This one's for you, Mark Asher!

[Murph]

http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=22&prid=432

"Linksys Director of Marketing Mike Wagner said, "For the first time ever, devices with an Ethernet port can be hooked up to your wireless network. Be it a cash register, PlayStation 2, or process control system, all of these Ethernet devices can now participate in the wireless networking revolution.""

Stolen right off of GamespyDaily, so you may have already seen it.

[Matthew Gallant]

That's a nice little piece of tech right there.

[Murph]

Very nice, if a bit pricey.

I'm pretty sure this is what Linksys was showing off at Quakecon, but I didn't get that close of a look...There were other things to see.

[Mark Asher]

I know I'm ignorant:

"The Wireless Ethernet Workgroup Bridge simply and efficiently transmits data between the wired and wireless segments of your LAN."

I don't have a LAN. Do I need to have a LAN for this to work, or what? Is this a wireless router? How would this work with an Xbox or PS2? Is this everything I'd need to get my Xbox online?

I'm not playing dumb. I really am dumb! And the weird thing is, I've installed everything in my PC at this point -- MB, CPU, RAM, various cards, etc. It's not like I'm unable to tinker with my PC. I just have no clue about this whole LAN business.

[Tyjenks]

I know I'm ignorant:

"The Wireless Ethernet Workgroup Bridge simply and efficiently transmits data between the wired and wireless segments of your LAN."

I don't have a LAN. Do I need to have a LAN for this to work, or what? Is this a wireless router? How would this work with an Xbox or PS2? Is this everything I'd need to get my Xbox online?

I'm not playing dumb. I really am dumb! And the weird thing is, I've installed everything in my PC at this point -- MB, CPU, RAM, various cards, etc. It's not like I'm unable to tinker with my PC. I just have no clue about this whole LAN business.

Just wanted to let you know you are not alone Mark.

"Good morning Qt3 friends. My name is Tyler Jenkins"

"Hello, Tyler"

"And I am a LAN dummy."

[Matthew Gallant]

I don't have a LAN. Do I need to have a LAN for this to work, or what? Is this a wireless router? How would this work with an Xbox or PS2? Is this everything I'd need to get my Xbox online?

1. Yes,

2. No, you'd need to get one of those and hook it in to your cable modem/DSL, and

3. Yes. This is what you'd plug into the X-Box to connect it to the wireless router.

[Mark Asher]

Ok, so this thing basically allows me to have a wireless LAN, though I still need a router. This replaces the cable I'd need to connect the LAN with magical invisible cable, right?

I'm sure that beaming PS2/Xbox games over a wireless LAN throughout my house will cause brain cancer and make my microwave not function properly, but forget about that. So I'd need to buy this and a router and whatever Sony and Microsoft are charging for their kits and install it, or pay someone to install it? What would all this cost? It sounds like it's more than $100 at this point. Don't you think that's a barrier to entry?

[Mark Asher]

Ok, I really am dumb. I wanted to see the price and couldn't find it, so I clicked on a link they had to Best Buy. It looks like I need a card for my PC too, right? Anyway, there's a whole list of products. Which ones do I need? There's like 20 things listed.

http://www.bestbuy.com/ComputersPeripherals/Specials/LinksysProducts.asp

Honestly, I find this confusing. Does that Linksys thing contain everything I need in the box, or do I have to buy more stuff to get it to work?

[SpoofyChop]

Mark...

It just so happens that I just went through this whole mess because we finally got broadband Cable.

(Cathcart said to me "Welcome to the late nineties.")

At any rate, if you have two "computers" (I'll call the XBox a computer even though it's more like a toaster) you'll probably want the following stuff to go the wireless LAN path:

Wireless Router (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005ARK3/qid=1030641170/sr=1-2//102-7776248-3913725?v=glance&s=electronics)

The wireless "bridge" that has been mentioned.

A Wireless network adapter for your PC, USB one (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005AW1H/ref=pd_rhf_p_2/102-7776248-3913725) will do the trick


Then:

1) Connect XBox to Wireless Bridge

2) Attach USB wireless net adapter to PC

3) Plug Cable/DSL modem into Wireless Router.

