Holy crap! HomePNA rocks!

[Eug]

I am posting this from my new laptop with a Linksys 10/100 Ethernet HomePNA card and Netgear 10 Mbps Ethernet to HomePNA bridge. (Windows 2000)

Linksys installation: Install PC Card. Load driver. Reboot.
Netgear installation: Plug it in. Period.

This has got to be the world's easiest LAN intall.

(The Linksys works fine with both Ethernet and the phone jack.)

The only problems are that the HomePNA max speed is 10 Mbps, and even worse, my Linksys card only supports 1 Mbps. Not a big deal for now though, since my DSL only goes up to 960 kbps anyway.

 

[Delta]

heya

Is your's a USB one? And if so, are you getting a full 10Mbps?

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/reviews/linksys_homelink_usb_10m.asp states in the article that the USB will limit the speed severely...

-Dave

 

[Eug]

Not a USB one. I'm using an ever slower PCMCIA card (HomePNA 1 only)

Now for some questions:

With the HomePNA bridge it supports both HPNA 1 and 2. The Linksys card it only supports HPNA 1. My router is a Linksys 4-port router which is attached directly to the DSL modem. My main PC is plugged directly into it.

Ie. DSL modem -> Linksys router -> PC (DLink-528.)

I can set up my laptop two ways:

1) DSL modem -> Linksys router -> laptop via ethernet (only useful in one room)
2) DSL modem -> Linksys router -> Netgear HPNA bridge -> laptop via HPNA.

Both ways I can ping the router fine and I get blazing fast speeds online.

With setup #1 I can ALWAYS ping my main PC from laptop.
With setup #2 I can NEVER ping main PC from my laptop.

In fact, I can swap cables back and forth and get the same results above. The HPNA support and Ethernet support are both handled by the same PCMCIA card.

Windows 2000
Both NetBeui and TCP/IP bound to file sharing.
The IP address is manually set for both the laptop and the PC, and the only the number in the fourth triplet (ie. xxx.xxx.xxx.2) are different. I have the same Workgroup name. Both have both TCP/IP and NetBeui active.

Any ideas why I can't ping my main PC in HPNA mode? This bridge is supposed to be transparent.

 

[Kitros]

helphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelp

 

[Eug]

OK, I am just plain stupid. :|

After reviewing all the connections I discovered that bridge and the PC were using a shared port on the router. Moved the connector and all my problems went away. I'm playing MP3 from my PC right now. And to think it took me over an hour to figure this out.

 

[Eug]

This is my combo HomePNA / Ethernet network.

It works fine now. I have a phone and a fax with a second phone number (distinctive ring) on the same line too.

My DSL modem feeds directly into my router.
The desktop computer is connected directly to the router.
My ethernet to phoneline bridge is connected to the router as well, and plugged into the same phone jack that the DSL modem is connected to.

My laptop is connected anywhere in the apt. via a phone jack, or if I'm beside the router, I'll use ethernet directly.

To my surprise, the HomePNA hardware is completely invisible to Windows. Windows just thinks I'm running Ethernet. (I am using NetBeui for the home network.) In fact, if unplug the phone line and plug in the ethernet to my laptop, or vice versa, there is no problem. Windows just thinks they're the same connection and that I just lost my connection for a few seconds. If both are plugged in, the card just automatically deactivates the HomePNA. Very convenient.

Hardware:

Linksys 4-port router.
Netgear Ethernet to HomePNA bridge.
Linksys combination 10/100 Ethernet and HomePNA PCMCIA card. (I love this thing. Less than $70 US too.)