Setting up a Wireless network

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Table of contents

1 Pre-requisites 2 Check Internet Connection 3 Set-Up Wireless Hub 4 Wireless Card

Pre-requisites

Before you begin you should have the following items:

1. Wireless Router
2. Wireless Card for your laptop or desktop computer.
3. Broadband Internet Connection
4. Two (2) RJ-45 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RJ-45) Cables (Ethernet Cables)

Once you have these items gathered up you are ready to start.

Check Internet Connection

When starting, you will want to read all of the documentation that comes with your equipment.

If you have a Broadband Internet connection ensure that it is working properly before you insert the wireless hub into the network. You can do this by connecting a laptop or desktop with an ethernet card and the RJ-45 cable directly to the Modem. If you can access www.linuxformat.co.uk you have a working Internet connection. YEAH!!

If you don't know what an RJ-45 cable or ethernet card are, they look like a phone cable with a bigger connector/hole.

If your Internet is working properly, you can move on to the next step.

Set-Up Wireless Hub

You know your Internet connection works, now it is time to break everything. :)

1. Take one of the RJ-45 cables and connect it between your modem and your Internet connection port on the wireless hub. It is usually marked with the image of a globe.
   
2. Take the other RJ-45 cable and plug it into the laptop or desktop computer next to the wireless hub.
   
3. Plug in the power on your wireless hub.
4. Power on your laptop or desktop.
5. Navigate to the Internet page that your wireless router allows administrative access:
   1. D-Link: 192.168.0.1
   2. Linksys: 192.168.1.1
   3. Belkin: 192.168.2.1
6. Change the administrative password.
7. Choose whether you want to secure your wireless router. It is highly recommended that you encrypt your connection, however, you might want to wait on encrypting your connection until you have a good wireless connection.
8. Under the WAN (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_area_network) (Wide Area Network) settings you will have to enter the user name and password your Internet Service Provider set up in order to access/share the Internet connection with everyone on your wireless network.
9. Save your settings and power off your Broadband Modem and Wireless Hub.
10. Power On your Modem
11. Power On your wireless Hub.
12. Try connecting to the Internet via your laptop or desktop that is directly connected to the wireless hub. If it works YEAH!!! If it doesn't, BOOOO! Check that your password and user name are correct. Check that the wireless hub has an IP address from the WAN. (It should not be 0.0.0.0 or 192.168.(anything).(anything)) If it doesn't have an outside IP address then you have a problem with your Internet settings. You may need to call your Internet Service Provider to ask them to help you, or try re-reading the documentation that came with your equipment. I know all of you read all of the documentation, right ???

Wireless Card

OK, you should now have an Internet connection with computers directly connected to your wireless hub. Whew! Now, install your wireless card. I'm not going to go into any details covering how to do this. There are so many articles. However, I can recommend a D-Link DWL-G650 with Ubuntu. It just works. It doesn't matter what brand hub you have. The 802.11G is a standard and they should all work together. When you power up your computer, you should login to your normal account.
If you are using Gnome find the Networking icon. It should show that you have a wireless card (eth1, wlan0, ??) Click on it and click on the Properties button. enter the ESSID of your wireless hub. If you encrypted your network you should enter the encryption type and password here as well. Select the DHCP option. Click Save. Now click on the Wireless card and click on Activate. If the card is installed correctly it will get an IP address and you will be able to surf the web in style from anywhere in your house. (Or install Driftnet (http://www.ex-parrot.com/~chris/driftnet/) and spy on other images your wireless network is looking at. Lot's of fun at hotels and airports!! But you should be over 18 to see what others are looking at!!)