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Peter Lloyd-Jones wrote: > > I am thinking of getting a Laptop with built in wireless. Do check the chipset is well supported, I've heard of the odd Linux box getting a Prism PCMCIA card plugged in because the onboard wireless wasn't supported (or not well enough). > However I have a wired LAN here. The advice I got was that I must change all > my stuff to wireless and get a wireless router. > > I would have thought that there was a "black box" on the market that plugged > into my normal Router, using one of the CAT 5 sockets, and that my wireless > Laptop could talk to the network through that. Unfortunately unless someone > knows differently, that does not appear to be the case. As discussed already, Wireless Access Points were designed to plug into Ethernet networks to extend that "ethernet" beyond the wire in a transparent fashion. Of course the security issues with WEP make that a silly way of configuring any large corporate network. Although me, I leave my network at home wide open so the neighbours can use it is their Internet connection is playing up. It helps to have a feel for how WAPs were designed to be deployed in big corporate networks, with several WAPs in the same wired network, allowing roaming between wireless access points for laptop users. But of course the existing corporate wired LAN had to be preserved. That isn't to say someone might not have made a device that mandates wireless everywhere, but I've never seen one. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG Mail majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe list" in the message body to unsubscribe. FAQ: www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html