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LAN Party Forums => Support Group => Started by: gravdigr on March 29, 2010, 10:22:26 PM
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So I picked up an older laptop to keep in my shop building. I don't want anything nice over there since last time I had a good laptop over there it got stolen. The laptop I got has 1Ghz celeron, 512MB ram, 20GB hard drive, wireless N linksys usb network card, and a dvd drive.
My goal is to have this laptop connect to my wireless network across the road in my house and bridge that wireless network into a regular cat5 network in my building. The wireless card for the laptop sits in a window and gets signal from my house. I have a WAP I want to connect to the wired network in the building since the wireless signal from my house can't get through the steel walls. I would also like the laptop to be able to stream music from the winamp remote server in my house. Storage isn't really an issue since everything will be streamed or temporarily downloaded from my home server. I would also like to play DVDs on this laptop as well.
Currently it's running an old install of windows xp and can't play any streaming video without it being a slideshow (the audio plays fine). I'm thinking of throwing a linux install on this laptop and am looking for suggestions as I have never seriously used it before.
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Ubuntu, Linux with training wheels.
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I don't think that is going to change your slideshow situation though. You said you wanted an AP to connect to the wired network in your building? Are you going to run the cat5 into your shop area? Now THAT probably would solve your slideshow issues. Otherwise, what kind of AP do you have? Ever thought about buying an older linksys and throwing tomato or DDWRT on it and making a wireless bridge? If signal is an issue you could always make a cantenna and make it super directional....that could get you the signal you need to stream video content as long as it is not HD content.
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Ubuntu, Linux with training wheels.
But you can take the wheels off if you need to... But it's nice when packages and dependencies are done right the first time.
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I agree with the Ubuntu recommendation. I have used it on a number of systems and it is very easy to setup and use. If you need any help with it Digr, let me know.
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Ubuntu also has the added benefit of sounding like a foreign sex act that is most likely illegal in the states. It has nothing but up sides.
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I wonder if the Ubuntu Netbook Remix might work well for you given the low system specs?
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Well what I have is a wireless N router in my house about 30' from the building. It's at a window. Directly across the road is a window in my building where the wireless USB nic sits. I was thinking I could use the laptop in the building as a bridge, web browser, music/movie player.
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Depending on the encode a 1GHz celeron might not have the ability to play it. Linux will be more friendly with your RAM.
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Well what I have is a wireless N router in my house about 30' from the building. It's at a window. Directly across the road is a window in my building where the wireless USB nic sits. I was thinking I could use the laptop in the building as a bridge, web browser, music/movie player.
I can tell you right now that the USB adapter is not going to have the range you need.
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I can tell you right now that the USB adapter is not going to have the range you need.
It works already for him. He just wants to switch from WinXP to Linux.
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EDIT: Sorry Rathe, you were right. I thought he was complaining about the signal.
Although, you would get better performance from your other machines if you ran the cat5 cable to an AP in the shop area instead of using internet connection sharing...or the linux equivalent.
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USB extension cable, hang the adapter outside a window or something...
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Just dig a tunnel to the house and run some long-ass cable that way. Added benefit, you ask? Well, who's going to be surviving in their UNDERGROUND SHELTER when the zombies invade?
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when the zombies invade?
I have a feeling that if there is a zombie uprising, he'll be the first to know about it too, being right next to a graveyard and all ;)
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Rathe, I read the Fudgeing post....He is complaining that the signal doesn't like to go through steel walls and his video is stuttering. The USB card is probably one of the causes as it is not getting a decent signal from what I am gathering from his comment about the signal not going through steel walls.
Oh no you didn't....if you had you would have seen this in my original post...
The wireless card for the laptop sits in a window and gets signal from my house.
hehe
Anyway, I used to have a better laptop in my building and used this very wireless card to connect to my home network and would stream netflix movies in hd with no problem. So signal strength was not a problem. But sometimes I have a few friends over goofing around and we do not want to stretch network cables to connect our other laptops to the network. That's where the wap comes in. I bridge the wireless network to ethernet then hook up the wap to provide wireless access inside.
I think linux will do that more effeciently. I was hoping it could help this old computer playback dvd's and video files as well.
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Hmm, why is it I can never get a linux install to actually work. Every time something goes wrong. This time I spend the better part of an hour installing and when I reboot all I get is "Insert system disc in drive. Press any key when ready..." It worked fine when I ran it off the cd but it doesn't boot when I install it.
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Rathe, I read the Fudgeing post....He is complaining that the signal doesn't like to go through steel walls and his video is stuttering. The USB card is probably one of the causes as it is not getting a decent signal from what I am gathering from his comment about the signal not going through steel walls.
Oh no you didn't....if you had you would have seen this in my original post...
The wireless card for the laptop sits in a window and gets signal from my house.
hehe
Anyway, I used to have a better laptop in my building and used this very wireless card to connect to my home network and would stream netflix movies in hd with no problem. So signal strength was not a problem. But sometimes I have a few friends over goofing around and we do not want to stretch network cables to connect our other laptops to the network. That's where the wap comes in. I bridge the wireless network to ethernet then hook up the wap to provide wireless access inside.
I think linux will do that more effeciently. I was hoping it could help this old computer playback dvd's and video files as well.
Well then....I stand corrected. <facepalm>