I went out today and spent a hunk o’ change on a wireless router and a wireless notebook adapter. Took a while to work out the kinks (gotta love XP) but it is now working on both computers.
No more cable going across the living room.
One less cable dangling from the back of my table for the dogs to tangle themselves on.
Yep, Paula done moved uptown.
This also means that I can go outside and still access the ‘net, vital (or at least important) when I am writing. It also means I can be hip and go to cyber cafes.
But since I am the laziest me I know, more ‘n likely it won’t happen often.
Buying and hooking them up is easy. Getting them working is not too bad. But don’t stop till you have it all secured with 128-bit encryption, complicated passwords, etc. You have described your place as being somewhat remote and might assume that the range of 802.11 b/g is too limited to go beyond your driveway, where the dogs would certainly raise a ruckus. Don’t count on it. Like in ham radio, sometimes you hit the “skip”.
Aside from that paranoia, ENJOY!
What could someone do if they do pick up the signal? Can they access my computers?
I haven’t established the intranet/network yet. That’s on my agenda for later in the week. Just getting both computers to recognize each other, after my fun and games yesterday, slid further down the priority list.
Just in case you care, I got the Linksys WPC54GS card and the WRT54G router.
If I get the home network running, do I have to get the printer ‘router’?? Or can I just hook it up to the desktop and print from the laptop via the network?
Answering by email.