Upgrading wireless protocol

I have an HP laptop with built-in 802.11b wireless, but would like to
upgrade to G or Super-G. Can I just buy a notebook adapter for the faster
protocol (along with a matching router)? And would that override the
built-in "b"?

Jeff Wooddell

"Jeff & Kate Wooddell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:0Iednf4tXPdw-anfRVn-(E-Mail Removed):

> I have an HP laptop with built-in 802.11b wireless, but would like to
> upgrade to G or Super-G. Can I just buy a notebook adapter for the
> faster protocol (along with a matching router)? And would that
> override the built-in "b"?
>

I don't see why you couldn't go to the Device Manager on the O/S and
disable the wireless B device and go from there.

Duane

On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 08:05:41 -0800, "Jeff & Kate Wooddell"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I have an HP laptop with built-in 802.11b wireless, but would like to
>upgrade to G or Super-G. Can I just buy a notebook adapter for the faster
>protocol (along with a matching router)? And would that override the
>built-in "b"?

Yes. You can run two wireless cards in your unspecified model laptop
without difficulty. Just disable the existing 802.11b internal card
in your unspecified operating system. It doesn't "override" or
automatically disable the 802.11b card. You can actually run them
both simultaneously, but on different channels.

If your unspecified HP laptop is fairly recent, it probably uses a
mini-PCI card as the existing internal 802.11b device. It may be
possible to find a replacement mini-PCI card with an Atheros chipset
that supports Super-G, instead of adding a 2nd card. Size and driver
issues will need to be checked, but I think it's possible.
http://www.xserves.com/snsa/cm9.html
(There are probably others).

However, permit me to offer an alternative. You'll see a rather large
increase in thruput going from 802.11b to 802.11g. However, you will
not see anything as spectacular going from 802.11g to Super-G. The
108mbit speeds are effective only at fairly close range (less than
6ft) and only under ideal circumstances (no 802.11b radios in sight,
no interference, minimum reflections, etc). Therefore, methinks that
simply replacing the (assumed) mini-PCI 802.11b card with an
"ordinary" 802.11g mini-PCI card, would be adequate for whatever you
have planned.

HP probably has a recommended 802.11g card as an upgrade. Without a
model number, I can't offer a recommendation. Selecting a random card
might be a problem as detailed on this page for wireless mini-PCI card
compatibility for IBM Thinkpads:
http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/tables.html



--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff & Kate Wooddell wrote:
> I have an HP laptop with built-in 802.11b wireless, but would like to
> upgrade to G or Super-G. Can I just buy a notebook adapter for the
> faster protocol (along with a matching router)? And would that
> override the built-in "b"?
>
> Jeff Wooddell

Absolutely yes you can, at least with the USB stuff. I have a fuji laptop
with built in wireless, and sometimes use the external USB WiFi device
(Linksys WUSB54GP). By doing the USB I have Regular Ethernet, built in wifi,
and the External USB all installed/active/bridged.
With some manufacturers models, if you install a cardbus card, it may/may
not superscede the built in stuff, so rather than say maybe, though I'd give
you an alternative that I can say yes to, and tell you how.

Jeff & Kate Wooddell wrote:
> I have an HP laptop with built-in 802.11b wireless, but would like to
> upgrade to G or Super-G. Can I just buy a notebook adapter for the faster
> protocol (along with a matching router)? And would that override the
> built-in "b"?
>
> Jeff Wooddell
>
>

Notebook wireless cards are implemented as MiniPCI cards. MiniPCI cards
have the same or similar electrical specifications as PCI cards, but the
formfactor, power requirements, and connectors differ. They have
contacts along one edge and snap into a connector similar to a laptop
DIMM connector.
In most cases, these cards are fairly upgradeable. Since your laptop
already has "b", it must have the built-in antenna for 2.4Ghz operation.
So there's a good chance that a "b/g" MiniPCI card would pop right in,
replacing your "b" card, and all you'd have to do is VERY VERY CAREFULLY
disconnect the delicate antenna connector from the old card and connect
it to the new one.

