[Westwales] online supplier for wireless nic?

[David Goodwin]

>>From what I can gather you either get an all in pci card or a pci card
> which the network adaptor plugs into

The card you plug into the PCI one is a pcmcia card (also used in all 
laptops).

> .(The latter seems to be the most
> common). If this is the case how long is the cable from adaptor to card
> and can you get extension leads. This might negate the need for an
> external ant.

Normally I believe the pcmcia card plugs directly into the riser (pci) 
card - there is no cable involved.

> Shit.. I wish I knew what I was looking for. All this must be alot
> easier to learn when you can sit around a table in the pub and discuss
> various technologies :-)  One of the problems of being stuck out in the
> sticks.
> Thanks all for your help in this
> Jon

I opted for a netgear me102 wireless thing, which can serve as a hub or 
access point - see : http://www.netgear.co.uk -> select at the bottom of 
the page the ME102 product

It offers the following :

<copynpaste>
Wireless Access Point

802.11b 11 Meg standards-based networking

Up to 32 wireless devices per Access Point

Up to 3 Access Points per network

Optimises wireless network operation

Supports point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and client Access Point modes

Connects from wireless to existing Ethernet network

128-bit WEP encryption to ensure privacy

Limited 5 year warranty on unit, 2 years power adapter
</copynpaste>

I'm fairly sure you can connect to it directly using USB and get a 
network connection through it with that (saving you having to buy a 
£6ish network card)... but don't quote me on that (this probably only 
works under windows too).

To configure the thing, you need windows (unfortunately), but once 
configured it runs fine on it's own. It has a reasonable range, however 
it doesn't appear to be possible to attach an external aerial to it, so 
for this reason i would not recommend it to anyone (Duncan said 
something about it not being possible to attach aerials to any netgear 
wireless stuff(?)).

Hope that helps a bit

David.

-- 
David Goodwin

[ dof at codepoets dot co dot uk   ]
[ http://www.codepoets.co.uk       ]

Developer on the MAP project -
  http://users.aber.ac.uk/mbrstaff