Re: House wireless/wired router: choices? Plus wireless neophyte questions.

On Fri, 3 Oct 2008 01:46:48 -0400
Chris Metzler <cmetzler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have exactly zero experience with wireless -- I've never owned a laptop,
and have just never needed it. My gf, as part of her job, needs to bring
home a laptop with that other OS on it, and wants wireless access to
our broadband.

We currently have a DSL connection: phone to DSL modem, ethernet out the
back of the DSL modem to our one desktop machine. I'm assuming that what
I want is a wireless router with LAN ports: ethernet cable from the DSL
modem to the wireless router, and ethernet cable from the wireless router
to the desktop machine while her laptop talks to the router by wireless.
We have a static IP address; I'm presuming that this wired/wireless router
will need to be configured with that address, and then will do NAT with
the desktop and the laptop.

1. Does what I just wrote make sense? Am I getting this correctly?

Yes, that's the bog standard way of doing this, although there are
OWTDI, as Alex has begun to suggest.

2. If I'm on the right track, what about IP addresses for the desktop
and the laptop? Do I have to set them manually to addresses within
a non-routeable block? Or do such routers typically do DHCP or something
like that?

They always (AFAIK) offer DHCP, but you don't have to use it. There are
advantages to setting static IPs - you can set up host files and refer
to the hosts by name, and I think that bringing up interfaces is a good
few seconds quicker with static IPs than with DHCP.

3. What about configuring the router (with the static IP address, any
DHCP operating parameters, etc.)? Since my desktop will be wired, I'd
like to be able to configure the router using my desktop -- which means
using Linux. If an application on an accompanying DVD is needed to
configure the router, I'm guessing that app is only going to work on
that other operating system. Or are there routers out there that are
configurable from a Linux machine in a straightforward manner?

AFAIK, SOHO routers / APs / switches are generally configurable via a
web interface, which will work with any platform. Note, though, that
they often recommend, or even require, Javascript, which can make using
a TUI browser such as links difficult or impossible.

Chris Metzler cmetzler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Celejar
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