[KLUG Members] Which wireless AP?

[Bruce Smith]

> I am going to start playing with wireless and was hoping for some user
> input.  My internet connection is cable and I am think of replacing my
> linksys cable/dsl router with there wireless model.  I thought it would be a
> really cool project just to set up a linux box to act as the wireless AP and
> router but I am opting for the easy and cheep way.  Until some spare
> hardware becomes available.
> 
> Does anyone have any input on the linksys or another model?

I did some research recently, and user reviews seem to agree that
Linksys makes very good access points.  They have some very nice
features not found in many other AP's.

OTOH, Linksys also makes very POOR wireless cards.  Many complaints
about the [lack of] range on them.

Of "reasonable cost" wireless cards (not Cisco), the ones that seemed
get the best reviews was Orinoco (make by Lucent).  I personally own a
Orinoco silver PCMCIA card and a Linksys AP, and am pleased with both.

Shameless plug:  I'm giving a presentation on how to make the above
mentioned hardware work with Linux in a couple weeks, on 4/9/02.

There was recently an article about using an old laptop running Linux as
an AP in Linux Journal magazine.  I can lookup the date if you like.

--------------------------------------------
Bruce Smith                bruce@armintl.com
System Administrator / Network Administrator
Armstrong International, Inc.
Three Rivers, Michigan  49093  USA
http://www.armstrong-intl.com/
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