Creating a Wireless Bridge Between Two Routers
I have a network in my house with a lot of devices connected in different ways. I have a Linksys WRT54G wireless g router as my access point. Plugged in to that is a DLink gigabit switch. Plugged into that are 3 Macs and Linux server. I also have a Windows laptop connected to the router via Wi-Fi.
This all worked great, and I never had a wiring issue because all of these computers are in the lower level of my house, and I have a utility room that is located in such a way that it shares a wall with almost every other room on the floor. I ran into a bit of a problem when I wanted to connect my first-gen XBox to the network and use it in my home gym upstairs to watch TV shows stored on the server.
I didn’t want to drill a hole in the floor to get a network cable upstairs. I couldn’t do that even if I wanted to because of where the gym was. So, I started thinking of buying a wireless adapter for the XBox, but that was going to be about $75 bucks. Then, I started thinking that I might be able to create a wireless bridge between 2 routers.
A wireless bridge uses the Wi-Fi capability of two routers to connect them instead of using an ethernet cable. This is easily accomplished using 3rd party router firmware from DD-WRT and following these instructions.
There are a couple of things to consider before trying to do this:
- Installing 3rd party firmware on a router can void your warranty, and if not done correctly, can brick it.
- Not all routers are supported by the DD-WRT firmware. Check their hardware compatibility chart.
- You’ll be limited to one device connected to the second router. If you add more, it’s the router’s mac address that gets stored in the routing table, not the end device. This will definitely cause problems.
I wonder if there’s a way to overcome the last point? It would be great to be able to use the second router to extend wireless range.
Links for the Week Ending September 14, 2008
- Control.Window : Windows, Modals, LightBoxes and Tooltips for Prototype
- datejs - Google Code
- Galleria - a Javascript Image Gallery | DevKick Lab
- Google Chrome Portable Edition
- UserVoice » Customer Feedback 2.0
- Photo Fredericton Inc ::
- TWIP - This Week in Photography
- KenRockwell.com
- macosxhints.com - Disable iTunes store arrow links in iTunes 8
Fire Maker
Over the Labour Day weekend, some friends and I got together and we were playing around with light painting and long exposures. Here’s one of the shots we got. I was holding a sparkler in my hand and we used a 10 second exposure time.
Get Push Email with Apple Mail & Gmail
Apple Hearts Gmail
I came across this tidbit of information at macosxhints.com that shows you how you can get push email functionality from Apple’s Mail client using Gmail.
the only things you need to do are:
1. Go into Mail » Preferences » Accounts (Advanced) and make sure that Use IDLE command if the server supports it is enabled (it’s enabled by default).
2. (This is the fun part) Again go into Mail » Preferences » General and set Check for new Mail to Manually.Now send yourself a new message (preferably from a different account) and watch the fun.
This is great! I know there have been times where I was expecting an email, and I was so impatient to see it, that when clicking ‘Get Mail’ produced no results, I just logged into the webmail client instead. This way, my Gmail is pushed to Apple Mail, and I’ll never have to wait again.
Links for the Week Ending August 17, 2008
- Class: MsDoc Generator (doc, OpenOffice, word doc, doc to html) - PHP Classes
- Jeffrey Friedl’s Blog » Jeffrey’s “Export to Flickr” Lightroom Plugin
- Finding Paths through the World’s Photos
- Beyond CAPTCHA: No Bots Allowed! [Privacy and Trust]
- Globex Designs - Google Redesigned
- DHTML Menu, Javascript Menu, Drop-Down Menu Maker. AllWebMenus DHTML menu solutions.
Great Audio and Video Podcasts
I’ve been listening podcasts for years. They’re a great way to keep current on any topic of your choosing, or just for pure entertainment’s sake. I love listening to them during my commute to work (or at work) instead of the radio (I’m sick of being force-fed the musical genius of most of today’s artists).
More and more though, I’ve been watching video podcasts and internet TV shows. They’ve been great this summer since there hasn’t been much new content on traditional TV. I watch them on my iPod, and sometimes through Front Row on my HDTV. You’d be surprised at the quantity and quality of the content out there.
I’ve had a few people ask me about what I’m listening to/watching, so I thought I’d share some of the best ones here.
Audio Podcasts
- CBC Radio: Vinyl Cafe Stories
- MacBreak Weekly
- This Week in Photography
- This Week in Tech
- Windows Weekly
Video Podcasts
Now, that’s a lot of content considering most of those are published weekly, if not daily. But the beauty is that a lot of times, the content is short (5 minutes or less). It’s enough to give you a quick fix for your topic to hold you over ’til the next 5 minutes (or the longer weekly show as is the case for Tekzilla and popSiren).
This type of entertainment is getting pretty big. Big enough for networks to start forming. Some of my favourite video podcasts come from Revision3, and some of my favourite audio podcasts come from twit.tv, but there are plenty of others out there.
If you have some other good ones, don’t be shy about letting me know either in the comments, or via Twitter.
Enjoy!
