Wireless lan----hardware ???

[Bleep]

If I network 2 machines with a wireless gateway does each machine have to have a wireless network card? I am looking at the Orinoco gateway.
Bleep

 

[ktwebb]

Depends. If you buy a Wi-Fi router that has built in LAN ports, preferably switched ports, you can use a wired NIC in the machines if you like. If not, or you want complete wireless connetivity, then yeah, obviously they would need wireless NIC's.

 

[Bleep]

Thanks for the reply, are you saying that I can mix the system with just the gateway (which appears to me to be a router/switch) and cable the one machine and have the other machine wireless with just the gateway and a regular nic in one machine and a wireless nic in the other machine? or does each machine have to have a wireless nic. I am still a little confused on this.
Thanks
Bleep

 

[JackMDS]

Wireless LAN consists on two main components.

1. Access Point (A/P).

Access Point is the Main Transmitter/Receiver that mediate between your LAN, and main computer, to the rest of the Network. It is connected to the LAN's Hub/Switch. It usually supports an excess of 100 clients.

2 . Wireless Client Card.

Wireless Client Card is the LAN card that you should install on your network computers.

Most Client cards are PCMCIA, which work very well with Laptops. For Desktop, it is usually better to use USB Wireless Card.
PCMCIA Wireless Cards with fixed antenna (stuck behind the PC) yields inferior results versus Flexible Antenna on a USB card.

If you don't have an established Network with a Router, and a Switch. You need to buy Wireless Cable/DSL Router instead of the A/P. This contains a solution for Internet sharing as well as A/P.

Conventional Wisdom* claims that the combination Orinoco Gold (About $90) SMC Wireless Router (About $150) yield the best results.

This link:
ORiNOCO PC Card - Gold.

There are no real big differences between the entry level Routers.

As can be seen in this link:

Wireless Routers Compared

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When it comes to Wireless your mileage may varied, there are too many environmental variables that are unique to each individual setting.
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[bsobel]

It depends on the hardware you get:

If your getting just a wireless access point, then you can mix/match wired/wireless equipment (at home I have 3 access points spread thru the house they just act as bridges to the wireless devices). The wired/wireless devices can communicate with each other no problem.

If your getting a wireless router/gateway box you run into two types:

Some have local lan connections also, those also will let your devices comingle. Most gateways are this type.

If they box is a wireless gateway only (e.g. the only network connection on it is for your upstream dsl/cable modem) and this thing is providing you NAT/DHCP/etc services then you will only be able to use wireless cards on all of your machines. Few gateways are this type.

Best,
Bill

 

[Bleep]

Thank you very much guys, good stuff for me. Got my mind all straight now.
Thanks all.

Bleep