[Techtalk] wireless home network without router

[Miriam English]

Hi Rudy,

Rudy Zijlstra wrote:
> Without a router is clearly possible, though not always easy to find the 
> Access Point you need for this.

I want to use one of the desktop computers as the "access point", to 
connect to the internet. Alina pointed the way with AdHoc connection.

> What you do not know is that the WiFi MAC protocol is build in a way 
> that prefers a master-client setup above a peer-to-peer setup. This is 
> to make life easier on collision detection and handling. the AP is the 
> "master" and although ad-hoc (peer-to-peer) is possible, it will 
> typically result in lower through-put .

I didn't know that, though I suspected it. It seems like wireless has 
the same advantages and disadvantages as the old coaxial ethernet cables 
I used before I replaced them all with faster multi-wire cables using 
RJ-45 connectors.

> For 11g it used to be pretty easy to find an AP. For 11n this is 
> becoming more and more difficult. What you might do is get a unit that 
> can run openwrt, and  then convert it to openWrt. If i am not mistaken, 
> openWrt will allow you to run it in "bridge" or pure AP mode.

Thanks for the pointer to openWrt Rudy. Very interesting, but it 
probably doesn't relate directly to what I want. I want to make a 
network without a router, but if I do end up buying a router I'll keep 
openWrt in mind when working out what one to buy so I can load openWrt 
onto it. The pages I read don't seem to be very clear on what it is, but 
it looks like it is only for existing routers, to replace their 
firmware. Pages that assume too much pre-existing knowledge in readers 
can be so frustrating. :/

Cheers,

	- Miriam

-- 
If you don't have any failures then you're not trying hard enough.
  - Dr. Charles Elachi, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Website: http://miriam-english.org
Blog: http://miriam_e.livejournal.com