[ILUG] Adding wireless to a Linux home network

[Garth Fitzmaurice]

Hi

I know wireless issues have been discussed previously on the list, but
searching the archives hasnt helped me much, so perhaps someone here can
help?

My current setup is a home lan involving NTL cable internet, Linux server
acting as router, DHCPD,DNS,SMTP, and firewall (using shorewall) for the home lan. 
We all use laptops running windows XP in the house and connect to the
internet via the Linux server (using a 5 port switch). We want to add
wireless connectivity to the network now so that we can use the laptops
(which have wireless cards)
throughout the house, but want to leave the Linux server to look after
routing, DNS, firewall, and allocation of IP addresses.

Does anyone have a recommendation as to what type of additional hardware
we should look at buying? Can we simply buy a wireless access point and
plug it into the LAN or do we need a wireless router? Will we need to
recompile the kernel on the linux server for wireless support, or can it
just connect to the wireless accesspoint/router by a cat 5 cable plugged into the same
switch?

If someone has a similar setup working at home, any advice as to which
make/model of router/access point and any difficulties they had in configuration/operation would be
greatly appreciated. 

Thanks,

Garth