[lug] Wireless router question (OT)

[Sean Reifschneider]

On Mon, Oct 25, 2004 at 01:13:34PM -0700, Jeffrey Siegal wrote:
>It depends on the firmware in the device.  Some routers support bridge 
>mode, some do not.  If the standard firmware doesn't support it, some 

It's not bridging that is required.  One of the devices needs to support
802.11 "managed" mode to be able to talk to the a regular 802.11
"master" mode AP.  Or they'd both have to support ad-hoc mode, but
that's probably not the way you want to go.

There is a device from one of the vendors, model number (IIRC) is WET11.
It run explicitly in managed mode and has ethernet on it, to allow an
ethernet network to connect to a wireless network.

The Linksys WRT-54G has this capability with the third-party firmware,
and is under $70.  It's a full AP, with 4 port switch, another ethernet
interface, and 802.11b/g.  They work great.  With new firmware you can
set it to run as a client to an existing WiFi network.  We use this for
Hacking Society for people who do not bring WiFi cards, they can just
plug into the local WRT-54G and off they go.

There's also another thing called "WDS", which effectively allows an AP
to be both master and managed mode.  In other words, you can have an AP
for an area get it's net connectivity via WiFi using just a single
radio.  I haven't had any luck getting this working, though.

Sean
-- 
 The blood of the guitar was Chuck Berry Red.
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Sean Reifschneider, Member of Technical Staff <jafo at tummy.com>
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