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AirPort & Linksys

edesignuk

edesignuk

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Mar 25, 2002
19,232
2
London, England
Hi,

My current network setup is a 512Kb cable web connection which goes into a Linksys router + 4 port switch, there are then a couple of hubs attached to that. In all on my network there are 5 PC's and 1 PowerMac all assigned an IP by the DHCP Linksys router.
Now my question is...I am looking in a few months when the new Power Book come out to get one and I would like to use it with a wireless connection to the network and the web.
How would I incorporate and AirPort (I presume this is what I would need?) into my existing network with the DHCP Router?
Would I just use an uplink port on one of the hubs allready on my network to the AirPort and then any wireless machines would access the network via it?

I know this is a bit complicated but any help would be appriciated.

Thanks.
 
Your best bet is to get a 4 port Linksys wireless router, lessthan $200 US, to replace your current router, it runs 801.11b just like the Airport. I'm using a Linksys wireless router connected to my cable modem and I have 2 macs (one wireless, one rj45) and a compaq laptop, wireless. All using DHCP and it works perfectly. This way you save the $100 US on buying more hardware, the Airport, to take up space on the desk.

Good luck.
 
that should work but i haven't used one of the new airport base stations... you might have to disable it gateway features... on my old (graphite) base station i have it set so it acts merely as a dummy station... computers must have the ips set (i assume if the computer wanted an address through dhcp the request would go right to my linksys... but i'm not incredibly sure about that)

you might just want to find an older, cheaper base station since you don't need all of its features (although it wouldn't have the 128 bit encryption)
 
Originally posted by dukestreet
Your best bet is to get a 4 port Linksys wireless router, lessthan $200 US, to replace your current router, it runs 801.11b just like the Airport. I'm using a Linksys wireless router connected to my cable modem and I have 2 macs (one wireless, one rj45) and a compaq laptop, wireless. All using DHCP and it works perfectly. This way you save the $100 US on buying more hardware, the Airport, to take up space on the desk.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

i was going to buy a linksys wireless router but i read about macs having issues connect with them... in fact i think i read on the linksys site that macs wouldn't connect to it at all... i guess that was just wrong :)

now i wish i had saved the money and gotten a linksys one (although i do like the purty airport base station)
 
Airport cards will not connect to most linksys routers right out of the box, but now there is a firmware upgrade from Linksys that will allow Airport to work just like any 802.11 card.

We use this setup at work.

-Pete
 
Originally posted by ptrauber
Airport cards will not connect to most linksys routers right out of the box, but now there is a firmware upgrade from Linksys that will allow Airport to work just like any 802.11 card.
Click to expand...

This is news to me. I used my G4 desktop to connect to the Linksys router first (via rj45), set all the parameters as required by the installation instruction. Turned on the TiPB, with the airport card, found the wireless network and connected, in both OS 9.2.2 and OSX. No problems, no firmware upgrades. Maybe I just got lucky, or got a newer version of the router. There were separate instructions for both PC and Mac.
 
well i guess i did read correctly then... it would have been a waste to buy a wireless linksys router 7 months ago... but now i say go save some $$$!!
 
router vs. hub

are y'all using the words "router" and "hub" interchangeably? Qwest, my dsl comp, sold me a cisco678 modem/router for my line. they had me do a whole configuration thing with it that sets my login, password, preferences, etc. If i got a base station could i replace the cisco all together? Thanks
 
Re: router vs. hub

Originally posted by buffsldr
are y'all using the words "router" and "hub" interchangeably? Qwest, my dsl comp, sold me a cisco678 modem/router for my line. they had me do a whole configuration thing with it that sets my login, password, preferences, etc. If i got a base station could i replace the cisco all together? Thanks
Click to expand...

Nah, you still need a DSL modem. The base station doesn't provide that functionality.

As far as adding a base station to an existing configuration, it's almost trivial to hang a base station off of one of those Linksys routers. The default configuration more or less will just work. The DHCP in your Linksys will assign an external IP address to the base station, and the DHCP in the base station will assign addresses (on a different network) to your AirPort machines. There are some fancier things you can do, like to make your wired and wireless machines operate on the same LAN, but if you're not doing anything more than sharing an Internet connection, that shouldn't be necessary.
 
Originally posted by dukestreet


This is news to me.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it must have been just the older ones. I betcha they shipped the new routers with the new firmware.

-pete
 
Originally posted by ptrauber


Yeah, it must have been just the older ones. I betcha they shipped the new routers with the new firmware.

-pete
Click to expand...

Agreed. I could use mine right out of the box. They all run on the same standard so I find it a bit hard to believe anyway.

Matthew
 
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