[Info-vax] Wireless networking for my home xp900

[Richard B. Gilbert]

VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG wrote:
> In article <NoCdncGQOcQCexLXnZ2dnUVZ_smdnZ2d at giganews.com>, "Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilbert88 at comcast.net> writes:
>> VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG wrote:
>>> In article <w4ednTMRmbMt0RLXnZ2dnUVZ_r2dnZ2d at giganews.com>, "Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilbert88 at comcast.net> writes:
>>>> VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG wrote:
>>>>> In article <1f919585-c3f2-4faf-a311-9c4f1f715eb0 at z31g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>, Doug Phillips <dphill46 at netscape.net> writes:
>>>>>> On Aug 17, 5:15=A0pm, Jojimbo <jjgessl... at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>> On Aug 17, 2:07=A0pm, VAXman- =A0 at SendSpamHere.ORG wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> In article <6eaa6e9d-3a95-46c1-98d5-ab7b8b280... at z24g2000yqb.googlegrou=
>>>>>> ps.com>, Jojimbo <jjgessl... at gmail.com> writes:
>>>>>>>>> Due to some residential reorganization, my xp900 will be moving
>>>>>>>>> further away from the network hub. =A0This will make having an actual
>>>>>>>>> wire very inconvenient for network connectivity. =A0Is there some devi=
>>>>>> ce
>>>>>>>>> I can use to let the xp900 join my already established wireless net?
>>>>>>>>> Any suggestions appreciated.
>>>>>>>>> Thanks, =A0Jim
>>>>>>>> A wireless bridge. =A0Eg. =A0LinkSys WET54G.
>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>> VAXman- A Bored Certified VMS Kernel Mode Hacker =A0 =A0VAXman(at)TMESI=
>>>>>> S(dot)ORG
>>>>>>>> =A0http://www.quirkfactory.com/popart/asskey/eqn2.png
>>>>>>>> =A0 "Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"
>>>>>>> Thanks, =A0I was looking for something along these lines, transparent to
>>>>>>> the xp900, relatively cheap.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Regards, =A0Jim
>>>>>> Or, if you want to save a few dollars go with a cheap wireless router
>>>>>> (I'm using a WRT54G) and download (and install) the appropriate (free)
>>>>>> firmware upgrade from < http://www.dd-wrt.com/ >.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> My basement LAN has been connected to my upstairs LAN for years using
>>>>>> this setup.
>>>>> Does this give you more robust router capabilities on a Linksys?  I just
>>>>> picked up one for the first time for my son away at college.  I am _NOT_
>>>>> impressed with the web based configuration and it was very limited from
>>>>> what I witnessed.  
>>>>>
>>>>>  
>>>> If you are used to a *real* router, the Linksys (and equivalent stuff) 
>>>> is pretty lame.  A LinkSys, or equivalent, router does get the job done 
>>>> IF the job is to connect an RFC-1918 Private Network to the Internet. 
>>>> It doubles as a firewall (perhaps also lame) by requiring that all 
>>>> connections are originated from the Private side.  I suspect that there 
>>>> are millions of such devices quietly doing the job. . . .
>>>>
>>>> As for the configuration, there is not whole lot to configure!  I think 
>>>> mine required a whole three minutes.  Two and one half of those minutes 
>>>> were devoted to reading the instructions.
>>> Yeah, I blogged my entire Linksys experience.
>>>
>>> I still don't understand why a WEENDOZE PeeCee can't connect to and
>>> configure the Linksys without installing/running the software on the
>>> enclosed CD.  It's not really important, I run operating systems on
>>> my hardware.
>>>
>>> I found the documentation on the CD too.  Yeah, it was in PDF format
>>> too!  All I needed to do was power it up, connect to the default of
>>> 'linksys' for SSID, connect to it with my Linux laptop and point its
>>> Firefox browser to 192.168.1.1.  The documentation said 'admin' was
>>> the password.  Once I read that far and was talking to the device, I
>>> added the CD to my polycarbonate drink coaster collection.  I copied
>>> the manual to the documentation folder on my laptop too... not that 
>>> I think I'll read it but you never know.
>>>
>>> I'm off to PSU Abington today to see if it will actually function on
>>> the cable network there.
>>>
>>> BTW, the menus didn't seem to refresh properly when I used Safari to
>>> connect to the web management pages.  That seemed rather odd for the
>>> only browser to have passed the ACID3 test!  FireFox is still 93/100.
>>>
>> Mine is so old it didn't come with a CD!  I never missed it!
> 
> OK.  DHCP is fine but there's not way to assign a static IP for on device,
> in this case, a wireless printer.  If the printer is ever assigned a new 
> IP address, he'll have a hell of a time printing.  I knew I should have
> gotten a WAP and a real router for him.
> 

If you want a staic IP, or several, you configure DHCP to use a subset 
of the available IP addresses.  For example, configure DHCP to assign 
addresses in the range 101-254.  You can then use 1-100 for static 
addresses.  That's what I did.  I have static addresses for my Alphas, 
my Sun Solaris systems and my printer.  Windows boxes get dynamic 
addresses.  If I were using my VAXen for anything, they too would get 
static addresses.

The static addresses allow me to make telnet or ftp connections without 
having to go to the console to find out what the machine's address is today.

I suppose there may be better ways to do it and I'd look for one if I 
had more machines.