[ILUG] wireless networking (compatible devices?)

[Darragh Bailey]

Living in a house with cable internet. The owner recently added a  
wireless router that should give access to the internet throughout the  
house.

NETGEAR RangeMax Wireless Router, 108 Mbps 802.11g MIMO
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=319190&view=detailed


Now I originally planned to the get following device
Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router 54 Mbps 802.11g, WPA, QoS, 4P  
switch, Linux
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=314078

And just plug my desktop into the ethernet port and setup wireless (it  
has WAP built-in) and avoid any problems with a) drivers for wireless  
cards & b) future compatibility since my current machine is PCI based  
and the next one will be PCIe. I figure there is little point in  
spending money on a PCI card.


Now the problem I have is trying to work out if the two devices are  
compatible.

The netgrear is using the "Atheros Super G" chipset, and Linksys is  
Ralink based.

However from talking to a friend, that's not the only problem are, the  
encryption needs to be compatible.
Netgear is WPA-PSK (also supports WPA2-PSK according to docs), and the  
Linksys is WPA. Reading the Linksys documentation from the website it  
identifies it as supporting WPA.

So, I think that WPA-PSK and WPA are basically the same thing?


This particular model of the Linksys also is capable of supporting 3rd  
party firmware.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/ddwrt.php

which supports WPA2.

So it looks like, one way or another the encryption problem is dealt  
with, either just use WPA-PSK, or switch to another firmware and use  
WPA2-PSK.

Of course if anyone knows of any problems, or if I'm assuming  
something that I shouldn't be, let me know :)


But the question about chipset compatibility remains. I haven't  
managed to find anything online saying if there are any problems, or  
indeed if there are none. I'm a little concerned since the Netgear  
router is not standard 802.11g, but is instead incorporating a few  
additions from the upcoming standard for 802.11n. Is it likely that  
these two are going to play nice? or will I just have to bite the  
bullet and find out?


-- 
Darragh

"Nothing's foolproof to a sufficently talented fool"

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