Wanted: Cheap, Linux compatible wireless card

[Matthew Copple]

On 8/29/08 5:21 PM, "Jeffrey Watts" <jeffrey.w.watts at gmail.com> wrote:

> Well, unless his old house is made of sheet metal or stone I don't see how
> it'd have anything that'd cause that many problems.  If you can use a baby
> monitor or a wireless home phone you shouldn't have any trouble, though keep
> in mind that if they're on 2.4GHz you might run into some interference.  For
> example if my baby monitor mic is in between me and my wireless router I'll
> get bad performance.
> 
> Lead pipes in walls and some electrical conduits can provide some
> interference, but usually just moving one endpoint a few feet is all that's
> needed.
> 
> Good luck.
> J.

I've been using wireless in the house for some time, and despite a less than
ideal placement on the second floor in the back of the house, it covers both
home and both porches quite well.

However, we've always accessed the network with our laptops, which had
built-in wireless. My old desktop sat right next to the switch/wireless
access point, so I was able to use cat5 to connect it to the network.

Now that I'm moving the machine to a spot which would require several feet
of cable strung clumsily over the floor, or hung across the top of the wall,
I am forced to figure out how to support it wirelessly.

I considered installing the wiring in the walls, but doing so requires
destruction of plaster and lathe wall, not to mention defacing a mural my
wife painted for my son when we brought him home from China years ago. We
already pulled apart one room for a remodel, and despite our best efforts,
we were vacuuming plaster out of every rug in the house for months
afterward. Thankfully, the house is hardwood flooring throughout, or we
might still be pulling plaster out of carpet today, two years later.

Armed with these suggestions, hopefully I'll have him up and running this
weekend. Thanks!

Matt Copple