Wireless Networking At HomeOct 04 '01 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line With current available technology, home wireless networking is not only easy but inexpensive. Everybody who has more than 1 computer should do it. Why Network At Home? I have a desktop PC and a notebook computer at home. As is the usual case for most people, my desktop PC is more powerful (PIII 700MHz, 512MB RAM), has more storage space (3 IDE HDDs & 1 SCSI HDD with total HDD space of 80GB), has more programs installed and has a broadband modem attached. My notebook on the other hand is a paltry PIII650 with 128MB RAM and 10GB HDD. So, most of my processor intensive work was done on my PC and that's where most of my files are stored. That being the case, I found that I was beginning to neglect my notebook. After all, who would want to surf the Net on the notebook's built-in 56K modem when there is a broadband modem attached to the PC? However, there were times that I really preferred to work on the notebook instead, eg when I wished to just lay on my bed or do some light surfing in my kitchen over breakfast instead of huddle at my PC table. The only solution would be to link the 2 computers together using ethernet. This used to give be shivers. I remember vividly the nightmare I had about 5 years ago when I tried to set up a LAN in my office (using Windows 95. There were lots of troubleshooting and after months of consulting "experts" in LAN, I still couldn't get the network going. I guess if I had hired real experts and purchased the expensive Novell software back then, things would have been much easier. But this is just to highlight the complexity of LAN just a few years ago. How To Do It It's amazing how technology has advanced in a mere 5 years or so. Networking is so much simpler with Win 98 and Win ME. But what about the hardware? I had 2 choices: wire up my home or go wireless. Although the wire option is much cheaper, I couldn't imaging myself laying wires all over my 2-storey house. Furthermore, with wire, you are still restricted to only certain parts of the house where you have installed the connection points. So, for me, wireless (although more expensive) is the only practical option. I bought the Compex C-Kit 811WL starter kit. It came with two 11Mbps Wireless LAN Cards, one PCMCIA/PCI Converter and software access point. Setting up is a cinch. The PCMCIA/PCI Converter goes into a free PCI slot on the desktop PC. In goes one of the PCMCIA cards. The other PCMCIA card goes into the PCMCIA slot in my notebook. With the easy to following instructions that comes with the kit, I was able to "see" both computers literally within minutes. To share the broadband internet connection, I downloaded the free Analog X Proxy which is very easy to set up (comes with incredibly comprehensive ReadMe file which contains everything you need to know about configuring it). This was installed onto my desktop PC. I configured my notebook to "dial" into my desktop PC as the proxy for internet access. That's it! Again, within minutes, I was surfing the internet on broadband from my notebook!! Now, I am able to work on almost everything from my notebook from the comfort of my bed, at the kitchen table, on the couch, in my garden (I'm sure you get the picture by now...). Files can be saved directly into the ample HDD space on my PC eventhough I work on my notebook. Finally, my notebook is no longer a white elephant! All in all, I spent about $250 on my wireless home network. That, I think, is very affordable.  |
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