Some Operation Gadget readers may be wondering why this site has been so quiet this week. One reason is that a consulting client of mine has had me working on relocating their e-commerce site to a new hosting provider. If you’ve ever done anything like this, you know it’s almost always more time-consuming than you expect (no matter how conservative you were with time estimates). It’s always tough when your day job negatively impacts the things you do for fun.
The level of work at CTDATA has also impacted the implementation of the wireless network at the Home Office. In my last article on this topic, I strongly suggested following the recommendations of experts when building your first wireless network, particularly with respect to getting the network working before turning on security. I followed my own advice, and then started trying to get my laptop to work with my new D-Link DWL-G650 AirPlus Xtreme G Wireless PC Card.
If your laptop runs Windows XP or Windows 2000, getting the DWL-G650 to work is probably pretty easy. But, I run Red Hat Linux on my laptop (for business reasons), and this makes getting my laptop to connect to the wireless network a lot more complicated. I’m putting in some time reviewing the Linux & Wireless LAN Documentation and, more specifically, the MadWiFi FAQ that answers questions about the driver for the chipset in the DWL-650.
The DWL-650 is a really powerful way to connect to an 802.11g network, and I recommend it highly. It’s just that getting this type of device to work on Linux is a little bit of a challenge.
I have some extra time to do office work this morning, and the e-commerce work for my client is in good shape for Monday, so I’m going to do some more research and see if I can get the laptop up and running.