Network cards and Win98SE

[John Foust]

At 03:02 AM 5/14/2019, Christian Corti via cctalk wrote:
>On Mon, 13 May 2019, Grant Taylor wrote:
>>"Gaming adapters" take a wired computer and connect it to a wireless network.
>
>That "adapter" has always been called a WLAN or wireless bridge.

I've known the term "gaming adapter" because I knew it was the common
name for what I'd call a dedicated wireless network bridge.  Just another
fine example of how gaming has come to dominate parts of the computer world.
They who sell the most get to name the thing.

Once you start playing with a few, you'll learn whether they are easy
or difficult to administer (usually via a web interface at a fixed IP), 
whether you can truly rely on them, and the quirks of whatever method 
they use to act like a no-cat network cable.

Are they truly layer 2 in every sense?  Maybe not.  Are they duping
MAC addresses in weird ways?  Maybe.  Many were designed and tested to
work with yesterday's gaming consoles, not necessarily all the subtle 
nature of full-stack networking you might want to throw at it.

And yes, you can change the mode of other off-the-shelf consumer 
firewall/router/WiFi AP devices to act like bridges.

Another option (that doesn't require any configuration) is the AC powerline
adapter, which will deliver a layer 2 connection across the power in
your walls.

I missed the start of this discussion...  exactly why did you want to
rely on a wireless connection and couldn't string a network cable?

- John