Dear Bargain Hunters,

I've been keeping a close eye on the prices for 802.11b wireless adapters and related equipment for my eComStation system. The prices keep coming down.

First of all, please be aware that 802.11b's WEP encryption standard is not secure. It's better than nothing, but it's got problems (which you can read about lots of places). So for really secure connections, be sure to use a VPN (like Injoy) and/or HTTPS (SSL).

Second, I'm still a big fan of the wireless bridges I have mentioned in the past. So please keep those in mind. Those are coming down in price, too.

But I've recently (and successfully) experimented with the IBM High Rate Wireless Mini PCI Adapter (part number 22P7701) in the IBM ThinkPad T30 (and will probably try some other ThinkPad model soon), and it works like a charm with the IBMPRISM.EXE driver available through Software Choice (subscription only). These adapters seem to be rather plentiful and affordable now. Use http://froogle.google.com to search for this part number and you should find vendors selling them for around $50. (Froogle's lowest price sorting doesn't work right, so look through all the pages for best results.) You can also occasionally find them on eBay.

This adapter also works like a charm with almost every distribution of Linux -- I tested SuSE 9.1 -- and Windows (ugh). It installs inside "wireless-ready" IBM ThinkPads. It's an Intel/Xircom OEMed part.

Be sure to use the WiFiStat utility that comes with the driver to configure WEP, SSID, etc. (PROTOCOL.INI settings don't seem to do much, actually.) You should also delay DHCPSTRT until after bootup -- don't run it in MPTNBINSETUP.CMD, for example. (On my system I've configured multiple CONFIG.SYS files that I can pick during bootup. If I hit the letter W, I get the wireless configuration.)

I'm using the USR 8011 wireless router I mentioned some time ago -- a good bargain find that some of you got, too. FYI, interestingly it accepts the SMC Europe firmware, Version 1.96h3, designed for the Barricade 7004AWBR. Looks like the same Taiwanese company made both. (I like SMC's firmware better than USR's. It actually manages to hold a connection with WEP encryption enabled.)

I can also use eComStation wirelessly at Starbucks now, surfing and working while listening to KCAA's feed of Air America Radio. Pretty amazing.

In other news, there are some great printer deals that I've seen recently. The Epson C84 color inkjet printer -- works with the C80 driver -- seems to be in deep discount right now at places like Office Depot. (The C84 has both parallel and USB ports, and that's handy.) So is the Brother HL-1440, which Staples had recently well under $100. These deals come and go, so keep monitoring shopping sites like http://www.fatwallet.com for details.

Finally, I'd like to put in a plug for Ghostscript/GSview for PDF creation, viewing, and printing. It's well worth the modest registration price, and you can try it first. Looks like the authors fixed the remaining printing problems I was having, so now I can wirelessly print PDFs from GSview to my USR router-attached HP LaserJet. From my front porch. Wow.

I have no affiliation with any of these companies. Caveat emptor.

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