[lug] OT: wiring a house for ethernet

[Nate Duehr]

John Hernandez wrote:

> In my experience, these broadband wireless routers cost the same (or 
> sometimes less) than a basic WAP.  These routers can generally be used 
> as a WAP by basically ignoring the "WAN" or "Broadband" port and 
> disabling the built-in DHCP server functionality.  Instead, plug your 
> firewall (or some other internal switch) into any one of the four 
> "switch" ports.  For best security, look for a wireless device that 
> supports WPA and 802.1x.

All good points.

All I can say is that I found that the Linksys routers don't ARP 
correctly for devices on the wired side when a request comes in from the 
radio side, DHCP on or off.

They're trying to "do the right thing" for a standard SOHO networking 
setup, but there was no way to get it to do what I wanted/needed at the 
time.  The AP's work great bi-directionally.  They're "dumber" devices 
which seems to allow for a lot more flexibility.

To try to keep this somewhat on topic for the list, I have noticed that 
the Linksys 54G broadband router apparently runs embedded Linux and 
there are a bunch of websites with "alternative" versions of "firmware" 
(really just the OS dumped into Flash) for doing various things popping 
up.  The SeattleWireless folks are working on putting NoCatAuth directly 
into the device.  Some people are (illegally) upping the power output of 
the RF section.  Hardware hacking at it's finest, via Linux.  (GRIN)

Kinda like the KarlNet phenomenon all over again.  (KarlNet was a flash 
image for Lucent/Orinoco routers that allowed Wireless ISP's to manage 
them remotely, etc.)

--
Nate Duehr, nate at natetech.com