This isn't really specifically a Linux question but I'm sure the ALUG team should be able to come up with an answer.
I want a box which is an ethernet switch/hub (ideally an 8-port though five might be just enough) and also provides WiFi. I.e. a switch with both wired and wifi connections. It doesn't have to have any other intelligence, it doesn't need to be a router or anything.
This is to hang onto the ethernet port of an outdoor WiFi access point which is running in WISP Client mode (a TP-Link TL-WA7210). The TL-WA7210 provides DHCP and DNS (via the WiFi hotspot it's connected to) so all I want is a box to provide multiple wired and wifi connections to the LAN side of the TL-WA7210.
Is there such a beast? Is there a specific name for it?
On Sun, 2016-10-30 at 21:46 +0000, Chris Green wrote:
This isn't really specifically a Linux question but I'm sure the ALUG team should be able to come up with an answer.
I want a box which is an ethernet switch/hub (ideally an 8-port though five might be just enough) and also provides WiFi. I.e. a switch with both wired and wifi connections. It doesn't have to have any other intelligence, it doesn't need to be a router or anything.
This is to hang onto the ethernet port of an outdoor WiFi access point which is running in WISP Client mode (a TP-Link TL-WA7210). The TL-WA7210 provides DHCP and DNS (via the WiFi hotspot it's connected to) so all I want is a box to provide multiple wired and wifi connections to the LAN side of the TL-WA7210.
Is there such a beast? Is there a specific name for it?
I Gioogled for "wifi ap with ethernet switch" and found this;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-WN604-100UKS-Wireless-Access-Point/dp/B003T...
I'll leave you to investigate further ...
On Mon, Oct 31, 2016 at 09:34:56AM +0000, Huge wrote:
On Sun, 2016-10-30 at 21:46 +0000, Chris Green wrote:
This isn't really specifically a Linux question but I'm sure the ALUG team should be able to come up with an answer.
I want a box which is an ethernet switch/hub (ideally an 8-port though five might be just enough) and also provides WiFi. I.e. a switch with both wired and wifi connections. It doesn't have to have any other intelligence, it doesn't need to be a router or anything.
This is to hang onto the ethernet port of an outdoor WiFi access point which is running in WISP Client mode (a TP-Link TL-WA7210). The TL-WA7210 provides DHCP and DNS (via the WiFi hotspot it's connected to) so all I want is a box to provide multiple wired and wifi connections to the LAN side of the TL-WA7210.
Is there such a beast? Is there a specific name for it?
I Gioogled for "wifi ap with ethernet switch" and found this;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-WN604-100UKS-Wireless-Access-Point/dp/B003T...
I'll leave you to investigate further ...
Yes, "Access Point" seems to be the magic formula, thanks, I'm now looking at several possibles.
On 31/10/16 15:16, Chris Green wrote:
On Mon, Oct 31, 2016 at 09:34:56AM +0000, Huge wrote:
On Sun, 2016-10-30 at 21:46 +0000, Chris Green wrote:
This isn't really specifically a Linux question but I'm sure the ALUG team should be able to come up with an answer.
I want a box which is an ethernet switch/hub (ideally an 8-port though five might be just enough) and also provides WiFi. I.e. a switch with both wired and wifi connections. It doesn't have to have any other intelligence, it doesn't need to be a router or anything.
This is to hang onto the ethernet port of an outdoor WiFi access point which is running in WISP Client mode (a TP-Link TL-WA7210). The TL-WA7210 provides DHCP and DNS (via the WiFi hotspot it's connected to) so all I want is a box to provide multiple wired and wifi connections to the LAN side of the TL-WA7210.
Is there such a beast? Is there a specific name for it?
I Gioogled for "wifi ap with ethernet switch" and found this;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-WN604-100UKS-Wireless-Access-Point/dp/B003T...
I'll leave you to investigate further ...
Yes, "Access Point" seems to be the magic formula, thanks, I'm now looking at several possibles.
May I suggest you look at DD-WRT and get yourself a compatible device from Ebay rather than a mainstream one?
http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index
"DD-WRT is a Linux based alternative OpenSource firmware suitable for a great variety of WLAN routers and embedded systems. The main emphasis lies on providing the easiest possible handling while at the same time supporting a great number of functionalities within the framework of the respective hardware platform used."
Cheers, Laurie.
On Mon, Oct 31, 2016 at 03:22:15PM +0000, Laurie Brown wrote:
On 31/10/16 15:16, Chris Green wrote:
On Mon, Oct 31, 2016 at 09:34:56AM +0000, Huge wrote:
On Sun, 2016-10-30 at 21:46 +0000, Chris Green wrote:
This isn't really specifically a Linux question but I'm sure the ALUG team should be able to come up with an answer.
I want a box which is an ethernet switch/hub (ideally an 8-port though five might be just enough) and also provides WiFi. I.e. a switch with both wired and wifi connections. It doesn't have to have any other intelligence, it doesn't need to be a router or anything.
