what to use for wireless lan setup?

[the wolffman]

hi guys.

i'm researching how to setup a wireless home network. my sister just got a laptop, and i figured to save her some money by letting her laptop share my dsl connection. however, it's an unusual setup since the dsl modem is a pci card installed in my desktop computer. the desktop does have an ethernet jack to spare.

the laptop is relatively old, and it does not have any type of networking built-in. there's a free pcmia slot available.

i'd like to network the computers through wireless access. i may have another desktop computer some time in the future, so this network may expand to connect three computers rather than two.

what should i use? a router? an access point? a wireless pcmia card? how would i get started on setting up a network? i am completely new to this field of technology.

networking specs:
desktop
3com 3c920 integrated ethernet controller
intel pro/dsl 2200 internal modem - pppoa

laptop
lousy 56k modem

[Hale]

Get an 802.11b access point. That will give you 11Mb bandwidth. You will then need to get an 802.11b PCMCIA card for the laptop. You can find quite a few different manufacturers out there. As long as its all 802.11b everyones hardware should work with everyone elses.

You may want to get a combo access point/hub, that will give you additional 10bT ports. You can also get AP/Hub/Router combos. I think Linksys makes several models, depending on what you are looking for.

[Slaughter]

http://www.dynamism.com/802.11a/index.shtml

Expensive, but the 43MB/s are crucial.

Also.. http://www.dynamism.com - Nice new toys imported into english from japan. God I love TechTV.

[[AK]Hylander]

TechTV does rule!

MMMMMmmmmm Morgan.

[the wolffman]

don't think i'll go with something that expensive. the desktop uses most of the bandwidth, and the only bandwidth that laptop will use is only for internet browsing, email, basic stuff. no games or broadband quality video.

so an access point and pcmia card is what i need? okie-doke. i'm on my way to grab 'em.

[Zorro]

Truth is that you'll have a hard time finding ANYTHING that will work if the PC CARD slot is only a 16 bit interface... CARDBUS, the 32-bit PCMCIA, is what everything is made with these days. Additionally, the 16-bit interface would max out at 10MB/sec, so 100mbit anything wouldn't be technically feasible...

You'll have to use your computer as a router in this situation, also, but I'm sure you know that already... The Internet Connection Sharing stuff that comes with Windows isn't half bad for light-weight usage...

[the wolffman]

well, it worked. again, it's only for internet access and such little things, so bandwidth limit isn't a concern.

there's only one problem: the laptop can access the internet without a hitch, but odd enough, it can't access any files whatsoever on the desktop. this also happens on the desktop; it can't access files on the laptop. while it isn't a major problem, it would be useful for my sister so then she can print her documents from her laptop.

the products i bought:
d-link wireless access point dwl-900ap+
d-link wireless cardbus adapter dwl-650+

both the desktop and the laptop are running windows xp professional operating systems. they have been updated with service pack 1.

[[AK]The Beast]

Peer-to-peer file sharing under Windows networking is one of the flakiest things I've encountered, especially at the workgroup level. Why not just share the printer and have your sister print documents that way?

[Hale]

My fiancee's father has a three computer network, and I've never been able to get all the computers to see each other at once. They are all running XP, and I'm a bit weak on the NT Kernal. Plus I'm sure he has them all fubared up. I have a two ME system network and sharing is a breeze. I know, I'm a windows wuss.

If you get them working, I'd be interested in what you found.

[Slaughter]

hmm.. I've never really had a problem with XP file sharing and seeing the other computers on the network.

[The Wraith]

Once you have it setup, let me know so I can drive through your city and claim credit for wardriving your area.

http://www.packetmonkey.net/wireless
http://www.packetmonkey.net/images/mn
http://www.packetmonkey.net/wwwd

Can you guess the area of the city I live in?

[The Wraith]

"Expensive, but the 43MB/s are crucial "

- No it isn't. He end up using about 1.16% of that bandwidth.

With regards to your inter-PC resource sharing issue, I'm afraid you won't be able to do that with the D-link stuff you bought. Wireless access points, by their very nature, bridge you onto the LAN. I've used the D-Link you linked, in fact, I've used every residential grade WAP on the market - very few will allow wireless clients to intercommunicate. The reasons why are centered around the PHY implementation of 802.11 and ties into the bridging functions of the access point intself.

The only thing you need to know, is your wireless to wireless communication isn't possible with that D-link device.

[Hale]

You may want to enable WEP or Kerbarous (sp) to keep the weasles out. You should be able to do that on both the access point and the card. Kerbarous is more of a pain to get working (in my limited experience), and WEP will keep the casual drive-bys out.

[the wolffman]

i don't think i'll have to do that since i've used zonealarm on my dsl connection since the first day i got dsl.

[Zorro]

zone alarm does exactly jack if someone drives by looking for open access points and jumps on behind the zone alarm... FWIW, maybe that's what's causing your issues with seeing the local shares, etc...