[mythtv-users] Wireless Pre-N for Linux?

[Jarod Wilson]

On Monday 26 March 2007 09:45:37 Peter A. Daly wrote:
> On 3/25/07, William Munson <william_munson at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> > Ken Mandelberg wrote:
> > > My 802.11G wireless setup is just two slow for HD between the front and
> > > backends. Are their Pre-N solutions with Linux drivers (USB, PC card
> >
> > nics)?
> > There are a number of wireless solutions for linux however its still not
> > going to allow you to view HD over a wireless network. 802.11G is just
> > not fast enough.  From what I can see, the only option is cat5/6 cable.
>
> Will 108Mbit do it?  With a matching (D-LINK) wireless router, the D-Link
> DWL-820 will do 108Mbit.  It's a wireless gaming adapter that plugs into
> the ethernet port, so it doesn't need drivers.
>
> http://www.mythpvr.com/mythtv/hardware/wireless_gaming_adapter-802.11g.html
>
> I use it with a standard 54g network, so I can't really speak to the 108
> aspects, but it says it does it.  I use mine for a SD MiniMyth frontend.

You might have better results with the supposed 108Mbps stuff. I'd suggest 
trying a file transfer benchmark. Simply scp a large file over your 
connection and see what sort of throughput you get, taking note along the way 
of any stalls, drops in speed, etc.

> Come to think of it 108Mbit is higher than 100Mbit, so looking at the raw
> numbers, your 100Mbit ethernet would be the bottleneck.  In practice, I bet
> the wireless has overhead that eats up a chunk of the bandwidth before
> getting to ethernet.  Hmm...not like it really matters.

Wireless bandwidth claims are a joke -- more marketing bullshit than fact. 
Unless you have a clean line of sight and zero interference, good luck 
getting even *half* of the supposed throughput. I've got an 802.11g bridge at 
home, Linksys WAP54G as the base station on the main floor, Linksys WRT54GS 
as the bridge device upstairs, not much in between them but the 
ceiling/floor. Very typical setup someone would have in a home, and I can't 
get anything better than about 20Mbps sustained throughput.

-- 
Jarod Wilson
jarod at wilsonet.com