This is to hang onto the ethernet port of an outdoor WiFi access point which is running in WISP Client mode (a TP-Link TL-WA7210). The TL-WA7210 provides DHCP and DNS (via the WiFi hotspot it's connected to) so all I want is a box to provide multiple wired and wifi connections to the LAN side of the TL-WA7210.
Is there such a beast? Is there a specific name for it?
I Gioogled for "wifi ap with ethernet switch" and found this;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-WN604-100UKS-Wireless-Access-Point/dp/B003T...
I'll leave you to investigate further ...
Yes, "Access Point" seems to be the magic formula, thanks, I'm now looking at several possibles.
May I suggest you look at DD-WRT and get yourself a compatible device from Ebay rather than a mainstream one?
http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index
"DD-WRT is a Linux based alternative OpenSource firmware suitable for a great variety of WLAN routers and embedded systems. The main emphasis lies on providing the easiest possible handling while at the same time supporting a great number of functionalities within the framework of the respective hardware platform used."
I have already got an openwrt based device and, to be quite honest, it's a pain in the proverbial. When I got the openwrt compatible (a Mikrotik router) I looked at DD-WRT as well and it looked even more impenetrable than openwrt.
Going to the DD-WRT site the first problem one encounters is that it's backwards when searching for a compatible device. You have to guess a manufacturer that might make compatible devices.
It also seems that neither openwrt nor DD-WRT offer any sort of upgrade path. There is usually just one build and that's it. For example for my TP-Link WA7510N it has just:- V24 PreSP2 [Beta] Build:21061 and the files are dated 2013. It doesn't fill one with confidence.
Going to the DD-WRT site the first problem one encounters is that it's backwards when searching for a compatible device. You have to guess a manufacturer that might make compatible devices.
... and typically in my experience with DD-WRT and openwrt, there's a banner on the DD-WRT home page announcing Buffalo AirStation routers which run DD-WRT natively. Click on the link and you get "Page not found" with no indication that Buffalo do actually make DD-WRT based routers.
** Laurie Brown laurie@brownowl.com [2016-10-31 15:40]:
On 31/10/16 15:16, Chris Green wrote:
On Mon, Oct 31, 2016 at 09:34:56AM +0000, Huge wrote:
On Sun, 2016-10-30 at 21:46 +0000, Chris Green wrote:
This isn't really specifically a Linux question but I'm sure the ALUG team should be able to come up with an answer.
I want a box which is an ethernet switch/hub (ideally an 8-port though five might be just enough) and also provides WiFi. I.e. a switch with both wired and wifi connections. It doesn't have to have any other intelligence, it doesn't need to be a router or anything.
This is to hang onto the ethernet port of an outdoor WiFi access point which is running in WISP Client mode (a TP-Link TL-WA7210). The TL-WA7210 provides DHCP and DNS (via the WiFi hotspot it's connected to) so all I want is a box to provide multiple wired and wifi connections to the LAN side of the TL-WA7210.
Is there such a beast? Is there a specific name for it?
I Gioogled for "wifi ap with ethernet switch" and found this;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-WN604-100UKS-Wireless-Access-Point/dp/B003T...
I'll leave you to investigate further ...
Yes, "Access Point" seems to be the magic formula, thanks, I'm now looking at several possibles.
May I suggest you look at DD-WRT and get yourself a compatible device from Ebay rather than a mainstream one?
http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index
"DD-WRT is a Linux based alternative OpenSource firmware suitable for a great variety of WLAN routers and embedded systems. The main emphasis lies on providing the easiest possible handling while at the same time supporting a great number of functionalities within the framework of the respective hardware platform used."
Cheers, Laurie.
** end quote [Laurie Brown]
OpenWRT is another option, slightly more complex, but more flexible. I've got an old D-Link DIR-615 that I was given from an old Virgin cable installation running DD-WRT which runs quite nicely (although running anything as a wifi extender with both clients and the connection back to the main network using the same wifi isn't ideal). I now have a Netgear WNDR 3700 and a TPlink TL-WDR3600 that I'm playing with OpenWRT on as replacements.
It is amazing what you can do with a fairly cheap router and either of these firmwares. It is worth checking closely the compatibility of the router you get though, even down to version number. If you look at the Netgear WNDR 3700 for example, there are 5 revisions with quite different hardware in spite of the common name. The first two are with mainly an upgrade to the Flash from 8MB to 16M; the third changes the chipset completely, but is still suppored (droping the Flash back to 8M); the fourth returns to the original chipset family and is the best option doubling the RAM to 128M and jumping up to 128M on the Flash too; the fifth changes chipset again and is incompatible with either firmware. Sadly one of mine is a v5 (in spite of being advertised as a v4, but the combination of eBay and Currys and the fact that they changed the details on the listing between me reading it and purchasing has meant I am stuck with it). The onboard firmware looked promising (openvpn support for example), but is in fact dire. You can use openvpn or ipv6, not both and can use it as a range extender or have wireless security, not both! Nice features for the box, but no use if you actually want to use them.
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Chris Green -
Huge -
Laurie Brown -
Paul Tansom