On Fri, 2009-06-19 at 17:06 -0400, Robert Moskowitz wrote: > Julian Thomas wrote: > > > > Why not look at a small access point that plugs into the RJ45 and uses USB for power? DLink DWL-G730AP or > > other equivalent. > > If it really is an AP, it won't do the job, as an AP cannot be a client > to another AP. 802.11 DOES have the concept of a wireless backbone, > called WDS (wireless distribution system), but it is not yet defined > (Work In Progress: 802.11s, I am a contributor to the security > features). So each vendor has its own WDS implementation (MIT's OnePC > implements part of draft 1 of 802.11s). > > Of course there are devices out there that are referred to as wireless > bridges (Linksys WRT54g is one) that act as a client and bridges an > ethernet as a single client to the AP. Note that a wireless bridge is > NOT an AP. Of course there are probably devices out there that can be > configured either way.... > > Note, I work on the 802.11 standards and know them well, but I don't > know of all the flavors of implementations out in the wild. At least when running the Tomato Firmware, the Linksys WRT54GL (L = linux) and WRT54G versions 4 and earlier (also linux-based) run WDS as hosts/clients very effectively. I run several GLs as access points across my lan with 0-2 more as WDS clients as needed. As a side note, Tomato Firmware allows you to adjust transmitter power up to 6 times the normal level and that has let me go through some very think brick walls to pick up remote network cameras. I should point out that both the host (access point) and client need to be WRT54G/L routers for the above scenarios to work. As RM said, WDS is vendor dependent. Steve