[Info-vax] Wireless networking for my home xp900

[Richard B. Gilbert]

John Wallace wrote:
> On Aug 22, 11:45 am, VAXman-  @SendSpamHere.ORG wrote:
>> In article <w4ednTMRmbMt0RLXnZ2dnUVZ_r2dn... at giganews.com>, "Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilber... at comcast.net> writes:
>>
>>
>>
>>> VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG wrote:
>>>> In article <1f919585-c3f2-4faf-a311-9c4f1f715... at z31g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>, Doug Phillips <dphil... at netscape.net> writes:
>>>>> On Aug 17, 5:15=A0pm, Jojimbo <jjgessl... at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> On Aug 17, 2:07=A0pm, VAXman- =... 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.
>>
>> --
>> VAXman- A Bored Certified VMS Kernel Mode Hacker    VAXman(at)TMESIS(dot)ORG
>>
>>  http://www.quirkfactory.com/popart/asskey/eqn2.png
>>
>>   "Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"
> 
> Based on what I have observed with various bits of Linksys kit, I have
> *assumed* that the setup app on the PC CD uses some Linksys-private
> LAN protocol to "discover" what Linksys kit is on the LAN, so that the
> first bit of the setup process can be a "Which box do you want to set
> up?" with a list of identified Linksys boxes to choose from. I've
> never actually used this process, I've always avoided it by resetting
> the new Linksys stuff to factory default (ie known IP address) and
> bodging the IP setup on the relevant host so it can browse to the
> Linksys, but there may be times when that isn't an option.

My Linksys stuff has been in service for years so things may have 
changed.  There is/was a small program shipped with Linksys equipment 
that is supposed to map your local network.  It can identify Windows PCs 
and LinkSys hardware but other machines and operating systems such as 
Solaris (SPARC | X86), Linux, and OpenVMS are not recognized.