[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > On Wed, 5 Dec 2001, Art Ross wrote: > > > Our department teaches a Fundamentals of Linux class. This class has > > grown in popularity to the point where our networked lab stations needs > > to be increased. In order to get the additional network connections we > > would have to go through an enormous amount of paperwork and delays. > > This won't work for the Winter quarter offering. We can bring in > > additional network connections from a switch by dropping the lines from > > the ceiling but this gets messy and difficult to manage. We thought > > that wireless networking for the lab would be neater and we also could > > isolate the lab on a subnet with a gateway behind the access point for > > the wireless. > > Does anyone know how well Linux works with wireless and what products > > will work best with RedHat or maybe Mandrake? If this is a terrible > > idea, let me know. I want to hear the truth. Our department can afford > > the equipment as long as individual items are less than $500. > > Thanks for the input, > > Art Ross > > Art, I haven''t seen any replies to this, so I'll throw in my (perhaps not > so valuable) $0.02. > > Wirless networking works fine - pretty much any chipset supported with > regular nics will work (which means most stuff out there). I have used a > couple of cards like linksys and 3com > > With that said, I think you shouldn't use wireless in your situation. The > cost of wireless is more than the cost of running wire in my opinion, and > all you have to do is find someone to invoice you in chunks less than $500 > to get it done (it sounds like). So get soemone to to 4-5 drops at a time. > > Also, I have not been impressed with the range of wireless networking > under windows or linux. > > Long term you have a faster connection and lower maint costs (like > replacing a nic/hub instead of the wireless equiv) > > again, I'm hardly an expert, and these are just my opinions. > > charles > > _______________________________________________ > Redhat-list mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list
Charles, Thanks for the reply. We've continued to evaluate our situation and have gone full circle on a possible approach. We have decided to go with the addition of some wire drops for each of the lab stations. The drops will be temporary but will work for the quarter. As we look to the future our course will see additional growth in enrollment so we may have to reconsider portable wireless computer labs. A technical equipment grant comes available in one year and we may try to get funded at that time. This grant eliminates the $500 per item limit. With the input I've received from other experienced individuals it sounds like we could find some linksys and/or 3com solutions. So in the short term solution we will add temp wire drops and evaluate economical long term solutions. Thanks again for the assistance and best regards, Art _______________________________________________ Redhat-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list
