More Wireless Recommendations?

[epsas at inflicted.net]

> PLAN A $330
> 2 Orinoco Silver PCMCIA cards for two notebook computers.
> Linksys WAP11 Access Point plugged directly into a dedicated NIC on Linux
> firewall.
> Use iptables to control MAC address access to any network resources.  Will
> this work?
> Will iptables configuration be complicated?

No - the iptables setup won't be difficult - your AP will act as a bridge between the wired and wireless networks.


> PLAN B $240
> 2 Orinoco Silver PCMCIA cards for two notebook computers.
> 1 Orinoco Silver PCMCIA card + PCI PCMCIA adapter for Linux firewall.
> Will point to point (card to card) setup be difficult?
> Is it difficult to toggle to normal operation when I bring my notebook to
> work or UH campus?
> Use iptables to control MAC address access to any network resources.  Will
> this work?
> Will iptables configuration be complicated?

Card to Card setup (Ad-Hoc) is not hard to set up - however, any computer with an 802.11 card can act as an AP - so Ad-Hoc won't be needed.

> One question:
> What is the difference between Orinoco Silver and Gold cards?  Price
> difference seems negligible, while Gold card supports 128-bit WEP any bit
> length of WEP is easily crackable, so is there no sense in buying Gold over
> Silver?

Get the gold if the prices are the same.  One thing to note, however, is that pricey Lucent cards are just as good as the cheap SMC which I bought, and continue to use.  The only saving grace to the Lucent cards is that it is easy to add an external antenna if you wanted to raise your gain.