stickman1600
join:2008-07-07
Wilkes Barre, PA
| Can you use a USB Wireless card to act as a router?
Hello All,
I'm working on setting up a home media server. I want to have the ability to have a network setup to be both wireless and wired. Not so much for broadcasting the media streams but more for file sharing (Transferring the media from one PC to the other) I have a wired router and I have a wireless USB card. I know for the most part a wired file transfer would be the best but in some instances I would like to do the transfers wirelessly.
I know how to setup the network but I was not sure on how to broadcast the network through the Wireless card. I'm not even sure if this would be possibly hence why I am asking haha.
Also on a side note. I would like to be able to switch the network from wired to wireless or wired/wireless. Pretty much I only want to broadcast the network wirelessly for file sharing only when needed. Doing this should not be an issue for me, just finding out if i can use a wireless card to broadcast the network is my only problem.
I know that using a wire/wireless router would fix this issue quickly but I'm kind of on a budget so if i can use what I have already that makes it all the more better.
Thanks in advance.
Stickman1600 |
|
No_Strings
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-22
The OC
| Not all wireless clients will work in access point mode and you'd need software to do it even if supported. Some Asus motherboards are so equipped, for example.
You can transfer files between devices if they're all on the same LAN whether they are connected via wireless or wired. As for switching, usually unplugging the Ethernet cable (and maybe enabling/disabling the wireless device) should do it. |
|
stevech0
join:2006-09-17
San Diego, CA
 ·RoadRunner Cable
 ·VoicePulse
| reply to stickman1600
If I understand what you are saying...
The normal way you do home networking is either (a) all wired, no wireless, or (b) a mix of wired and wireless. For (b), some PCs and/or devices like media players connect by wire and some by wireless. The choice is simply whether or not you can get a cat5 cable to the location. Never use wireless if you can get a cable to the site.
To add wireless to your system, you have two options: (1) purchase a WiFi access point and connect that by wire to your existing wired router. Place the access point as close as practical to the desired area of coverage. Add other access points if needed for more coverage in a large home; (2) replace your existing wired router with a wireless router - ONLY if the distance from where you put the w-router to the desired coverage area is viable. In most homes, the WiFi range (access point or w-router) is 50-150 ft. or so. The data rate reduces as the signal strength weakens, in WiFi.
Note: You can implement an access point two ways: (1) buy a WiFi device that has an Access Point mode or is intrinsically an Access Point; (2) modify the configuration of a cheap w-router (like $30) to behave as an Access Point even though it was not intended for that. Instructions for doing that are on this forum's FAQs.
Lastly: some devices (not PCs) such as certain media centers and video games have an ethernet port but do not have built-in WiFi. To make these wireless, purchase a product that can be configured as a "Wireless to Wired Bridge", sometimes called a game adapter. |
|
stickman1600
join:2008-07-07
Wilkes Barre, PA
| reply to stickman1600
Thanks to everyone the info is greatly appreciated.
To clear some things up what I would like is the network for the wire router and the wireless card to be the same (same network name / SSID). I'm not looking for a locked down security since it will only be accessed for file transfers only I'm not looking into having an always on network to stream the media (although I may do that in the future but I'm at the "lets get this to work first" step). Pretty much I would have a program(I can program this myself) to enable or disable the wireless connection and/or wired connection.
From what I have been able to find out through some research is that I should run the wireless card in Ad-hoc mode. It seems like it should work for file transfer and streaming media within my home but I know it would get really laggy if i have more than 2 or 3 PCs transfering data across the network. Also I know if I run in Ad-hoc mode internet access would not be possible but thats really not a big deal. ( I may deside to add a feature to the enable/disable program to switch the settings of the wireless card to enable it to pick up my wireless internet signal when I am not using it for file sharing.)
End result of my "little" project I would like to have file sharing across a wired network and a wirless network. And possibly an internal network only web server to stream the media ( I have the web server running on another pc as of right now I am using Jinzora for that but would like to add that into my media server PC)
Sorry if this is a little too much information. I will gladly try to clear things up if anyone needs me too. I have the project in my mind but putting it down on "paper" is the difficult task for me.
Thank you everybody for all of you help! |
|
