Home network newbie questions

[IronWing]

I'm finally getting ready to buy my first laptop (X220 running Win 7 64 professional in native or XP mode) and would like to put together a wireless network in the house.

Have:
From ISP: Linksys Wireless-B Internet Bridge with one ethernet port and one static IP address.
One desktop PC w/o wireless capability running Win 7 Home Premium.

What I want to do is hook a router into the wireless bridge to provide a wireless internet connection to the new laptop and a wired connection to the desktop.

I was looking at the Linksys WRT54GL as it is currently $50 at Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BTL0OA/

The desktop has an eSATA drive that I would like to share with the laptop while maintaining a firewall on the router. I'd also like to share the printer attached to the desktop.

I'm trying to figure out if the router above will work for this or if I'm missing anything that I will need by way of hardware.

 

[smitbret]

I don't think you understand what a wireless bridge does. It receives the wireless signal from the router and creates a second wired "network". For instance, you would connect your internet modem to the router in the living room (for instance) and it would send out a wireless signal. The wireless bridge, possibly located in the bedroom, picks up that signal and connects via a Cat5 cable to the desktop PC located there. That way, the PC can connect to the network and the internet without stringing wires between rooms.

modem------router ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) bridge--------PC
and
modem------router ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) laptop

The laptop would receive the signal wirelessly, of course, and the PC would be wired to the bridge. You won't hook the router into anything but the modem, unless you can wire the desktop PC directly into it. You wouldn't need the bridge in that case.

That's a fine router for what you want to do.

 

[IronWing]

I should have explained the ISP setup a bit better. The bridge is connected to a wire dish antenna on the roof which receives the signal from the ISP's tower antenna located ~1/4 mile away.

Current setup:
ISP tower ))))))) roof antenna > radio/bridge > cat5 > desktop PC


Proposed setup:
ISP tower )))) roof antenna > radio/bridge > cat5 > router> cat5 > desktop PC
____________________________________________|> wireless from router )))) laptop

 

[Saithegeek]

I should have explained the ISP setup a bit better. The bridge is connected to a wire dish antenna on the roof which receives the signal from the ISP's tower antenna located ~1/4 mile away.

Current setup:
ISP tower ))))))) roof antenna > radio/bridge > cat5 > desktop PC


Proposed setup:
ISP tower )))) roof antenna > radio/bridge > cat5 > router> cat5 > desktop PC
____________________________________________|> wireless from router )))) laptop

Looks right. Give it a shot.
Edit: Don't forget to configure the router with the static IP address and DNS servers.