Hybrid Network - Seeking Recommendations

I'm in a 100-year-old house, which limits my immediate options for cabling,
so I decided to hang a wireless gateway off of my cable modem. On the
network are:

Room 1: Cable modem, wireless gateway
Room 2: A: Win2K PC, wireless
Room 3: B: Linux PC, wireless & ethernet
C: Win2K PC, ethernet
Printer, ethernet

Currently, the Linux box connects to the Internet via WLAN, and is
configured to masquerade box C. This works fine, for the time being, but I
eventually want the printer available throughout the house. The Linux box
is to act primarily as web server on the household intranet. No services
will be facing the Internet. Here is an attempt at diagramming:


ROOM 1:

( INTERNET )
| \|/
| |
+-------+ +----+-----+
| CABLE |___| WIRELESS |
| MODEM | | GATEWAY |
+-------+ +----------+

ROOM 2:

\|/
|
+-------+
| A |
+-------+

ROOM 3:

\|/
|
+-------+ +-------+ +-------+
| B | | C | | PRN |
+---+---+ +---+---+ +---+---+
| | |
o-----------o-----------o


I'm trying to decide how best to configure B, the Linux box, for overall
house connectivity. The options I'm considering are:

1. Two networks.
C is masq'ed through B.
B:137-139 forward to C
B:9100 forwards to PRN.

Pros: fewest changes to current config
Cons: A & C on different networks
<your comments welcome!>

2. B bridges WLAN & ethernet -- one network
All hosts can communicate directly (?)

Pros: no port forwarding necessary
Cons: uncertain -- difficult configuration?

I'm interested in hearing comments on the two proposed approaches, as well
as any alternatives I haven't mentioned. Please limit solutions to those
that require only the hardware mentioned above. Hardware locations are
absolute constraints!

I think I have a decent understanding of my options at the most superficial
level. I'm seeking the advice of those more experienced with respect to the
hidden gotchas that I'm less familiar with -- ARP/RARP considerations,
protocol forwarding restrictions, etc. Thanks in advance, for any
assistance you can provide.


Regards,

Eric Adamson
Lansing, Michigan

Hi Eric,

AFAIK, your second option will work just fine. It's the easiest also.
Linux kernel already has code for software bridging
(http://bridge.sourceforge.net). You just need to bridge the wireless
and ethernet interfaces of the linux machine. You can either connect
your printer to linux machine and use it as print server or you can
connect it to windows machine and then share the printer.

I haven't tried it myself. But I don't see any problem with this
solution.

cheers,
-Manu
----------
Manu Garg
http://manugarg.freezope.org

"manu" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
> Hi Eric,
>
> AFAIK, your second option will work just fine. It's the easiest also.
> Linux kernel already has code for software bridging
> (http://bridge.sourceforge.net). You just need to bridge the wireless
> and ethernet interfaces of the linux machine. You can either connect
> your printer to linux machine and use it as print server or you can
> connect it to windows machine and then share the printer.
>
> I haven't tried it myself. But I don't see any problem with this
> solution.
>
> cheers,
> -Manu
> ----------
> Manu Garg
> http://manugarg.freezope.org
>

Hi Manu,

Thanks for the suggestion -- I'll give that a shot.

The printer is ethernet-enabled -- is there any reason why it shouldn't be a
distinct host on the network? (I can't speak for all WinOSes, but Win2K, at
least, supports the creation of IP-based printer ports.)

Thanks again,

Eric Adamson
Michigan

You can have it as a distinct host, but you will have to use a hub
then. If you connect the ethernet ports of B and C, you have no
ethernet port left for the printer (unless of course either B or C has
2 ethernet ports).

cheers,
-Manu
---------
Manu Garg
http://manugarg.freezope.org

"manu" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
> You can have it as a distinct host, but you will have to use a hub
> then. If you connect the ethernet ports of B and C, you have no
> ethernet port left for the printer (unless of course either B or C has
> 2 ethernet ports).
>
> cheers,
> -Manu
> ---------
> Manu Garg
> http://manugarg.freezope.org
>

Ah -- you actually read my requirements! I have a five-port switch onhand,
so the wired portion in room 3 is pretty flexible. I didn't mention it,
because I'm okay with the ethernet side of things -- I just have little
experience with bridging & related alternatives.

I haven't had time to set up the bridge yet (still masquerading), but will
hopefully get around to it, soon enough.

Thanks again,

Eric