Re: [gentoo-amd64] Wifi adaptor recommendations

[Mark Knecht]

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 2:47 PM, Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@×××.net> wrote:
>
> I'm moving at the end of the month.  The city is buying out the property
> and paying for movers, etc.  They're actually supposed to give a 90-day
> notice, but they want to move faster than that, so they're actually
> paying to put me up in a nice short-stay hotel (3-star, Homewood Suites
> by Hilton) for that three months.  There's more to the package as well,
> but that's the bit in focus ATM.
>
> That's nice as it's three months I won't have to pay rent and
> utilities... and it's definitely an upgrade from what I'm used to, as
> well, all paid.
>
> But they have wifi, and my internet here is all wired.  So I need to
> arrange something to adapt to wireless.
>
> One option, I actually do have an old wrt54gl router, flashed to openwrt,
> tho I've always kept the wifi off.  It's the old a/b/g and limited to 54
> Mbit/sec, but I could I suppose enable wireless, set it to client/adaptor
> mode (I guess that's what it's called), and keep the LAN side (primarily
> one computer, but I have my VoIP phone adaptor plugged into it too) setup
> exactly as it is.
>
> I don't really want to buy a router at this point, as if/when I upgrade,
> I want to build my own amd64-based router/system (as posted in a thread
> here a year or so ago, but I've not done it yet), and it's way to short
> notice to consider building that thing for the hotel.  Tho I suppose I
> could buy a cheap one instead of an adapter for the computer /and/
> possibly a new phone adaptor.
>
> Alternatively, I could buy a proper modern wifi adaptor for the computer
> and upgrade to a different VoIP adaptor that has wifi as well... or just
> use the hotel phone (I don't have a cell) and stay local-only while I'm
> there.
>
> But, unless it's effectively an Ethernet connected router, so no drivers,
> I'll need to pick it up and install drivers and a wifi config before I
> actually move, so I don't get stuck needing a connection to get the
> drivers to use /for/ the connection.
>
> I could do either USB or PCIE card, tho I believe a PCIE connection's
> more robust, but OTOH, a USB connected device is more flexible in some
> ways.
>
> So recommendations?
>
> And reminder, a good howto on configuring the wrt54gl with openwrt for
> client mode, or whatever it's called (I haven't yet looked, it might
> actually be well covered on the openwrt site), would be useful and keep
> that option open as well.
>
> --
> Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
> "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
> and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman
>
>

Hi Duncan,
   Not sure whether this is of any help but I was faced with similar issues
when I moved to Phoenix last January. The apartment in California was all
wired Ethernet, the house we bought had nothing.

   In my case Comcast here was fast and offered their 'Blast Pro' or
whatever it's called which is pretty fast and the router had 802.11ac built
in but my office was at the far end of the house so I needed connectivity.
I ended up using the router I had purchased for the apartment (NetGear
R6200) but set it up in 'Bridge Mode'. My Gentoo box doesn't know it's not
wired Ethernet as the R62000 is just plugged in and handles everything.
It's had no trouble communicating with the Comcast router and I get about
175Mb/S so it's plenty fast, actually faster than Comcast wired service was
when we were in Sunnyvale.

   Anyway, I guess if it was me I'd use the one you have short term while
at the hotel and then look at my house system when I landed someplace
permanent and try to go as fast as possible then.

   Good luck with the move. Moving is tough. Stay cool in this heat.

Cheers,
Mark