Re: Wireless LANs

[Mick Furlong <dorsai@xxxxxxx>]

Des

The bridge is a better option if the price is comparable and if it
works with the other kit, I can't recall the price (or even the name !
Airport?) but I think the Apple wireless bridge is around the same
price and there are plenty of pages on the web describing its use in
non-apple (PC) based networks.

If you eventually go to ethernet ADSL (I did read somewhere that BT
are having second thoughts about USB ADSL) then with a bridge  you
will have direct ADSL access for any wireless devices. So you won't
need a PC with the PCI/PCMIA/Bridge Software  switched on all the time
(anything with that many discrete things to go wrong really sucks with
networking ). The only issue with doing this is firewalling but there
are ways around this.

Generally a good hardware solution will be better and more cost
effective than any software solution for networking.

Just my opinions but I hope it will help ;)

Mick

On Thu, 11 Jan 2001 17:28:35 -0000, you wrote:

>
>
>
>> The standalone iPAQ is small and light - slightly larger than a
Palm, but
>> not much. With the PCCard sleeve it doubles in thickness is about
>> 70-80% in
>> volume terms compared with a Pronto, and about the same weight.
>
>That sounds fine to me, I had a picture in my head of something about
the
>size of a paperback for some reason :)
>
> The BIG
>> advantage is that it has Internet explorer built in, so combined
with a
>> web-server the possibilities are endless. I don't have the kit,
but I like
>> Mark's idea of displaying video on there.
>
>Yep, definitely a killer app :) I really like the fact that compaq are
>supporting the port of linux for the ipaq, I like having a choice :)
>
> There is a CF card in the works
>> from Proxim, but as the CF sleeve doesn't have a battery,
sustained use
>> could be a problem.
>
>The CF solution sounds ideal to me, as it will result in a much smaller
and
>lighter unit, the downside of lower bandwidth and reduced battery life,
I
>reckon I can live with.
>
>Now, time to sell some kit and get an ipaq :)) Work can provide the
WLAN kit
>so its not too bad really. Now the only decision left is whether I
should
>pay 135 for a pci WLAN plus 70 for the ad-hoc software, or just spend
200 on
>a buffalo AP bridge, hmmm. The only compaq AP I have seen was 600
squids, so
>that is out of the question. Did someone else mention other approx 200
quid
>AP bridges?
>
>DesG
>
>
>