Wireless PCI

[jcontonio]

I have had a lot of trouble with this subject, but I am trying to buy a PCI based wireless card to hook onto an Aiport network in my house. I've been noticing that any wireless devices for the desktop is either USB or an adapter that needs a PCMCIA card to plug into it. Is there a disadvantage to USB? Are there any true PCI wireless cards?

 

[agg123456789]

ummm...airport is a mac thing... i dont know if you can run a PC on it......



agg123456789

 

[Hender]

I know that Linksys sells wireless PCI cards, but I'm not too sure about other manufacturers. You might check the Netgear website, but I'm sure they make them, as well.

 

[Hender]

<< ummm...airport is a mac thing... i dont know if you can run a PC on it......



agg123456789 >>



The Airport is just a standard 802.11b network, and both PCs and Macs use them. Any wireless access point you can buy uses the 802.11b standard, whether it's from Apple, Linksys, Netgear, etc. Apple just happened to be first on the market with them (as they are with a lot of the high-tech toys).

 

[agg123456789]

oh cool.... i dident know that. but you cant see the macs attached to the network unless you are running NT4, though correct???


or is there any software that will let you do it??



thanks


agg123456789

 

[PochiePooh]

>> I've been noticing that any wireless devices for the desktop is either USB or an adapter that needs a PCMCIA card to plug into it. <<

Are you sure? They make 3 different types of connections and those you mentioned are two of them. The PCI that you have should work just fine.

 

[jcontonio]

I am not seeing straight PCI cards...i am seeing PCI cards that are adapters for PCMCIA cards...can anyone send me a direct link to somewhere? I checked LinSys out...still, they are just adapters.

 

[Hender]

How right you are, jcontonio, I'd never noticed that before. I just saw that it was a &quot;Wireless PCI card&quot; and assumed that it didn't need anything else except an access point. I guess that's mostly because wireless is meant for portable devices, not desktops. Wireless on desktops is a pretty low-priority thing because most companies with networks have cat5 running throughout the buildings. If you want a network that allows you to move a computer from room to room in the house an still have access to the network without running cables, I suggest checking out one of the phoneline networks. They aren't terribly fast (11 Mbps), but that's pretty much all you need for gaming, web surfing, or basic file transfer from machine to machine, and chances are you already have a port in every room. If you have to spend a lot of money to set up a wireless network, I'd investigate running cat5 cable through your house. Faster, more secure, and possibly cheaper depending on who does the work (or if you can do it by yourself) and how much you were planning on spending. Linksys sells several phoneline bridges that allow you to hook up a phoneline network into a cat5 network, so if you have a cable or DSL modem then any machine on the ethernet or phoneline network can access it if you have a proxy server or router.

 

[jcontonio]

But what's wrong with USB? Anything? I live in an apartment right now...I can't go running cat 5 through the place like I have at work.

 

[Hender]

I guess an apartment would rule out running cat5 (unless you wanted to do it along the walls, but that wouldn't look too good...but on the other hand, you don't need your security deposit, do you?). Nothing's wrong with USB for wireless, but wireless is expensive right now because it's so new, in addition to the fact that it's not secure at all. It's like a cordless telephone: all your information is broadcast in all directions for anyone with the right equipment to listen into. If you have phone jacks in the rooms you want to network, I'd say go for that. It's much cheaper, and they have both USB interfaces and cards you can install, the USB obviously being the cheaper. Right now, wireless just has the &quot;Oh cool!&quot; factor to it aside from limited use in corporate offices and similar situations. If there AREN'T phone jacks, you might want to investigate a new networking technology I read about that uses power outlets. I think Intel or 3com developed the technology, but I don't know how close it is to be released or even if it already has been. In your situation, I would only recommend wireless if none of the other alternatives are feasible. I was thinking about wireless for my house just so I could move my laptop around and even go outside, but that's just for convienience, nothing more. I could get along just fine with the phoneline networking because we have jacks in almost every room.

 

[agg123456789]

the home phoneline is MUCH slower than the wireless. it is not 11mbs. it is 1 mbs. it works, but i wouldent get it.....



my 2 cents...


agg123456789

 

[Hender]

Actually, the new standard came out awhile ago and it's up to 11 Mbps. The older one is 1 Mbps, yes, but the brand new producst are much faster. Real world testing, of course, levels off somewhere between 4-6, depending on the quality of your phone lines, but that's still a decent rate for copper wiring.

 

[jcontonio]

Well I would love to redo my network but I already have two Macs hooked up to the airport network. My sisters iMac and my powerbook...so it's not worth redoing something. I guess I'll just go with a USB hookup. I'm not too worried about security. If someone see's that I am writing on the anandtech message board I don't really care.

 

[Hender]

Ah yes, I forgot you already had an Airport network. I thought you were buying things new, but I forgot to go back and read your first message (even though it's right under this window I'm composing in!). Yes, wireless will be good for you, then. I haven't read any trials about mixing PCs and Macs on a wireless network, though. You might want to do some investigation to see if it works properly. I'm sure it does since it's a networking standard, but you never know.

 

[jcontonio]

I am going to go visit CompUSA I was just told they do what I want to do using an airport network. So we'll see what happens.

 

[Zach]

<< oh cool.... i dident know that. but you cant see the macs attached to the network unless you are running NT4, though correct???


or is there any software that will let you do it??



thanks


agg123456789 >>



Simple networking, you don't neet special servers or anything. Macs, NT systems, Linux, windows, all use TCP/IP to use the internet. So, just a home router will do. No software needed, no NT4 (or 2000 now days).

 

[agg123456789]

a mac wont show up in network neigbhorhood, and a pc wont show up in the network browser on a mac.... how would you do it without some special software like samba or somthing...???



agg123456789

 

[Zach]

<< a mac wont show up in network neigbhorhood, and a pc wont show up in the network browser on a mac.... how would you do it without some special software like samba or somthing...???



agg123456789 >>



Internet sharing doesn't mean you have to have the systems talking to each other. At any rate, for the systems to &quot;see&quot; each other, you do need special software (unless Macs are someday going to support SMB). NT4 has an appletalk service, that's what you're thinking of.

Simple TCP/IP will work though, so you could &quot;see&quot; a Mac by pinging it. It all depends on how you define &quot;see&quot;. You could even not bother with network neighborhood, and use things like FTP service over TCP/IP to get cross-OS filesharing.

 

[JackMDS]

In order to save on manufacturing cost, PCI Wireless Cards are PCMCIA inserted into an adapter.

Nothing is wrong with it, aside from the additional cost (About $40).

I actually prefer the Wireless USB adapter for desktop. When using the PCI version, the Antenna is on the back of the computer, usually stuck down between the Computer, and the wall, such arrangement tend to cause reduced transmission range.

The Wireless USB is module (size of Cigarette pack, and easier to install), is attached to 2?-3? USB cable, that gives the possibility to put the module higher up (the antenna is in the module), and get better Wireless signal.

You can find USB adapter for less then $100.

 

[jcontonio]

JackMDS,

So the USB ones are adapters too? They're not actual &quot;cards&quot; like I am looking for? I think it's lame to have to spend 140 dollars for a wireless card when with Macs you just spend the 99 and plug the sucker into your computer...I guess Apple's just come with the Airport &quot;adapter&quot; already installed...and you just buy the card. Wow, one thing Apple has cheaper than PC's...that's a change.