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Installation
I'll detail the steps I followed
to setup this network in the same order I covered the components in the
previous section.
I
am far and away impressed with the ease of installation of the NetBlaster
II Wireless Hub. I simply connected to a free port on my router via the
provided RJ45 ethernet cable and hooked up the power. When was the last
time you saw a networking component that easy to setup? The only special
step to take here is to write down the serial number on the bottom of the
hub as you will need it later as you setup the individual wireless equipped
computers.
I
next setup the PC on the opposite side of my house. This is almost 60 feet
away, and due to the construction of my home, there are several walls between
that room and the hub in my office. I couldn't think of a worse location
in order to test the usefullness of a wireless network. Setup mirrors the
installation of a standard PCI NIC card. Once you have installed the drivers
a configuration program will auto-launch so that you may insert the serial
number for the hub. Even in this worse case scenario I got an average signal
strength of 65-85%. That is very acceptable for wireless networking, and
as it turned out, I had no problems moving files back and forth or playing
a LAN game.
Last
to be setup was the PCMCIA wireless adapter. Anyone familiar with the frustration
of PCMCIA components will understand why I was somewhat hesitant. It only
takes one bad experience to jade you to PCMCIA. The installation was effortless
and was identical to the installation of the PCI wireless adapter in the
PC. Again, this is where having a unified concept goes a long way. The adapters
are setup the same and you can find the info in any of the provided manuals.
If you
feel the urge to tweak any settings on the hub you can do so from any
computer equipped with a wireless adapter. The fact that there is no complicated
setup program to go through makes this the easiest network I've ever setup.
Surprisingly, you don't need to be familiar with many networking concepts
or terminology as you are walked step by step through the install.
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I
am far and away impressed with the ease of installation of the NetBlaster
II Wireless Hub. I simply connected to a free port on my router via the
provided RJ45 ethernet cable and hooked up the power. When was the last
time you saw a networking component that easy to setup? The only special
step to take here is to write down the serial number on the bottom of the
hub as you will need it later as you setup the individual wireless equipped
computers.
I
next setup the PC on the opposite side of my house. This is almost 60 feet
away, and due to the construction of my home, there are several walls between
that room and the hub in my office. I couldn't think of a worse location
in order to test the usefullness of a wireless network. Setup mirrors the
installation of a standard PCI NIC card. Once you have installed the drivers
a configuration program will auto-launch so that you may insert the serial
number for the hub. Even in this worse case scenario I got an average signal
strength of 65-85%. That is very acceptable for wireless networking, and
as it turned out, I had no problems moving files back and forth or playing
a LAN game.
Last
to be setup was the PCMCIA wireless adapter. Anyone familiar with the frustration
of PCMCIA components will understand why I was somewhat hesitant. It only
takes one bad experience to jade you to PCMCIA. The installation was effortless
and was identical to the installation of the PCI wireless adapter in the
PC. Again, this is where having a unified concept goes a long way. The adapters
are setup the same and you can find the info in any of the provided manuals.
