Dragon V's Ramblings

while I was driving it occured to me why those were probably there/put back...the people probably asked the guy "are these the ones on sale" he said yes...they didn't bother reading the box (like me) and thought it was the 11Mbps one, not the 22... ?

yeah, the box wasn't very well laid out. It took me a decent while to find that one little spot where it said that it was 802.11b compliant and 22Mbps.

Still though, I figure someone walked up to the register, had it ring up at $80.00, said forget about it and left it there, but it should have still been in the system. Assuming that the computers are hooked up in any sort of logical way, if they have real time updates of merchandise in the store, you would think that it wouldn't be thrown off by someone deciding not to buy it at the last minute.

I can understand situations where they're like "Oh yeah, we have 4 left.... but I can't find them" that's annoying but a little easier to figure (they're hiding somewhere in the store), but it seems unlikely that the computer would list them as sold out when there are at least two floating around the store. What might have happened is that he knew that there were a few being held back for employees so maybe it had been: Qty 100 at 6pm and by the time we were there it was down to 7 and he thought they were out but in fact they were only holding onto 5 or something like that.

Having worked retail, I can almost guarantee that this is what happened: The guy that said they have no more. He probably just scanned the shelf and thought "Empty shelf = no more" then turned and tells customer "Um, no, there's no more" and then in head goes on to mock the customer, "You stupid idiot. Are there any on the shelf? No, so we must be out. Get here earlier next time tightwad."

His quick assessment was probably based on the idea that he doesn't want to stay late so he was feeling lazy. He didn't feel like jumping on the computer to actually check. He'll go to the computer, type random crap ("Enhance...enchance" hehe) and say "We're out." I've seen it done...I've done it myself. :-P Most retail stores have company policies violting holding/hiding merchandise, so it's not as likely.

"This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers." --Randal Graves Clerks hehehe the employee's mantra :oP

violting <<==can you figure what the hell I was trying to say because I just re-read my post and I have no frickin' clue LOL! I mummbled/bumbled my typing LOL!

I think I meant to say "against" or something to that effect...i honestly can't tell! LOL!

ooooh! HAVE FUN! If you have any questions- you know where to find me. I am a network admin after all... :) Of course I'm going to be at Dave's tonight.. so that might not help you....

I've had excellent luck with linksys wireless NIC's. The D-Links have some crappy range, but, that is just my opinion.

If you don't like your neighbors (or if they look sort of smart) make sure you do the 64 or 128 bit encription.

There is nothing like high speed shopping, wirelessly, in bed on a Sunday morning... :)

Ok, so the instructions on my router aren't helping and I have few random questions.

Should any NIC that's 802.11b compliant work with my router which is also 802.11b compliant? If so do you have any suggestions for good, cheap PCI and PCMCIA NICs that I might look into? Right now I really only need a PCI NIC for my downstairs MP3 server (the actual cause of my foray into wireless technology), but I'm probably going to take advantage of this new toy in order to use some of my old laptops in other rooms (basically I'm going to set them up as x-terminals in various useful locations (e.g. my bedroom, the kitchen, maybe basement, garage, etc... ;). I can handle the linux side of things but I'm still a little fuzzy about the hardware side of this.

Also, would it be reasonable to expect my old 12 port hub (by 3com) to play nice with the new router? I would like to have a few machines hardwired to the lan (and by extension to the wan) and I've found it useful to allow for a network connection when I need to fix people's computers. The router has 3 physical ports for non wireless machines, but I'd like to use one of them with the hub and expand that number by a bit ;). It'd also (theoretically) be useful during LAN parties (assuming I make more geek friends out here).

If I'm understanding all this correctly it looks like I can do what I want with the hardware I have, but I'm curious to know if you have any words of wisdom on hardware compatability. I've never really run into problems with wired networks so I'm hoping wireless is as straightforward, but I figure I'd rather pick your brain on this than learn by trial and error. Oh, btw is there some way to limit the range on your standard router? Is that even an option on any of them? Mine claims to be good up to 1155 ft and that would cover quite a bit more area than what I want it to. I'd be quite happy if it worked for something like 50ft or so (my house is big, but it's not that big ;)

FIrst piece of advice. Take that book, throw it into the fireplace, and ignite. Now take a deep breath. :)

Yeah... that feet claim is for uninterupted line of site. I have a Linksys that says it is good for 1200ft. I can get it atleast 50% anywhere in the house, so, I'm happy. Brick and cement kill the 2.4GHz frequency, so just keep that in mind. drywall and wood don't bother it much. For the geek project of the weekend, I'm going to put it in my bedroom window and roam aimlessly around the yard and woods. I'm thinking that it would just be the ultamite to be able to sit in a tree with my laptop and surf the web- the best of both worlds!

Your old hub should work fine, as long as you have an uplink port on it- connect that (usually port #1 or #12) to one of the 10/100 RJ 45's on the back of the router (RJ 45 is the cable size for CAT 5 incase you didn't know) If not, and it doesn't work (not sure how old this puppy is) you'll need to buy a crossover cable. It looks just like a regular CAT 5 cable, but it is wired backwards. either way, it will work. :)

Now- I can recomment the linksys PCI card. For PCMCIA- I haven't found one I like. Stay the hell away from D-Link... they are virtually useless. If you want to move more than 15 feet from the access point that is... I have a lucent technology's one at work that is just about as useless. So, good luck. Let me know if you find a good one.

Basically, getting all the wireless shit to talk to each other just requires some tinkering and a scrap piece of paper. You need the SSID (it will be a default one, but i recomend making it cool and you) and the channel. these you'll set up when you run the software with the router. once you have those, you should be able to configure each card to find it. Channels 6 & 10 are the defaults, but you have a range of 1- 11, don't be afraid to try them all. I had to switch to 5 because whenever I ran the microwave it cut my wi-fi in 1/2. I'd start with 6 and work from there. You can gain or lose about 10% of your power depending on the channel and the interferience in your house.

If you want to limit range, as in, you dont' want anyone driving by and using your wi-fi, i'd set up incription. You can set 64 or 128 bit encription. basically, you give the router a word, and it turns it into alpha numeric. you have to right down that long string of letters and numbers, and use them to set up your NIC's in the other machines. I use 64, because I have elderly neighbors and don't think that anyone is cracking into me. but, your in a city environment.....

finally, if your having like a whole problem with the range in your house, you can just buy a bridge (like $50, not another router) and plug it in somewhere else in the house to double your ummmph. But I think you'll be ok with your wi fi router. the higher it is, the further it goes- i don't know where your modem is, but, i'd shoot for upstairs. :)

*sings the body parts song* The modems connected to the WAN bone, the WAN bones connected to the wireless router, the wireless routers connected .....

Yeah, I've lost my mind. Gonna go find it now. See if that helps!

email- amanda5@mindspring.com