Building a wireless home network

[mycroftt]

I'm building a wireless home network a component at a time. So far we have trashed the old desktop and gone with a laptop and a wireless router. I'm on the verge of getting a second laptop and that's where the decisions start creeping in.

The printer should probably be made into a network printer. I understand that this will require a printer server. I haven't looked into printer servers yet, but if they can be connected wireless I'll probably go that way just for the convenience of being able to bring the printer anywhere in the house so you don't have to keep going to the den to get your printouts.

The next decision will involve external hard drive(s). I'm going to use external drive(s) for backups, music storage, photo storage, etc. Does anybody know if I can set one up as a network drive? I assume there would have to be some kind of server to create a network node, and this one definitely doesn't have to be wireless - I could just cable it right into the router.

Any advice, reality checks, or potential "gotcha's"? Thanks.

 

[phatch]

Many printers now come with a network port so they act as their own servers.

There are some network capable external hard disks. I'd just use an older computer outfited with big disks for the home network.

I think it's a bit early to commit to a wireless house as I'm holding out of the N rated wireless standard which isn't finalized yet. There's plenty of gear out there with variants of the proposed N standard. As long as you buy all the same make you should be OK in that regard.

 

[jimmyjones]

I picked up a $40 dollar ethernet to USB print spooler (it's tiny). Plugged it into the spare ethernet on the wireless router, the USB port on the printer, and ran the install.

every computer on the network can use the printer. It was cheap and easy.

 

[comet]

I picked up a $40 dollar ethernet to USB print spooler (it's tiny). Plugged it into the spare ethernet on the wireless router, the USB port on the printer, and ran the install.

every computer on the network can use the printer. It was cheap and easy.

Where can I pick one up? Sounds cool! Thanks

 

[yermom]

Many printers now come with a network port so they act as their own servers.

There are some network capable external hard disks. I'd just use an older computer outfited with big disks for the home network.

I think it's a bit early to commit to a wireless house as I'm holding out of the N rated wireless standard which isn't finalized yet. There's plenty of gear out there with variants of the proposed N standard. As long as you buy all the same make you should be OK in that regard.

that is basically how i do it

this can also be a print server...

 

[modalnot]

you might want to try something like this http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Sate...289494&pagename=Linksys/Common/VisitorWrapper

it will plug into printer's usb port and acts as a ethernet print server.
if you are looking at a printer with an ethernet port, you would need to purchase an extra wireless access point and plug the printer into that, or of course your existing router.

as for adding extra drive space, it looks like those 1 terabyte drives are acutally 2 internal drives spanned together. lose one drive and you lost the whole thing. stay with external ethernet disk drives that have only one drive or ones that say they use raid5. try someplace like newegg.com and see what people say in their feedback as a starting point.