[MLB-WIRELESS] [TIB] A new offer has been added to TIB -23/01/2003

[paul van den bergen]

On Fri, 24 Jan 2003 11:55 am, Fenn Bailey wrote:
> > This is astoundingly cheap, and from the doco
> > it seems to be fully
> > featured. What is wrong with it? What is it missing compared to the
> > DL900 or DL900+ (aside from 22Mbps)?
>
> Nothing as far as I know apart from the 100mw hack that you can do on
> the dlinks. That and there's a LOT more documentation/people using the
> Dlinks (afaik) and they're about the same price ($140 from vak).
>
> > I figure a AP is the cheapest/easiest way to get an omni on
> > my roof. My
> > concern with AP's is their lack of flexibility compared to a Linux box
> > with AP capable WNIC. Is there anything that this AP can't do
> > that will
> > make me wish I'd put a linux box in my roof?
>
> There are some fairly important issues. These cannot do IBSS (ad-hoc)
> mode, so anyone in your area who wants to go ad-hoc with an omni won't
> be able to connect to you. They would be restricted to go to BSS as a
> client, which means they cannot 'pass-on' their connectivity to anyone
> else without a second interface. Unless of course they have an AP that
> supports some sort of multipoint bridging (I don't even know if that's
> possible).

so is this a limitation specific to the the svec WLAP? or do all APs (linksys 
WAP11 and dlink 900/900+ especially as that si what we are discussing) not do 
adhoc (IBSS) mode?  is it that the wireless cards inside just don't do it or 
is it that the software doesn't support it ('cause why would you do an access 
point as adhoc???)

so, next point is LEAF, mini-linux, OpenAP, etc.... any of these support the 
h/w in this lil' box?



>
> The other issue is that you still need a PC to backup the AP if you want
> to do anything like routing (OSPF/etc), in which case it's not really
> all that much simpler.

except that you can put the AP in the roof with much less power and shorter 
cable run and run ethernet into the house...

> It's a bit of a problem that there is no official standard for
> melb-wireless configuration, though I believe IBSS is preferred (for the
> reasons listed above).

the choice of IBSS or BSS mode is, well, adhoc :-)

> So, overall (in my opinion), it's a bit of a much of a muchness - a card
> in a box will give you much more flexibility and is around the same
> price - it's just less convenient and probably more pricey when you add
> up the cost of cabling/etc.

seaweed insulation in the ceiling... very cautious of fire hazard... 


-- 
Dr Paul van den Bergen
Centre for Advanced Internet Architectures
caia.swin.edu.au
pvandenbergen at swin.edu.au
IM:bulwynkl2002
would somebody get this big walking carpet out of my way?

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