4) Go nuts.

That's all there really is to it.

It's DEFINITELY gonna cost more than 100 dollars. If you want it to cost 100 dollars, run the ethernet cables.

-Keith
[/url]

[Mark Asher]

Thanks for the info. I think the cost is high enough (I don't think you factored in the price Sony and Microsoft are charging for their kits) that I'd be more likely to buy a PS2 rather than get my Xbox online. My three boys have said they want a PS2 as a joint Christmas present. For some reason my youngest, 11 year old twins, decided they didn't want a Gamecube anymore.

[Alan Dunkin]

If they don't want it maybe you'll sell it to me?? :)

--- Alan

[Anonymous]

This is why you might want to upgrade to XP, Mark. Most of these networking tasks can be accomplished with a simple point and click wizard interface. If you've installed a motherboard, you could certinally do this stuff.

[Mark Asher]

This is why you might want to upgrade to XP, Mark. Most of these networking tasks can be accomplished with a simple point and click wizard interface. If you've installed a motherboard, you could certinally do this stuff.

The difficulty for me probably wouldn't be in installing it, but in figuring out what I need in the first place. I assume installation is mostly just installing a card in my PC and then connecting the PC and console to the router.

Doesn't the router have to be configured, though? Does XP configure it for me?

What Microsoft and Sony really need to do is sell a complete kit:

"If you have a PC and DSL, buy this package to connect your [PS2/Xbox]."

"If you have a PC and a cable modem, buy this package to connect your [PS2/Xbox]."

And they should price them at $99.99. And even that seems high enough to deter sales.

[SpoofyChop]

I think that with XP, installing a LAN is about as easy as it has ever been:

Here is my entire experience, condensed for easy digestion:

1) Went to Radio Shack, "purchased" Cable Modem (Free after rebate) and a "self install kit" from Comcast (free)

2) Purchased a few ethernet cables and the LinkSys 4 port Cable/DSL router.

3) Connected Cable modem to cable outlet.

4) Installed new Ethernet card in PC, connected cable modem to PC via ethernet. (For simplicity at first.)

5) Ran Comcast install CD.

6) Nothing worked.

7) Called Comcast, who said they would send out Cable guy. Ugh. (Thought: Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.)

8) Cable guy arrived only 40 minutes into 11-2 window! A world record of timeliness for Comcast

9) Cable guy tweaks the tweakables and mentions a bunch of stuff about DeciBels. Whatever.

10) I gott home, ran install CD again. Worked perfectly. I'm surfing at high speed. Yay!

11) Disconnected Cable modem from PC. Connected cable modem to Router.

12) Connected my PC to router. Went through PC setup wizard on Router CD. Repeated for my wife's computer. The end.


I think that compared to a few years ago when I tried to set up a LAN with a 10mbps hub with two Win95 486's and a PII 400 running Windows Me, this latest escapade was a breeze despite the initial problems with the cable signal strength settings.

-Keith

[Anonymous]

The difficulty for me probably wouldn't be in installing it, but in figuring out what I need in the first place.

Good point. I haven't been following this disucssion too closely, but I guess they assume you already have high speed net access and just need to add this box. For that, all you really would need would be a hub and length of cat5 cable. All the rest we're talking in this thread is bells and whistles.

But I guess that goes back to the wisdom of having a service that pretty much requries a cat5 cable strung into the living room. That would not go over too well in my house.

[Murph]

A $70 router, a $15 Network card for your PC, and one $6 cable from the router to the PC would be enough for this to work. The beauty of this little critter -- unless I'm totally misreading things -- is that it lets you use a wifeless connector on your non-wireless LAN. So, while you PC(s) is/are connected to the LAN via cables, this doesn't need a cable to connect your Xbox/PS2.

Configuring the router is a snap. Since your computer is already configured for DSL (which has some noticeable differences from cable, so it could be a *tad* tougher), you should be able to do everything you'd need to do in 15 minutes.

