[plug] WiFi card question

[Chris Griffin]

Theres nothing wrong with using a switch to connect the PC's but I
still need to get from my computer room to where the wireless
broadband router/modem connects to the internet.

On 7/8/06, Bernd Felsche <bernie at innovative.iinet.net.au> wrote:
> "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.
> --
> /"\ Bernd Felsche - Innovative Reckoning, Perth, Western Australia
> \ /  ASCII ribbon campaign | "Laws do not persuade just because
>  X   against HTML mail     |  they threaten."
> / \  and postings          | Lucius Annaeus Seneca, c. 4BC - 65AD.
>
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