant PowerLine products will sense the change and automatically adapt to provide the most reliable data path connection."
Will this "automatic adaption" interrupt data transmission? How would this affect latency?
Imagine people complaining about getting fragged by a hair dryer.
Between this story and the one about setting up a dedicated server room at home, I'm thinking of tossing my PC completely and buying a used Atari 800. Well, not seriously, but it crosses my mind occasionally.
The amount of system administration required to run a PC home takes much of the fun out of computing for me. I'm a programmer and a technical kind of guy, but I really don't want to to be a sysadmin as a hobby. It's bad enough chasing down video card drivers and keeping track of all the related software incompatibilities--and having to upgrade everything every 18 months or so, even when I don't need it, as a brute force method of reducing conflicts--but having to deal with running servers and such at home is crazy. Sure, sure, the people who love recompiling kernels and running video card benchmarks and so on might not mind, but that's what those people _want_ out of a computer. Not everyone is like that.
I'm thinking the same thing but for different reasons.
I'm getting ready to buy an Xbox. Great, broadband enabled. Uh oh, no RJ45 jack in the living room. Is ther some kind of AC plug/Ethernet converter so I can plug the xbox ethernet cable into the power outlet? And then convert it back to ethernet on the other end? I think I missed the boat and that's not what the linksys box does. However, what I'm describing seems much more useful. You basically have active converters on each end at the plug level. You're using the power wires as a transport. So it goes into the AC adapter by the Xbox and out of the AC adapter on the other end into my cisco. For fun you can even combine it with a glade plugin with a blood smell to get the full effect of Halo...
there are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots
Here are the clues:
Early post, which is good for trolls to get notice and modded up.
The Authority figure: This guy suddenly is an expert because he took a computer ethics course? What the fuck does this have to do with anything?
Really, when you read this post, what the fuck does it have to do with anything? Did he even read the article, or is just spouting off bullshit? I would bet on the latter.
I'd like to use this to network a small school I've been supporting. We've put a lot of work into running 10baseT cables, but haven't found a solution for getting to the other building. Wireless would be nice, but even that is still out of the budget for now. (We're talking really small school here!)
Your Servant, B. Baggins
Im sure no business would ever even consider this. Think of the security implications.
You don't even need to find an open rj-45 jack on the raceway. Just an electrical outlet. Aren't those every 6 feet?
You could get on the network from an obscure maintenance room hidden from view...
Hey Junks!
Thank you for giving us that insightful comment. I represent the other side of the fence.. I.E. Sure, sure, the people who love recompiling kernels and running video card benchmarks and so on might not mind
Yup I'm one of "those ppl"
From where i'm standing, this product along with the phone line networking products are for lack of a better word "GAY" The wireless stuff is cool if you don't mind the latency, but my main issue with any type of non ethernet network like this is that it's not ethernet.
Consumers like choices sure, but I don't think this is the right one. It's really not that hard to string together a ethernet network. Nor is it expensive. A box of 1000' of non plenum cat5 costs 50 bucks now, 1 box can wire up most homes.
We already have a good cheap way to network PC's why not stick with what everyone knows? I'd rather see the money thats spent on developing these goofball technologies put into reducing manufacturing costs so we can get gigabit ethernet for the price of 10/100 today. I know it's on the roadmap to eventually get that cheap, but when?
(I'm not trying to troll, but - this person is asking for it! They're not bothering to investigate the issue and complaining about it. Laziness is one thing, but to complain about being lazy is disgusting.)
Where the fuck do you get off making such assumptions? I'm not "asking for it," and you have no idea how much time that I've spent on this. I've spent something like ten hours of my life learning how 802.11b works, planning my home network, my office network, and a downtown freenet.
Further, I don't know what makes you think that a good response to somebody having trouble with consumer networking is to tell them to go back to college and take a signals course. What the hell is that? Are we all forced to become experts in every technology that we want to make use of? I suppose that you took some biology classes before you got that goldfish, perhaps took some plumbing classes in your local community college when your sink stopped up? I imagine you're one of those jerks that "helps" Linux newbies by telling them to read the kernel code.
Don't be such a dick.
-Waldo Jaquith