suggestions for a router from cable to wireless?

Hi All,

We've just moved into a place with cable internet
service using an RCA DCM325 modem. I'm running
RH9 and WinXP on my laptop (currently the "communal
computer"); neither with any connection problems.

My housemates will eventually have their computers
running MS stuff while I have linux and we all want
to connect wirelessly to a router. Can anyone suggest
the best router/wireless card I should go for?

Thanks in advance.
All the Best.

btw....I'm intending to update to Fedora Core 4 when it's out,
in case that is an issue.
Thanks.

Atli wrote:

> My housemates will eventually have their computers
> running MS stuff while I have linux and we all want
> to connect wirelessly to a router. Can anyone suggest
> the best router/wireless card I should go for?
>

It shouldn't matter what router you go with, as they don't know or care
about what OS you're running. It's harder to say what wireless card to
use, as they change so quickly, though NDISwrapper can be used for cards
that aren't supported in Linux.

Thanks so much for the feedback, James.

Is there any inherent lack of efficiency
in performance in using NDISwrapper as
opposed to a card that has a linux driver?

Thanks again.

Atli wrote:

> Thanks so much for the feedback, James.
>
> Is there any inherent lack of efficiency
> in performance in using NDISwrapper as
> opposed to a card that has a linux driver?

As always, additional layers mean additional overhead, but whether it makes
a significant difference, depends on your situation. The Wifi adapter
that's built into my ThinkPad is supported in Linux and is recognized when
I install SuSE, so I've never had to use NDISwrapper.

For WiFi connections in Linux, I use a Motorola wireless bridge, an external
box the size of a paperback book. I plug a standard 10Base-T cable from the
computer to the bridge.

I like having hardware external -- no heat in the case, and I can
power-cycle it without rebooting.

There are plenty of lists of compatible hardware out there, notably via the
FAQs at http://tldp.org, the Linux Documentation Project.
--
Carl Fink (E-Mail Removed)
If you attempt to fix something that isn't broken, it will be.
-Bruce Tognazzini

Carl Fink wrote:

> For WiFi connections in Linux, I use a Motorola wireless bridge, an
> external
> box the size of a paperback book. I plug a standard 10Base-T cable from
> the computer to the bridge.
>
> I like having hardware external -- no heat in the case, and I can
> power-cycle it without rebooting.
>

That sort of solution is a bit awkward for a notebook computer, where you
want everything in one small package. At home, I also have a WiFi router,
which I use for connection to my local network.

James Knott wrote:
> Atli wrote:
>
>
>>Thanks so much for the feedback, James.
>>
>>Is there any inherent lack of efficiency
>>in performance in using NDISwrapper as
>>opposed to a card that has a linux driver?
>
> As always, additional layers mean additional overhead, but whether it makes
> a significant difference, depends on your situation. The Wifi adapter
> that's built into my ThinkPad is supported in Linux and is recognized when
> I install SuSE, so I've never had to use NDISwrapper.

I would be willing to bet that any additional overhead introduced by
NDISwrapper would hardly be noticed on a WAN link. Meaning, Internet
performance would be fine, but you may notice slight performance issues
if transferring large amounts of data over the LAN...

Just a guess, since I haven't had to use NDISwrapper either, but from
what I've seen, the bottle-neck is almost *always* the WAN link itself,
and not the NIC.

One other note...Make sure whatever card you're using has decent Windows
drivers. I have a Belkin 802.11 G card that sucks no matter what OS I
use it with.

--
- Matt -