wireless ethernet bridge

If you've got a Mac you can talk to your Xbox or PS3 with MediaLink.

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Reply to
Warren Oates
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No wonder the original person is confused.... An "adapter" is just a marketing term for a "bridge".... everything is a bridge. Nice to mix technical definitions with physical appliances & marketing terms... and yeah - I've used Wiki to find out info - but I use my brain to explain it as needed...

NOW - if the "gaming adapter" was limited into only having a MAC address table of 1 on the client side, vs "several" - then you have a clear distinction between a general purpose bridge, and the gaming adapter... but, not knowing the MAC table sizes for either, it's just a guess... So, let's see -any other technical distinctions between an "adapter" and a "bridge" ?

Reply to
ps56k

Sure. I tried to explain the various bridge types in:

It's not very good, as there are exceptions, but good enough. What's important to remember is that a bridge works on layer 2 (MAC layer) and does NOT do anything on layer 3 (IP layer). A bridge does NOT do routing.

Assuming we limit the discussion to an "ethernet to wireless bridge", some of the various types are:

  1. Transparent: individual MAC addresses appear at both ends of the bridge.
  2. Opaque(???): Everything at the local end of the bridge appears to come from one MAC address. Only one MAC address can traverse the bridge.
  3. Workgroup: Intentionally undersized MAC to port address table, thus limiting the number of computers/devices/MAC addresses that can traverse the bridge. 8/16/32 devices are common.
  4. The real thing(?): Sufficiently large MAC to port address table allows up to 253 devices to traverse the bridge. Professional bridges can often do 2048 devices.
  5. A bunch of other bridge types as itemized in the above URL.

So, where does the "game adapter" fit? Usually, it's the "opaque" variety, where only one MAC address can traverse the bridge, limiting operation to exactly one computah on the ethernet side of the bridge. The game adapter vendors want to sell you one adapter per computah.

There's a list of common wireless ethernet bridges at:

which includes whether they can handle more than one MAC address. I don't know where John Navas got the information, but it looks right. Note that more than one doesn't mean 253. It could easily mean 8, 16, or 32 devices. There are also some oddities. For example, the DWL-2100, when uses as a client adapter, has some firmware versions passing more than one MAC address, while others will do only one.

Incidentally, getting such information as "how many computers can I put behind the bridge or game adapter" is difficult to extract from the manufacturer.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

yeah I know - it's Tinker Bell that needs a little reading concerning what "might" be different..

Reply to
ps56k

In computer terms, a "wireless bridge" connects two existing networks wirelessly, in gaming terms it refers to bridging a wired net interface to an existing wireless network.... if you get a computer marketed/termed "wireless ethernet bridge" it will be the wrong thing for your game console/xbox to do what you want...

Personally, i would just get a gaming adapter(computer terms)/wireless ethernet bridge (gaming terms)... Pick the right term, and they (gaming adapters in computer terms) are under $40 and will do exactly what you want, pick the wrong term, wrong thing/won't work and you will have to buy more stuff/something else

Reply to
Peter Pan

cuz in computer terms a bridge bridges two network segments, and an "adapter" refers more to wifi dongles/boxes/etc that (usually) have usb or ethernet connectors to plug into things like tivo's/games/etc... ever use the wikipedia for quick definitions? (says more than I can type)

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if you have several devices downstairs (tivo and xbox) then you have more than one connection and are bridging (while not always technically correct, one connection/output think adapter, and multiple outputs think bridge)

Reply to
Peter Pan

----- Original Message ----- From: "ps56k" Newsgroups: alt.internet.wireless Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 2:40 PM Subject: Re: wireless ethernet bridge

that (# of ip/mac addresses) pretty much works, cept for that thing you have.. linksys makes both a WET11 and a WPA11, most others don't have tables.... if you care to read about why, check out WAP11 to WET11: Easy, Cheap Wireless Bridging

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Cheap? Until last week, the only easier way to carry out this task had a much higher price tag. The new Linksys WET11 brings a new kind of simplicity for bridging smaller networks over a wireless link, with an appropriate price tag: $130 list price.

and the wet11 has up to 30 ip addresses!

as for other differences, adapter and bridge have different numbers of letters (one 6 one 7)....you know the saying about what a difference a day makes? maybe in this case its what a difference a word length makes?

Reply to
Peter Pan

Sorry 'bout that. The link was to another Airlink model sold on Ebay that comes already flashed to dd-wrt. That makes it very useful. Just search Airlink for routers sold with DD-WRT on them.

Reply to
seaweedsl

Understood. Maybe it's better for you to just buy a linksys WRT54GL or Buffalo WHR- G54S (or HP version) router - both should be availible in UK- and flash it to Tomato/DD-WRT. They are availible already flashed on Ebay as well.

You will like that now it can do any job you need it for. Not too expensive cause routers are cheaper than the specialized client adapters. Plus, if you need it later for a router or AP or repeater, it can do that.

Steve

Reply to
seaweedsl

check out the dd wrt website. This is one of the big thins their software allows you to do. There should be lots of info there on which router wok and which ones dont. They also have a forum their with a lot more people who are in to this specific topic.

Jimmie

Reply to
JIMMIE

Eps: Listen to Peter Pan. He is correct. What you want is a box that is able to function as a client to connect to your wireless access point. You do NOT want a regualar access point, as they can only function as a server for wireless clients. Some access points are able to function as a client and some (rare) is only able to function as a client. Most common is waps that only function as a server. I don't want to say that it doesn't matter what brand you chose when found some that can be a client, but that is not far from the truth.

Reply to
Chrisjoy

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