Note that this will most likely violate your notebook's warranty, so
it's not recommended until the warranty expires. Or, have it
professionally done.

Look around eBay for MiniPCI wireless cards, they're usually not too
hard to find. If your warranty has expired, you can probably find the
card for < US$50 and would only take 15min to install.

good luck,
Jonathan

"Jeff Liebermann" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 08:05:41 -0800, "Jeff & Kate Wooddell"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>I have an HP laptop with built-in 802.11b wireless, but would like to
>>upgrade to G or Super-G. Can I just buy a notebook adapter for the faster
>>protocol (along with a matching router)? And would that override the
>>built-in "b"?

>
> However, permit me to offer an alternative. You'll see a rather large
> increase in thruput going from 802.11b to 802.11g. However, you will
> not see anything as spectacular going from 802.11g to Super-G. The
> 108mbit speeds are effective only at fairly close range (less than
> 6ft) and only under ideal circumstances (no 802.11b radios in sight,

Using your own averages from another thread, standard 802.11g runs 20 Mbps.
But Super-G runs easily 45 and in good conditions will top 60 Mbps. And by
good conditions, I mean no other wireless nets nearby and no channel
interference. I'm not sure where the under six feet comes from. It's the
exact *opposite with the D-Link 624, which actually starts losing throughput
too close to the router and runs nicely (maybe 30 Mbps) from 100 feet with
no interference on the same floor of my house.

So, if you get 5 Mbps on an older 802.11b routers, 5 to 60 is much more
impressive than 5 to 20.

> I'm not sure where the under six feet comes from. It's the exact *opposite
> with the D-Link 624, which actually starts losing throughput too close to
> the router and runs nicely (maybe 30 Mbps) from 100 feet with no
> interference on the same floor of my house.


Thats what I would expect, since most transmitters have a dead spot about 2
to 3 feet around it.

Robert...

interference. I'm not sure where the under six feet comes from. It's the
> exact *opposite with the D-Link 624, which actually starts losing
> throughput too close to the router and runs nicely (maybe 30 Mbps) from
> 100 feet with no interference on the same floor of my house.
>
>
>

Interesting. How did you measure your 30 Mbps?

Brian

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 04:03:54 GMT, "Brian K" <iibntgyea4
(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>interference. I'm not sure where the under six feet comes from. It's the
>> exact *opposite with the D-Link 624, which actually starts losing
>> throughput too close to the router and runs nicely (maybe 30 Mbps) from
>> 100 feet with no interference on the same floor of my house.

>Interesting. How did you measure your 30 Mbps?

Assorted benchmarking software:

IPerf
http://dast.nlanr.net/Projects/Iperf/

Chariot

http://www.ixiacom.com/products/perf...ction=perftest

Netstat Live
http://www.analogx.com/contents/down...etwork/nsl.htm

NetBench
http://www.etestinglabs.com/benchmar...ch/default.asp

Unix
time (cat big_file | rcmd remote_machine "dd of=/dev/null")

List of various benchmarking software from PC Magazine
http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1738,1938,00.asp

Or, you can just copy a known large file and time how long it takes to
copy.


--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

Thanks, but I was interested to know how JB did it. My transfer rate timing
large file copying, using FTP, DU meter etc is only 15 Mbps with Wireless G
Speedbooster. This is with two computers in the same room, a few metres from
the router. I can't get it any higher.

Brian



>
> Assorted benchmarking software:
>
> IPerf
> http://dast.nlanr.net/Projects/Iperf/
>
> Chariot
>
> http://www.ixiacom.com/products/perf...ction=perftest
>
> Netstat Live
> http://www.analogx.com/contents/down...etwork/nsl.htm
>
> NetBench
> http://www.etestinglabs.com/benchmar...ch/default.asp
>
> Unix
> time (cat big_file | rcmd remote_machine "dd of=/dev/null")
>
> List of various benchmarking software from PC Magazine
> http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1738,1938,00.asp
>
> Or, you can just copy a known large file and time how long it takes to
> copy.
>
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558