How go wireless?

[George]

We have a few WinXP-pro PC's, 2 printers, and each of course has an NIC
network card and they're all linked via a Linksys firewall router. I'd like
to go wireless, was wondering if someone could help with the following
questions.



1) Can I just remove all the NIC cards and replace them with wireless cards?
(Is it true that you would have one or the other, not both a NIC card and
then a wireless card on top of that?) If you install the wireless card,
MUST you remove the wired NIC card.or can I (or should I) just plug some
type of transceiver into each PC's existing NIC Ethernet port?



2) For the rounter/hub, do most people replace the wired one with a wireless
one or do you just ADD the wireless access point and KEEP the existing
router? Are there pro's and con's?




3) When you connect up a wireless system, is there a lot of WinXP setup, or
hardware or software setup (assuming I get something like Linksys devices)?
Or is it really fast plug-and-play, nothing to do but boot up.would devices
get whatever info they need from existing setups.that is, do I have to go in
and re-assign stuff like IP address and/or MAC addresses, etc.



Thanks,

George

 

[Richard G. Harper]

http://www.wown.com/
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/

See the guides at these sites.

 

[George]

Outstanding websites, thank you, especially the second one. Is there any
way you could add a reply to my other posting on "How easy is a WAN setup"?
Thanks

 

[Jack]

Hi
The content of the following links will provide you with a short tutorial
about Wireless, it is short and to the point:
Principles - http://www.anandtech.com/guides/viewfaq.html?i=122
The page above was written by me ages ago. You might ignore the prices, but
the principles are still the same.
Wireless hardware: http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Hardware.html
Wireless - Basic Configuration: http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Config.html
Wireless - Basic Security: http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Security.html
Extending Distance: http://www.ezlan.net/Distance.html
Wireless Bridging: http://www.ezlan.net/bridging.html
Jack (MVP-Networking).

 

[Richard G. Harper]

I could, but I think you already have as good an answer as I could give.