ilia_kr Posted July 23, 2006 Report Share Posted July 23, 2006 Hi, I want to set up a wireless network at home, but I don't know much about wireless technologies - how it works and what hardware it uses (I have only general overview of the topic). What are your suggestions, what hardware manufacturer is best supported by linux and I'll be glad to learn a bit about wireless networking. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urza9814 Posted July 23, 2006 Report Share Posted July 23, 2006 Mandriva I've found actually has really nice support for wireless. I'm currently using a Trendnet TEW-423PI, which I bought when my Belkin died...bought it because it was cheap, but it's working great right now, full 54mbps. But that's really all the help I can give you....all I know is from what I have. As for your router...personally I like Belkin. It doesn't really matter which one you get, because almost all of them are configured through your web browser, so you don't have to worry about drivers or software or anything. Just make sure it's the right protocol (most are b/g now though, so that shouldn't be a problem) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarecrow Posted July 23, 2006 Report Share Posted July 23, 2006 (edited) At the last kernel revisions, quite a few wireless chipsets are supported natively- no need for the dreaded ndiswrapper anymore... Edited July 23, 2006 by scarecrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted July 24, 2006 Report Share Posted July 24, 2006 All I can say is stay away from USB wireless devices. Get a PCI card, or something instead that's more likely to be supported. USB ones are very hit and miss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulSe Posted July 24, 2006 Report Share Posted July 24, 2006 From a router perspective, I would advise getting a combination DSL / wireless router (if you use DSL). I've personally worked with a range of Belkins, Linksys', Netgear and some lesser known makes from China and South Africa (Mecer). The Linksys are very good and have strong signals (it's amazing how signal strength varies from one to the next), but I'm not that big on the Linksys web admin firmware. There is, however, a Linux distro for Linksys routers which is better, but I do not know much about it. The Netgears are good looking (lol) and I prefer their interface, although they don't setup as easily and Belkin is about the same. I wouldn't recommend going with the smaller unknown brands, both from a security and maintenance (firmware upgrades esp.) perspective. For your computers, stay away from USB (as Ian said) and go PCMCIA (in laptops) and PCI (in desktops), although most new latptops have WiFi built in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilia_kr Posted July 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2006 My internet provider has these 3 wireless router/modems brands: Rotal, ECI, Axcet. Have anyone heard about them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulSe Posted July 24, 2006 Report Share Posted July 24, 2006 Haven't heard of any of them, but I guess they'd be fairly generic if they're offered by your ISP. It might be better to get one from elsewhere though. If your SP is anything like mine, then their in-house gear is over-priced or ties you into some form of contract. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilia_kr Posted July 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2006 I've heard that if someone is located inside my wireless network area, he can connect freely to it and use my network without my permission. Is that so easy? Is there a way to detect these "pirates" and to view all connected users? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted July 28, 2006 Report Share Posted July 28, 2006 You can secure wireless access points with wpa or other encrypted protocols such as wep. That way, they can't connect. However, wep is apparently easily crackable but I don't know how easy. I use wep on mine. What I also do is block all mac addresses except the ones listed on my access point. This also helps for additional security. Mac blocking by it's own is OK, but not great. They could easily just spoof the mac address and use yours instead and gain access. So best to use the encryption methods such as wpa as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilia_kr Posted July 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2006 Well, I don't need that strong security, I just worry that if my neighbors have wireless too (I'm living in apartment building) they could accidently connect or interfere with my network. How can I solve this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urza9814 Posted July 28, 2006 Report Share Posted July 28, 2006 Either some form of encryption or MAC address filtering. I would say MAC filtering would probably be best, because encryption is gonna slow down your connection a bit. Of course, the router is probably gonna have a much faster connection than your internet connection anyways, so it probably doesn't really matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 As I mentioned, basic to stop it is MAC address filtering as Urza says. But, mac addresses can easily be spoofed and someone can easily get around it just by scanning and finding your mac address in your unencrypted wireless packets. I use wpa which encrypts, it doesn't seem slow at all, I get around 50mbps and my wireless access is 54mbps. Of course, this all depends on distance from the access point as well. But works perfectly fine, and someone less likely to get around your mac address filtering. And it all comes as standard features in the access point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilia_kr Posted July 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 Well, now I have a wireless network, I just don't know why & how it works (everything works out of the box) :P Now I just have to apply the security thing we've talked before... Good luck to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 If you get stuck with the wpa config, let me know, and I'll post the config I used in wpa_supplicant.conf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulSe Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 WEP and MAC filtering are both very easy to bypass. I recommend a combination of WPA, MAC filtering and turning off SSID broadcasting. If you jsut turn off your SSID broadcasting, no one can connect 'by accident' and malicious people are less likely to find your network ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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