Difference between revisions of "Wireless Networking"

Revision as of 00:34, 23 May 2008

Wireless Access Points

It is easiest to use a central switch for the LinuxMCE LAN, and connect that switch to the Core. The Core will then take care of the DHCP, firewall, DNS, and other network functions.

To allow wireless devices, a Wireless Access Point can be connected to the switch. Natutally, WEP/WPA/other security protocols are recommended for use between the Wireless Acess Point and wireless Devices.

Wireless Routers

Wireless Routers can be used in place of both the switch and the Wireless Access Point. However, its DHCP and firewall functions will conflict with the Core's similar functions.

This is easy to prevent. Just don't use the WAN port of the wireless router. Plug the Core into one of the four or eight LAN ports of the wireless router. That will bypass the DHCP and router functions.

Fortunately, the Access Point functions will still work transparently, as if wireless devices were connected to the wireless router's LAN ports.

Wireless Orbiters

Fortunately, Orbiters do not require much bandwidth. Command data is quite small in size. Because the User Interface is pre-rendered, it is also small in size, and not much traffic between the Core and the Orbiters is required. You can use the Orbiters wirelessly no matter what Wireless Specification you use. Wireless-B (4.5-11 Mb/sec) is fine.

Media Streaming over a Wireless connection

Audio can be streamed over 10 Mb/sec speeds (Wireless-B, 4.5-11 Mb/sec) if there is no other network traffic. 54 Mb/sec speeds (Wireless-A or G, 23-54 Mb/sec) is usually adequate.

Video media streaming requires a fairly robust data transmission speed, however. 100 Mb/sec (Wireless-N, 74-300 Mb/sec) is usually the lowest tolerable speed, although sometimes 54 Mb speeds (Wireless-A or G, 23-54 Mb/sec) can suffice on a network with no other traffic.

(Compare wireless speeds to wired transmission speeds. Older wired LANs transmit at 100 Mb/sec and newer wired LANs use 1 Gigabit/sec.)

Therefore, if you are planning to routinely stream media over wireless, Wireless-N is the lowest speed recommended.

Netbooting Wirelessly

Unless you have a wireless card with a PXE-ROM chip built into it, it is not easy to directly netboot over a wireless connection. BIOS-based PXE algorithms usually only search for a wired NIC card to use in a PXE netboot.

Some users have cleverly connected a "Wireless Bridge" (i.e. a wireless router or Access Point set to the "bridge" mode) to the wired NIC card in their PC. The PC then netboots through the wired Ethernet NIC with the signal being transmitted wirelessly "across the bridge" between the two Wireless Access Points/Routers.

This solution works pretty well, but of course you must have two Wireless Access Points/Routers (one on each side of the "bridge"). These both should be Wireless-N (so you can have decent transmission speeds), so your costs will start to increase. Still, this is sometimes easier than running extra Ethernet cables throughout your home.