connecting multiple machines in multiple rooms using two access points

hi,

i have a question about how to achieve the following goal. i've got 4
rooms in my house. i've got an ADSL based internet connection. to get
this, i have an ADSL modem connected to an ADSL router/wireless access
point. in room 1, i have a windows PC using a USB wifi card to talk to
the access point. in room 2, i have a laptop with a pcmcia card to
also talk to the access point. but in room 3 and room 4, i have a
bunch of machines that fall into one or more of the following
categories:

1. no USB ports
2. no PCMCIA ports
3. no free PCI slots
4. OS is old and/or doesn't support wireless devices

those machines in room 3 and 4 do have LAN cards and are connected to
a ethernet switches. ideally, if i could just buy a ethernet-to-wifi
bridge/converter then i guess my problem would be solved. i coudn't
find evidence of such a thing existing yet. then i got to thinking,
that is just an access point. so if i bought another wifi access point
for both room 3 and room 4, i could connect the switch in room 3 to an
access point and the same in room 4. but now the problem is how do i
tell the access point in rooms 3 and 4 that they should not be full-on
access points but rather just be a simple ethernet-to-wifi bridge. i
don't think adhoc mode is what i am looking for because then the main
wifi access point/adsl router won't do it's routing then so i won't
have internet access from any machine at that point.

i look forward to any advice/discussion/suggestions. drop me a mail at
(E-Mail Removed) if you can help me.

thanks.

On 15 Oct 2004 19:43:46 -0700, Osedax Latin <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> hi,
>
> i have a question about how to achieve the following goal. i've got 4
> rooms in my house. i've got an ADSL based internet connection. to get
> this, i have an ADSL modem connected to an ADSL router/wireless access
> point. in room 1, i have a windows PC using a USB wifi card to talk to
> the access point. in room 2, i have a laptop with a pcmcia card to
> also talk to the access point. but in room 3 and room 4, i have a
> bunch of machines

[snip]

>
> i look forward to any advice/discussion/suggestions. drop me a mail at
> (E-Mail Removed) if you can help me.

I use Airlink routers that can operate in bridge mode which is basically a
wire replacement mode. You'd need one connected to the ADSL router and one
in each room that doesn't have access so rooms 1 & 2 could continue using
the access point and rooms 3 & 4 could each be connected with a bridge. I
haven't seen Airlink at any store other than Fry's (www.outpost.com) where
the 802.11g one is currently $25.