Wireless Networking

I forgot to put links to one of the better rated products and instructions for making your own directional antenna.

Ever seen if you can get the 2 routers to cross connect?

Router A in the house Router B in th shop and if router B can connect to router A then you have 4ish network jacks for all the older computers in the shop and a Wireless point there too

I have a similar configuration where i use a wireless router ONLY as a wireless access point and then it forwards the wireless traffic to my main one

Otherwise your simplest option is toput the 2nd wireless in the other corner of the house and have an "East" and "West" wireless and ideally one of the 2 will cover the shop well

In the shop if you have antiquated computers that are NOT wireless friendly you Could have an old switch or router plugged into a wireless enabled PC and use the PC as a bridge

if you have an old switch plugged into a wireless pc it gives you the shop LAN that can share files with all the traffic goping through the Bridge PC across the wireless to the main LAN then the net

Roger, can you in any way just get an Ethernet cable to your garage (like through the basement)? That would be better.

Right now this is sort of a temporary arrangment, I don't have a proper shop building yet. For now I have been running a 100 foot ethernet cable to my lathe, trying not to crush it in the door. I could drill a hole through the East wall and run the cable outdoors around the house and into the shop (carport). I don't know of any good access under the house, the crawl space is thinner than I am in places and I have seen bees, snakes, brown recluse spiders, rats, and ??? under there! It wouldn't take me long to wish I would have just bought the wireless ethernet converter!

Thanks

Roger Neal

The Buffalo ethernet converter is supposed to be something like a router in reverse. You can connect multiple computers in the shop to it with ethernet cables and it will connect to your wireless access point, giving your shop network access to your wireless router network and internet connection. The wireless router gives a wired network a wireless access point, the Buffalo ethernet converter is supposed to connect a wired network to a wireless access point if I understand it correctly.

Roger Neal

"Roger_N" wrote in news:E7_wi.58$ snipped-for-privacy@news.sisna.com:

I just went through something similar with a Thin Client using PClinuxOS, the original WinCE worked fine with a usb wireless adapter but the version of explorer was severly limited as to be useless so I went with PClinuxOS which would run on the limited hardware. For the unit to work so in desperation I got an AirStation125 High Power Wireless Ethernet Converter, a wireless bridge, it worked flawlessly and was simple to hook into the existing wireless system. I got it from Provantage

Bill

I run a Cisco N type router in my office in the East end of the house. North and a little more east by 300 feet or so is my 15' tall 30x30 metal building. The computer is in the middle of the shop. The RF gives me a very good connection. From the shop, I run RF printer. - A 5Simx. That computer drives my CNC plasma table a few feet from it.

It sounds like you want to upload or put on the shop disk designs, then go do them. - logical - else get a 4G or 1G USB stick and see if the Linux supports them (suspect so due to design frame).

Mart> I have a CNC lathe running with EMC2 under Linux. My home network is on the

According to Roger_N :

However -- an argument in favor of cable vs wireless is that you don't have to worry about someone driving by looking for a "hot spot" connecting to your system and interrupting a running machining job.

Good Luck, DoN.

I would hope the job would be FTP'ed to the local CNC machine before it would ever be run

It is disgustingly simple and easy to run a semi-permanent wired Ethernet cable out to your garage - it's one of the things I regularly do. They sell the solid CAT-5e cable by the foot at The Borg, or you break down and get a full 500' or 1K' Pop-Box. Two female jacks and a wall-plate or surface monument for both ends, and a short patch cord at each end to the lathe computer NIC and the router port.

A punch tool is optional, though it makes it go a lot faster. The jacks often come with a plastic non-cutting punch tool, and then you have to clip the wires by hand after terminating them.

If you want to protect the wire from minor hazards you run it in

The only thing you have to watch is you can't go more than 300' from Hub-Computer on regular CAT-5e cable. If it's over 300' you need to have another hub in the middle to act as a signal repeater, or get a Media Converter for each end and make the long link on fiber-optics or with special Long-Haul link equipment.

Wireless Ethernet is not too hard to secure - but I still won't use it unless it's the absolute last resort. I've heard of way too many security incidents, some where the users /thought/ they had it configured and secured properly...

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If you haven't already, you might try moving your wireless router around, the lathe PC may be in a radio "shadow". Moving the router just a few inches could fix it. Wall studs, wiring, concrete & brick all attenuate the signal between transmitter & receiver. A few inches shift can radically change the total amount of attenuation.

Or it might be easier to relocate the router in the next room closer to the lathe than to try to get a bridge setup working.

I have a Cisco wireless certification and have done quite a bit of this kind of thing.

HTH Mike Mike Patterson Please remove the spamtrap to email me. "I always wanted to be somebody...I should have been more specific..." - Lily Tomlin

I just bought a Belkin "range extender" access point/repeater for $35. I configured it as a repeater and it gives me some good signal strength in the shop. Part of the problem is I'm not sure if my wireless PCI card is compatible with my Linux PC, I haven't messed with it since I got the repeater working at ~2AM this morning.

For my wireless link to the cabin about ~800' away, would it work to use an access point with a directional antenna pointed toward the cabin, then that access point be wired with a crossover cable to a wireless bridge pointed to my house wireless router? (like a repeater with directional client/AP antennas pointed in different directions) At the cabin we would have a Bridge or wireless adapter pointed toward the house.

Thanks! Roger N

Another option is to use "Homeplug" power line ethernet adapters. My basement shop has a plaster over expanded metal lath ceiling, which makes a very effective faraday cage between my wireless access point and my shop. Running an ethernet cable would be a pain in ass, but I already have AC wiring.

There are several versions of Homeplug; Homeplug 1 (good for about 5 Megabits/sec real data rate), Turbo (about 2-3 times faster), and Homeplug AV, which is supposed to get you closer to 80-90 Megabits/sec, which is a good bit faster than wireless. Homeplug AV is new, and is designed to be able to ship multiple high quality video streams around your house. The idea is that every TV, stereo, computer, etc. will have the Homeplug AV chipset built in, so all you have to do to network them is plug them into the wall. Intel is going to start putting chips into some computers fairly soon, and most of the home entertainment companies are part of the Homeplug alliance. There are a couple of companies making the AV chipsets now, and they seem to have worked out some interoperability issues. In theory, any "compliant" device will work with any other, and they have been running extensive tests before certifying any new equipment.

The two older standards have wireless extender kits, which consist of an ethernet box that you plug into the wall connect to your router, and a combination Homeplug interface/wirless box that you would put in the shop. It plugs into the wall to talk to the other box, and has a wireless access point built in.

I've been holding out for Homeplug AV because I will probably end up with other Homeplug AV widgets in the future, whether I want them or not. Unfortunately, nobody has a wireless extender setup for Homeplug AV yet. If all you want is an ethernet connection, Linksys & Netgear both have kits with two boxes, one of which could go to a wireless access point in your shop.

Doug White

Winblows XP has the capability of acting as a bridge...and its been claimed it can be used as a router/repeater.

Sticking an old box with a couple network cards in some location that can be seen from both locations...

Might be a cool task for one of those slims

Gunner

I have a Buffalo high power wireless router and a Buffalo high power wireless bridge "Ethernet converter" coming in UPS today. I think I can connect them together without a PC and have a system that could work like a satellite except be ground based. Also, my Linux PC lathe control is right next to my West end of the house, which is the direction of the cabin going in at the pond. I may be able to mount an access point there with a directional antenna pointed at the cabin and use the linux PC to pass the connection to my home network. I should be fun and/or frustrating experimenting with this!

RogerN