> There are a few different wireless specifications- 802.11a, 802.11b, > and 802.11g are the important ones. 802.11a is pretty much legacy, I > think. 802.11b is the most common, supporting 11Mb. This is probably > what's $30. 802.11g is the new standard- and it's pretty new, I don't > know if the standard has been finalized yet- but it's 55Mb. > > I don't know about the wireless cards. One neat feature is to be able > to use an external antenna- apparently you can get pretty surprising > range with them. > > Whatever you decide, please use the security features of the station. > Unless, of course, you want it to be open...
A couple of minor nits: 802.11a is not a "legacy" standard. The 11Mb/s (in theory) 802.11b standard was commercialized *before* the a and g versions (just remember "bag", and you've got the historical order right). 802.11b and g both use the 2.4GHz band, which doesn't have nearly the available spectrum of the 5GHz 802.11a standard. Although technically more advanced, 802.11a isn't backwards-compatible with 802.11b. So, 802.11g was created to provide 802.11a-like top speeds (54Mb/s in theory, much less in practice; and yes, the standard was just finalized), while maintaining compatibility with 802.11b (*that's* the legacy standard). 802.11a continues to struggle to gain traction, while b and g take over the WiFi universe. 802.11a is still "the technology of the future" (and might forever be...). As for antennas, the ones that they print on the cards are simply terrible. If you hook up an external one, you can easily double (or triple or quadruple) the range. Many cards have a hidden connector *inside* the plastic housing that extends out of the slot, but you have to do surgery to get at it. The popular Netgear MA401 is one of these (you have to solder one surface mount cap to use the connector). And as for security, it's pretty much a joke, but go ahead and use it if you need to, and know enough to get it working. The 802.11 "WEP" (wired-equivalent privacy) standard doesn't really provide protection against someone who wants to use your connection. It will only moderately frustrate a casual and lazy hacker. It more often frustrates the *intended* users, who often have to disable WEP just to get their network to work. --Cheers, Tom -- Prof. Thomas H. Lee Center for Integrated Systems, CIS-205 420 Via Palou Mall Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-4070 http://www-smirc.stanford.edu 650-725-3709 ph, -3383 fax -- PowerBooks is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PowerBooks list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/powerbooks.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/powerbooks%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
