Building a 802.11 WiFi Bridge From an old Desktop
This How To will outline how to build a wireless network bridge to connect a WIRELESS network signal (most likely from a Wireless Access Point or ISP) to a regular WIRED network.
It could be used to connect the network from 1 building to another building without having to run cable between the buildings.
To test this installation a working Access Point with internet access would help alot. Also in this example a Linksys wireless Access Point was used with NO security features enabled to eliminate any problems. You should enable them upon successful completion of the build.MATERIALS NEEDED (old stuff was used as much as possible as it is a shame to toss good working outdated hardware)
1) An old Laptop computer will be converted to be our WiFi bridge , (Asus CUV4X PIII 850 motherboard.)
2) A Second (client) computer running Windows 98 or better.
3) Windows 98 Second Edition CDROM
4) One Wireless network card. (Linksys WMP11_V27 )
5) Two Wired 10/100 network cards (Netgear FA310TX)
6) Wireless Access Point (Linksys BEFW11S4 to send a signal to your bridge for testing)
7) Working Broadband connection to the BEFW11S4
8) Network Crossover cable
1) The computer that will be converted into the bridge will have the following installeda) A regular Wired network interface card,
b) A wireless network interface card.
c) This computer shall be running Windows 98 Second Edition.
d) Install the network cards and software provided by the manufacturer.2) Your Wireless AP should be up and running as well as your broadband connection. I have a Linksys BEFW11S4 and have configured it with the defaults. These are some of the required settings. This is for you to test your bridge.
a) SSID = Avaya
b) transmitt SSID = yes
c) do not use encryption (yet)
d) Gateway = 192.168.1.1
e) DHCP = enable
3) Setup the Internet Connection Sharing on the (Wireless Bridge) Windows 98 second edition computer.Here is the guide I used:
Bridge Settings
Check to see if the wireless network card (WMP11) is working
Use winipcfg to check your connections
Internet Connection Sharing Wizard Settings
Check your TCP/IP (Shared) Settings
Check your TCP/IP (Home) Settings
4) Client computers can now access the internet via the laptop bridge
Client PC ------> PC Based Wireless Bridge----->Linksys BEFW Wireless AP -------> DSL modem ------>Internet
The client will get a IP address 192.168.0.x from the Bridge
To Do
Install a second wireless card and make this a true wireless bridge. That is receiving a wireless signal from a source and then retransmitting it to client computers wirelessly.
Install on a desktop PC using regular PCI adapter cards.
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