I've been toying with adding 802.11 to the home network for all the usual geeky reasons. I see two ways to do it and I'm curious what people think. Right now, I've got a PowerMac G4 and a Linksys DSL Router/Firewall/4-port hub. There are two ways to solve the problem that I can see:

- Buy a new firewall/hub (such as the $150 Linksys) with 802.11 built-in
- Buy an Apple AirPort card ($99) and let my PowerMac be a router

The benefit of getting the external base station is that the PowerMac doesn't need to be on for it to work. The benefit of getting the AirPort card, on the other hand, is presumably more control over the wireless clients (so I could, for example, virtually have the wireless network "outside" my firewall).

Thoughts on this? Does anybody have the fancy Linksys router/firewall/base station thing? How configurable is it?

Personally, I've always found those consumer-oriented firewall/router appliances to be too arbitrarily limiting. For example, a friend of mine has one, and there's a maximum of about a dozen port forwards you can configure, and they're fairly limited themselves (though I can't provide specifics right now). But, then, you already know that, since you already have one.

Given what you already have, I think your best bet is to just buy an 802.11 <-> Ethernet bridge (read Access Point). They're not all that expensive these days, and you won't be tied in to a specific router. That is, if you wanted to switch out your current Linksys router for something else, whether it be an OpenBSD ipf machine or your Mac or whatever. Plus, it should cost you less, probably even if you were to sell your old router on eBay.

Edit: Then again, I could be wrong about the pricing. Especially considering I just looked and I am.

It looks like the difference between an access point and an access point/router is about $20. I'd still go the multiple device way for configurability's sake, but I was wrong about the pricing.

The WAP11 and probably the BEFW11S4 could be configured as you want, (though some may disagree...) And recently Linksys has announced a really nice looking product called the WET11 which is specifically for bridging two networks together.

I recently picked up a D-Link DI-713P for $69 (normally around $129 but Fry's mispriced it--lucky me) and I've been very pleased with it. These have started to come down in price dramatically mostly related to the advent of 802.11a and 802.11g devices rolling out.

YMMV,
Tim

SMC has a new(ish) router/switch/wireless bridge combo box.. it's the only consumer-level one I've seen with Stateful Packet Inspection.

I would tend to advise using a separate Access Point (although I would be tempted to go Symbol or Cisco as they have the best security extensions, but then I may be more paranoid than your average punter)

Using a PC card ties your network down too much as it relies on your machine being present, on, and routing.

Much easier just to hang an AP off your switch (or router or hub, depending on circumstances.)

You might want to take a look at this thread, and this one as well.