On Sun, 6 Feb 2005, James Miller wrote: > it should, it looks like the thing to get. It even serves more than one > function to boot. Description appended below. > <snip> > D-Link Wireless Pocket Router/AP > DWL-G730AP > > The Pocket Router/AP might be small in size, but is huge in functionality.
I evaluated this product recently and have to say I'm dissapointed. Seemed like it might be a great alternative for a simpler wireless solution under Linux, but my experience indicates it's not. This is owing to what seems to me non-interoperability, sometimes called "vendor lock-in." I can't rule out that my sketchy understanding of wireless and networking principles may be at fault here as well, though. Anyway, here's a bit about the device. It has a switch on the bottom for selecting between access point, router, and client modes. To configure it, you plug it in and hook a UTP cable between the device and your computer's NIC. Then, you assign your NIC an address in the 192.168.0.x range and log into the device at 192.168.0.30. That gives you a little web configuration interface page--after you log in. Depending on how you've set the switch (access point, router, or client) you get different options here. The way I was able to make the device work somewhat was by running a netwrok detection utility from that interface, and telling the device to use the network it found. I wasn't quite sure what to do after this. I finally decided on entering the address of the device as the gateway for my machine. I was able to browse the network after setting that 192.168.0.30 address as the gateway. The device is not really suitable for the following reasons: it's too clunky to get on the network. Having to assign your machine's NIC an IP is not a big deal. But having to manually enter a gateway address--*in addition to* having to log into the web interface and have the thing detect the local network--every time you want to go online with this thing is just too unwieldy. In short, it's not very portable: unless you're always using it in the same environment, you will encounter hassles getting online. Another problem crops up with older machines that may not have up-to-date browsers capable of using the web interface the thing gives you for configuring it. Overall, I was disappointed. Maybe I'll just try out a regular bridge next time. The thing that leads me to believe that vendor lock-in is at work to some degree here is the fact that the device did not autodetect and get on the local network. Looking at the quick-start manual, I also noted that the device is said to be able to communicate with other d-link wireless components "out of the box." In other works, forcing the thing to detect the network is not necessary if you're in an environment that uses d-link wireless components. James - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.linux-learn.org/faqs
