wifi or not to wifi
- Thread starter oldman
- Start date
Yah, the linksys are nice...I too was thinking of a wireless network...but I am too cheap to buy a new router and 2 network cards...I was considering buying a transmitter and a single wireless lan card to pipe the network upstairs (using my ADSL router pluggin directly into the network card of the downstairs pc)...I dont know if this is something you might consider old dude...some advice here would also be welcomed..
fatbusinessman
Fledgling Freddie
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- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 810
Be wary.
The Windows XP implementation of a wireless client can be somewhat flaky, and has been prone to random disconnects in a number of instances.
And if there is any chance of you running Linux on any of your computers, then forget it - wireless manufacturers haven't bothered doing anything crazy like actually writing drivers for Linux, and as such your chances of getting it working are slim.
Personally, I would recommend that you avoid wireless network cards altogether, and instead get something like this - means you can (at least in theory) connect up any computer with an Ethernet port to your wireless network, and your computers never need know they're connected wirelessly. This is a Good Thing, as most operating systems aren't sufficiently mature to be up to the task.
I've been burned by this just recently, and it's not pleasant.
The Windows XP implementation of a wireless client can be somewhat flaky, and has been prone to random disconnects in a number of instances.
And if there is any chance of you running Linux on any of your computers, then forget it - wireless manufacturers haven't bothered doing anything crazy like actually writing drivers for Linux, and as such your chances of getting it working are slim.
Personally, I would recommend that you avoid wireless network cards altogether, and instead get something like this - means you can (at least in theory) connect up any computer with an Ethernet port to your wireless network, and your computers never need know they're connected wirelessly. This is a Good Thing, as most operating systems aren't sufficiently mature to be up to the task.
I've been burned by this just recently, and it's not pleasant.
Shovel
Can't get enough of FH
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 1,350
My Wi-Fi experience has been far from rosy as well, it's not the most stable medium in the world by far, but plenty of people have perfectly good experiences as well.
Fatty's suggestion above actually looks really rather good, at ~£10 more than a PCI card it strikes me as a dead good deal. Logic of quantity dictates that two arials would get better reception than your average PCI card too..
Check the reviews, but Fatty could be onto a winner there.
Fatty's suggestion above actually looks really rather good, at ~£10 more than a PCI card it strikes me as a dead good deal. Logic of quantity dictates that two arials would get better reception than your average PCI card too..
Check the reviews, but Fatty could be onto a winner there.
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nath
Fledgling Freddie
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- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 8,009
I've got a wireless network between my house and my mates across the street and it's fantastic . We've played a number of networked games, all of which work fine (even q2 - we get pings of like 15ish).
Of course, I can't talk about the wireless cards, we're linked up by two wireless routers and neither pc's knows of the wireless network. However, when I hook up my laptop with my 54g card it works a treat. It's never on for a huge amount of time though..
. We've played a number of networked games, all of which work fine (even q2 - we get pings of like 15ish). Of course, I can't talk about the wireless cards, we're linked up by two wireless routers and neither pc's knows of the wireless network. However, when I hook up my laptop with my 54g card it works a treat. It's never on for a huge amount of time though..