Im in the process of installing a WiFi network in my block of flats, sharing a 2Mbps (i.e 4 times faster than regular broadband) internet connection. I'm using Apple Airport Extreme base stations. Most people in the block use Mac's & I connected them in a few minutes.
But yesterday I started trying to connect the PC's. And failed.
The machine I've started with is a Dell laptop running Windows '98 with a new DLink DWL-G650 WiFi card (802.11g, like airport extreme) & I'm totally stumped.
An Apple automatically detects the network & to join for the first time you just enter the password. With Windows I cannot find even a mention of passwords.
The Dlink came with some software (AirPlus XtremeG Wireless Utility) & this can detect the network, but despite having reread the few flimsy pages of the manual repeatedly I cannot fathom out what information to put where & some of the boxes won't even let me enter the information anyway. I've trawled Google & found masses of information, much of it impenetrable but none of it seems relevant - they usually deal with some other flavour of Windows & control panels that this machine doesn't have. Not being a PC user maybe it's because I don't know where to look. None of the PC owners in this block are hip to the Windows jive most only use one specific program (for example this laptop belongs to a doctor who is forced to use Windows because of work)
I found an Apple program for windows, to administer an airport base station. But unlike the Mac version, this does not give you the option to simply join the network, only administer it & I don't want to hand control over to a portable PC that may not be around when you need it.
I had thought connecting PC's would be fairly simple (connecting to WiFi stations in Starbucks for example). Can anybody point me in the right direction?
ian mckinnell
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