Wireless ethernet?

[Mako Hill]

> What is the REASON we need access points versus just a computer
> with a 802.11b card in it?  Security? Config Management? 
> Because it is something else to sell?
> 
> A friend says he uses his home PC with a card in it and his Linux
> laptop very nicely.  I want to go wireless, but am trying to figure
> my 'cheapest' way :)

Yes. I've done this too and it works. Our reasoning was that because we
didn't have a lot of mostly-outdated laptops sitting around (and didn't want
to bother maintainig them) it didn't make sense. Buying used semi-decent
laptops plus a $160 card quickly approaches the $400 it takes to get an
accesspoint (these prices may be a bit of of date) and these pre-made
accesspoints are more easily water-proofed, ruggedized, and maintained in
many cases. They are also usually much smaller.

-- 
Mako Hill
mako at debian.org
http://people.debian.org/~mako/
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