Wireless Networking

[blue_wolf]

This question is a hardware related question.

First of all let me just say that i know nothing about wireless networking, i've never needed to use them before and now im going to be setting one up i'll need some adive from you guys I'll want the network to be compatible with both windows and linux.

At the moment my home network uses a ethernet router which connects to a hub and 4 computers connect to the hub via RJ45 cables.

We want the network to become wireless and I dont know where to start.

Is it possible for me to keep the current router and buy an access point and connect this to the router and then just put wireless cards in the computers? Is it as simple as that? Or will i have to buy a wireless router, scrap the current ethernet router and then buy the cards?

Also what type of connection should i get, 802.11b or g? I heard that the WEP security in b is very weak but i dont know anything about g.

The wireless card i'll buy for the computer will probably be via a pci slot. Will knoppix have trouble detecting and using this?

Wow that question is longer than i though. The main points im asking is:

1. Can i just buy an access point and use that with my current ethernet router, and then just buy wireless cards?

2. 802.11b or g or doesnt it matter?

3. Will linux be happy with a nice pci wireless card?

4. Can you recommend any (cheapish) access points and cards that will work fine with linux and windows?

Thanks a lot

[debian_user]

1. Can i just buy an access point and use that with my current ethernet router, and then just buy wireless cards?

Of course! The access point will have its ip address. The best solution would be to put it and the wireless clients in a different subnet from the cabled ones, and let the router route the connections.

2. 802.11b or g or doesnt it matter?

The 'b' standard goes at 11Mbit/s while the 'g' at 104Mbit/s so I'd say g. Moreover the g uses the 802.11x encryption standard which is 'a little' more secure than the standard WEB used by the b.

3. Will linux be happy with a nice pci wireless card?

It should, but it depends on the chip of the card. The us robotics or linksys/cisco cards 'should' work fine.

4. Can you recommend any (cheapish) access points and cards that will work fine with linux and windows?

Look above for the cards , any access point should work fine.

I hope I was helpful.

[eliotj]

I tried with no success to get Fedora 3 and a Dlink DWL-G650 to work.
First of all, the FC3 installations weren' what I was used to with linux and with previous redhat installs. So.. I went back to SLACKWARE. Not a newbie linux in my opinion.

After re-installing 3 times (thanks to GRUB worms) had to repair MBR (thanks to those GRUB's again) and several kernel re-compiles (thanks to worms in my brain)
Ha dormido el gayo

I got everything setup. Then I went to MADWIFI, no workie. Went to NDISWRAPPER.
SUPER SIMPLE and fast! Used the windows inf. file and TOOTSIE! There it was...rolling
the only problem I have now is that for no apparent reason my connection drops and after a minute or two..comes back to life! No log entries etc.

But it works well, I get a 108 connection with my G router.. .but I believe I'd recommend anyone do some homework and see what native drivers are supported by their distro BEFORE installing a wireless network,