[plug] WiFi card question

[Bernd Felsche]

"Chris Griffin" <griffinster at gmail.com> writes:

>I am beginning to think that a wireless router with more than one
>ethernet port (because I have three boxes on my computer room that I
>run) would be the way to go. I just need to find one that has enough
>ports, supports WPA and does not cost a fortune.

What's wrong with a <gasp> switch? Gigabit switches are cheap.
10/100 switches you find in a box of breakfast cereal -
metaphorically speaking!

Seriously; $30 buys an 8-port switch. If you don't bury it under a
pile of paper, then it'll probably outlast all the computers.

The only advantage to having more than one Ethernet port on a
wireless router is so that the router can have full control of what
goes between the ports. e.g. firewalling.

But Linux on a "real computer" is much more flexible at that soft of
thing anyway. By the time you get to have the same magnittude of
control and facilities on an appliance, you're paying hundreds of
dollars more than for a basic wireless.

If you keep the functionality of boxes as simple as possible, then
if one box breaks, it only breaks one or a few things. 

Going by the current flux of the industry, you won't be able to get
a (new) replacement in 3 years' time; let alone get something
repaired.

I am BTW baking a Linux-based WiFi router using a WRAP. The exercise
in building something like that "from scratch" is that you get to
learn a lot in the process. Nobody's going to pay you a "fair hourly
rate" while you hone your skills.
-- 
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