Since joining this site last week ive kind of li

[sterobinson]

Since joining this site last week ive kind of lingered within the toshiba discussion group as I have a M200. Ive ventured out and here I am asking all and all a bit of advice, so firstly hello - I hope that I continue to chat to more friendly and informative tablet owners as ive experienced in the last few days.

My question.

1. I have a tablet pc (toshiba m200)
2. I have a desktop pc upstairs in the office with ethernet capability.
3. I have a desktop pc downstairs with ethernet capability.

I would like to network these pc's, all running on XP or XP professional.

I have purchased D-Link Wireless ADSL Router, as I will be connecting all three to a adsl when my village gets broadband in 8 weeks time. This device has 802.11b, so it will talk to my tablet and I will cable connect the other two pc's to the device with an ethernet cable.

The idea is that I can use the device to share files/folders/printer on the lan till i get broadband and then Id like to do all this and connect to the web when its available,

My question is. Where do I start ? The instructions with the D-Link DSL 604+ are not brilliant (but I will print off the user files on the CD tomorrow).

I guess I connect the the cables first and then do I switch on and it instantly works ? do I use the microsoft LAN Wizard on XP ?

Do I leave the wireless connectivity till I am happy that the wired network is working.

Also... Can I also connect my tablet with an ethernet cable (it has port) so that I can switch from wireless to ethernet cable if Im having a problem with one or the other.

The guy in the PC shop told me that wireless lans are not that reliable ? I dont mind the cables round the house as I can hide them but Id like to use the wireless whenever Im in the garden .

thank you in advance.

[CFCassidy]

Steve,

The instructions don't seem like much because getting basic networking going is pretty easy. As long as your PCs have their default setups, it is pretty much just hook the cables up, power the router and go. You should only need the LAN wizard if your machines can't see each other in the Network Neighborhood or My Network Places.

Unlike your PC Stop guy, I find WiFi very reliable once it is working. The trick is getting it working with some level of security.Even that isn't that hard. Some key points:

1.Make sure the Router/AP and the wireless tablet have EXACTLY the same SSID and WEP keys configured. For the WEP keys, the keys should be in the same order. You do not really need all four keys, one will do.
2. Turn off IEEE 802.11x (aka WPA) authentication unless your router supports it.
3 Make sure that neither the LAN connection nor the wireless connection are bridged.

Your tablet has Ethernet as well as wireless. You should be able to switch between the two at will. Leave the LAN connection setup at the defaults (i.e., automatically get IP address).

[sco_robinso]

I'd agree, I've found wireless to be fairly realiable. Every now and again on my tablet, the wireless will drop every now and again (very rare). The only thing you should really be thinking about with wireless lan's is security.

Otherwise, it will mostly work right away. Generally, in your scenario I would go about it in a 4 step process:

1. Pug in the hard wired devices, ensure they see the router and are getting an IP. You can see if you communicating with the router by dialing into it (typing 192.168.2.1 in your browser window). That should log you in to your routers internal interface, where you can change settings.

2. Get the internet working. This will depend on your ISP. Most broadband ISP's will automatically work right away. However, with some you might have to plug in some settings, or all sorts of things. This you'll have to play by ear.

3. Get wireless working. Again, it may work out of the box, it might not.

4. Finally, set up the windows network. This is simple, use the network setup wizard.

[sterobinson]

Thanks guys for taking the time out to reply.

I'll try your advice tonight, even though at first the set-up wil only be a basic lan as I dont get adsl for another 8 weeks...

Thank you

[CFCassidy]

Note that the IP address of Dlink routers is generally 192.168.0.1 by default. Username & password are both "admin".

[The Chief Nerd]

quote:Originally posted by CFCassidy

Note that the IP address of Dlink routers is generally 192.168.0.1 by default. Username & password are both "admin".

While we are on this subject, the first thing anyone should do when setting up one these pieces of hardware, is to change the default IP address, the username and password.

Just last week I was a clients office making network adjustments and couldn't connect to their wireless network (SSID broadcast disabled, MAC filtering and 128-bit WEP). I then connected to "linksys". When I tried the default IP and password (no username for Linksys), BANG, I was in in router! Scary.

[XDS]

Definitely change the SSID and set a password on the router! Also, run WEP once you are comfortable with configuring a wireless LAN. Once you've gone wireless, everything else feels, well, constraining. ;)

[KenE]

quote:Originally posted by XDS

Definitely change the SSID and set a password on the router! Also, run WEP once you are comfortable with configuring a wireless LAN. Once you've gone wireless, everything else feels, well, constraining. ;)

While you're at it, allow only MAC addresses you choose to access your Wireless Access Point. Keeps roving users from using your link/network.

[sterobinson]

i live in a tiny village and my house is hundreds of metres from the next. is all this security necessary when i go wireless ? I will only be going wireless at home. sory if I dont get the point, all this a bit confusing !

I linked up my 2 desktop pc's and 1 tablet tonight using the xp network wizard. I used the ethernet first with the tablet and then went wireless. both worked and I was able to see the other PC's (even though i struggled to open the files on other PC's). I was able to send a document to the printer wirelessly to the router and then then the PC/Printer and it worked fine. So i guess the basics of the LAN are set up. Cant test the broadband as its not available in the village just yet.

[Jehtris]

Security would keep someone from sitting near your house (50m) and either seeing the data transfered, or connecting to your network. Whether you want to do that or not is up to you.