[Techtalk] wireless advice

[Kathryn Andersen]

Hi folks.
I'm thinking of setting up a tiny wireless network.  I've read this that and
the other, and I think I know what software to install and what hardware
to buy --- but....

Looking at my favourite linux site, http://www.everythinglinux.com.au
it seems that they have a D-Link Access Point and a D-Link Wireless
Router for about the same price.  So now I am caught between the two.
The thing is, in the future, I also intend to get ADSL, which means
that having a Router already could be handy -- except that the last time
I mentioned this, the only advice I was given was "take an old spare box
and turn it into a router".  Problem is, I don't have any old spare
boxes, in fact I've only *got* two boxes, my desktop (which has
everything under the sun on it, and therefore not suitable to be turned
into a secure, bare-bones system) and my laptop (which gets taken out
and plugged into other systems, and therefore is not suitable to be
turned into a router).  The desktop has only one ethernet port in it,
and no spare slots (though it may be that it has a spare slot inside,
but no spare spaces outside, I'm not sure, but definitely something
would have to be tossed in order to put another ethernet card into it).

So, the advantage I can see in getting the Router is that the ADSL modem
(when I get it) can plug straight into the Router, rather than me trying
to rip things out to get another ethernet card into the desktop, or
trying to figure out the intricacies of a USB ADSL modem, and also that
the Router will take care of certain things for me.

The disadvantage of getting the Router, so far as I can see, is that it
is a Bad Thing for any person who calls themself a Linux geek to do
anything other than Build Their Own, because commercial routers are
small and brain-dead and no self-respecting geek would go anywhere near
one.

So, er, what do you folks say?

Kathryn Andersen
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Thus spake the master programmer:
	"Though a program be but three lines long, someday it will have to
	be maintained."
		-- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"
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 _--_|\     | Kathryn Andersen	<http://www.katspace.com>
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