Router (not so cheap)
Network card (cheap)
1 cable (cheap)
This toy (not cheap)

This would get you online for your Xbox. Yes, I do think the high price point will bar entry. But, if people are already buying an Xbox, that's not that horrible. And the PS2 requires the same setup, so it's not exactly a disadvantage for the Xbox.

I was under the impression, though, that the Xbox didn't need any kind of adapter/online kit to get online. I think you could plug this WET11 directly into your Xbox, and the receiver into your router. If you already had a LAN, this would take no time flat. A mintue, minute-and-a-half, something like that, tops.

[Mark Asher]

snip
I was under the impression, though, that the Xbox didn't need any kind of adapter/online kit to get online. I think you could plug this WET11 directly into your Xbox, and the receiver into your router. If you already had a LAN, this would take no time flat. A mintue, minute-and-a-half, something like that, tops.

The kit for the Xbox is just the headset and a year's subscription to Xbox Live, so you're probably right. It's still $50 on top of the cost of the router and everything else you need. The PS2 kit includes some hardware and is $40, I think.

So you're probably looking $100+ to get your console online, more if you need to move from dial-up to broadband. I suspect that will weed out anyone who has a mild interest. It doesn't seem like an upgrade path that will woo the mass market.

[Murph]

I suppose I won't argue that point. But, it's universal to all consoles, so I don't know that it's a point against Xbox so much as against consoles, in general. (Which may explain why I'm a PC guy. :-))

Still, a couple hundred bucks may not seem so bad for a one-time expense to get you playing your Xbox against other gamers, for a lot of people. The price is an obstacle, but with an adapted like this, it's not much work setting up.

One point for Linksys.

[Mark Asher]

"Still, a couple hundred bucks may not seem so bad for a one-time expense to get you playing your Xbox against other gamers, for a lot of people. The price is an obstacle, but with an adapted like this, it's not much work setting up."

Yeah, it's probably easy. Of course plenty of people don't even have the confidence to do simple things like install a video card. And how many people are like me who got free hardware and installation for broadband? I really don't know how my broadband is set up. If I have a problem, I have to call my ISP.

And I wasn't singling out the Xbox. Like you say, it's an obstacle for a PS2 owners as well.

[Joe O'Malley]

I'm in the process of trying to get my LAN working again after having cablemodem installed. Basically I run a hub and a crossover cable with assigned IPs. All was well until the cablemodem, with 1 dynamically assigned IP, was installed. In addition, I'm eyeing Xbox Live in a couple months ("Morrowind updates!" this eager, if Bruce Geryk-fearing part of my dunmer-addled brain cries out), and think wireless might have potential.

Maybe one of you more technically-inclined types can help me out? My understanding is that I need to get a router now. The Cablemodem plugs into the router, which then plugs into the hub. The 2 computers will derive their IP addresses from the router, and all will be well again. Is this correct?

Also, this wireless stuff sounds interesting. Does it work well across floors? My Xbox is on a different floor from the PCs, so this wireless notion is pretty iappealing to me.

[Anonymous]

Of course plenty of people don't even have the confidence to do simple things like install a video card.
The big difference is that you have to open your box to replace a video card, which seems like a "very big deal" to people that don't know about computers. But the same people are more than willing to buy and setup webcams, scanners, printers, etc.

[Matthew Gallant]

Maybe one of you more technically-inclined types can help me out? My understanding is that I need to get a router now. The Cablemodem plugs into the router, which then plugs into the hub. The 2 computers will derive their IP addresses from the router, and all will be well again. Is this correct?

Yes, if your ISP only provides you with the one dynamic IP address, you need to get a router. Most routers already have a 4-port switch built in. So you could have, say 2 computers an X-Box and a PS2, without even having to use the hub you have now.

[Joe O'Malley]

Yes, if your ISP only provides you with the one dynamic IP address, you need to get a router. Most routers already have a 4-port switch built in. So you could have, say 2 computers an X-Box and a PS2, without even having to use the hub you have now.

Nice. How would wireless factor into this for my Xbox?