Being a newbie to the world of wireless, please consider adding wireless networking to your site. Thanks!
I am working on a networking tutorial. I will be wiring up my parent's house with 10/100 and wifi this summer and will take photos to do a wired/wireless home networking tutorial once I'm finish. In the meantime check out JackMDS' site on networking:
Here's an interesting thought regarding wireless on the new MacBook. After a weekend of research into the world of wireless, I discovered that the MacbBook supports 802.11a, even thought it's not officially mentioned by Apple. It now seems worth it to find a wireless AP or router that handles 802.11a because it is as fast at 802.11g and is less likely to have interference from others since fewer people use it. The Airport does not support 802.11a so that means a 3rd party WAP/router. Now the problem is finding the "best" WAP/router.
Here's an interesting thought regarding wireless on the new MacBook. After a weekend of research into the world of wireless, I discovered that the MacbBook supports 802.11a, even thought it's not officially mentioned by Apple. It now seems worth it to find a wireless AP or router that handles 802.11a because it is as fast at 802.11g and is less likely to have interference from others since fewer people use it. The Airport does not support 802.11a so that means a 3rd party WAP/router. Now the problem is finding the "best" WAP/router.
Why do you want "faster" wireless?
1. Even if you have full-speed wireless, your Internet connection (assuming you don't have a T1 coming into your house or something) is only like 1 to 5mbps (meaning you're not coming even close to utilizing the full potential of your wireless network speed).
2. Moving huge files across wireless stinks. I have a 802.11g network at my place and moving 400+ megs is a pain.
3. iirc 802.11a = 54mb = 802.11g
4. 802.11a is not compatible with most of the stuff out there (i.e. most cards you buy at the store, most integrated wireless cards in laptops, etc.)
5. There are many channels you can put G on - I set mine to 11 and never have interference problems.
A few questions for you - do you currently have a wireless system at home, or other network? Do you live in an apartment or condo building? What other machines are on your network?
1. Even if you have full-speed wireless, your Internet connection (assuming you don't have a T1 coming into your house or something) is only like 1 to 5mbps (meaning you're not coming even close to utilizing the full potential of your wireless network speed).
2. Moving huge files across wireless stinks. I have a 802.11g network at my place and moving 400+ megs is a pain.
3. iirc 802.11a = 54mb = 802.11g
4. 802.11a is not compatible with most of the stuff out there (i.e. most cards you buy at the store, most integrated wireless cards in laptops, etc.)
5. There are many channels you can put G on - I set mine to 11 and never have interference problems.
A few questions for you - do you currently have a wireless system at home, or other network? Do you live in an apartment or condo building? What other machines are on your network?
I don't have a wireless network at home yet, just plain old broadband. I own a side-by-side duplex and give my tenant free internet access as a perk. When I re-wired the house I ran Cat5 to all three floors on each side. My tenant has a Mac and an Airport. The times I've had a laptop on my side I've been able to connect to his Airport and surf the web.
I'm not saying I want faster wireless as a reason to have an 802.11a compatible WAP/router, since as we've both said, it's the same speed as 802.11g. My reason for suggesting a WAP/router that supports a&g is if you are in an area or situation that is crowded with g channels.
"A big difference with 802.11a is that it operates in the 5GHz frequency band with twelve separate non-overlapping channels. As a result, you can have up to twelve access points set to different channels in the same area without them interfering with each other. This makes access point channel assignment much easier and significantly increases the throughput the wireless LAN can deliver within a given area. In addition, RF interference is much less likely because of the less-crowded 5 GHz band."
Since the MacBooks work with 802.11a why not have this as an option in addition to 802.11g?
As I started this thread by saying I'm a newbie to wireless, it's possible, as you pointed, it may never be an issue. I'm simply raising the question and awarness of the issue.
I don't have a wireless network at home yet, just plain old broadband. I own a side-by-side duplex and give my tenant free internet access as a perk. When I re-wired the house I ran Cat5 to all three floors on each side. My tenant has a Mac and an Airport. The times I've had a laptop on my side I've been able to connect to his Airport and surf the web.
I'm not saying I want faster wireless as a reason to have an 802.11a compatible WAP/router, since as we've both said, it's the same speed as 802.11g. My reason for suggesting a WAP/router that supports a&g is if you are in an area or situation that is crowded with g channels.
"A big difference with 802.11a is that it operates in the 5GHz frequency band with twelve separate non-overlapping channels. As a result, you can have up to twelve access points set to different channels in the same area without them interfering with each other. This makes access point channel assignment much easier and significantly increases the throughput the wireless LAN can deliver within a given area. In addition, RF interference is much less likely because of the less-crowded 5 GHz band."
Since the MacBooks work with 802.11a why not have this as an option in addition to 802.11g?
As I started this thread by saying I'm a newbie to wireless, it's possible, as you pointed, it may never be an issue. I'm simply raising the question and awarness of the issue.
Do you live in a crowded area? I can see that being a good reason to get 802.11a. One of the downers is that most people and companies run 802.11b/g, so if your neighbor goes out and buys an 802.11a card for his computer, he won't be compatible if he goes anywhere. Unless you can convince him to buy a MacBook If you pick up a router that supports A/B/G, you'd be totally covered.
Also did you punch your own keystone jacks for your CAT5 job? I'm planning on doing that this summer, as I was just running cable through holes in the wall before (pretty messy).
I just received word that OWC will be offering Firewire enclosures for 2.5" SATA hard drives at the end of June. These can be used to make a bootable backup of OS X from your primary disk using software such as Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper.
lol, most of the previous conversation was over my head. Needless to say I went to the some of the sites about wireless networks and learned something.
lol, most of the previous conversation was over my head. Needless to say I went to the some of the sites about wireless networks and learned something.
I have a short writeup in my G4 Cube blog on my Linksys WRT54GS wireless router:
Basic idea is this:
1. Buy router (Linksys WRT54GS is an excellent model)
2. Connect router to cable/DSL modem
3. Input settings (passwords, encryption types, etc.)
4. Configure your computers to join the wireless network
5. Enjoy your wireless network!
If you pick up a router that supports A/B/G, you'd be totally covered.
