20 laptops Wi-Fi on LAN ..... Y/N?

Is it straightforward to connect 20 laptops via wi-fi to a wireless
router (in this case a Draytek 2600 range)?

I imagine that it would be no more difficult than 2 or 3 etc... ?

I need to set 20 laptops up using wi-fi, and then to have a LAN 'instant
messaging' program for each of the laptops, with a bit of 'criteria'
thrown in.

Laptops 1 - 19 can't be allowed to communicate with /each other/ in any
way, but 1 - 19 *must* be able to communicate with laptop 20 for the LAN
IM to work.

The idea is that each of the 1 - 19 laptops can send an IM to laptop 20
when required, so that the user of laptop 20 can read them. However,
none of the laptops in 1 - 19 must be able to send (or communicate with)
their 'respective' peers.

Going OT ...

I also need to lock laptops 1 - 19 down so that the desktop only shows 1
(yes, one) icon, namely the instant messaging utility. I need to bar
access to even the START menu if possible.

Any help appreciated .... thanks in advance

In article <(E-Mail Removed)> ,
(E-Mail Removed)d says...


> Any help appreciated .... thanks in advance

No-one knows how to do this? How surprising ...

"ComPCs" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) t...
> In article <(E-Mail Removed)> ,
> (E-Mail Removed)d says...
>
>
>> Any help appreciated .... thanks in advance
>
> No-one knows how to do this? How surprising ...

Well, your requirements are strangely weird. However, to get you
started, yes you can connect your 20 laptops via wireless; any wireless
router will work. That's the easy part. For the LAN-based IM and the
rest, it sounds to me that you need laptop 20 to be a server, you need
WinXP Pro on all the laptops so you can set group policy. But, hey,
IANAL and IANAMVP.

Q

In article <#V$(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed) says...


> Well, your requirements are strangely weird.

eh? why? I want to network 20 laptops via wi-fi.
Nothing more unusual than you'd find in many a big corporation, surely?

In article <Xns96F0155F5B425McP@80.5.182.99>, (E-Mail Removed)
says...

> Connection range:
> - could be a problem if you are setting up the WLAN indoors.

All laptops will be in the same room, and have line of sight.

> Security:
> - you generally cannot mix and match access control/encryption
> methods with a single access point.

Security won't particularly be required.

No external access to the Internet will be configured, and I can set the
router up to only accept incoming from registered MAC's. All the laptops
are new, with no personal data et al installed. They are to be used for
nothing more than Instant Messaging on a wi-fi LAN.

> - WEP is relatively insecure, so WPA-PSK is the minimum to use.

Not applicable, see above.

> - that may mean some of the laptops will need an upgrade to a more
> modern WLAN card.

Not applicable, see above.

> The rest of your question is OT.
> <snip>

Yeah it is, but thanks for an appropriate URL or newsgroup suggestion...

In article <Xns96F0BE8758988McP@62.253.170.163>, (E-Mail Removed)
says...


> The weird bit is the rest of the requirement. Have you considered
> alternative technologies such as:

I'm not paid to consider, I'm paid to deliver, and that's what the
client wants. So that's what the client gets.

The awful thing is, I get to spend a week in Miami doing it.....

In article <Xns96F0DF267C3A3McP@80.5.182.99>, (E-Mail Removed)
says...

> The really awful thing is that you've obviously accepted the project
> under false pretences.

There's nothing "obvious" at all. You assume too much.