Wire free stupidity

[Satch]

No.1 son has finally got the bits of his new gaming 'puter lashed together and running. Very impressive apart from the fact that simply could not get the wireless card to work. Hardwired into our router all is well, but no go on wireless.

So I spend ages trawling through Linksys support, uninstalled everything, took out the card, downloaded the right drivers for needed for Vista and started all over again. Nothing. dead as a doornail. Harumph.

Swapped card into another Vista 'puter and worked fine. Hmm.

Back to new 'puter and hours of useless tinkering. Then, being hardwired to the router, it tells me some Microsoft updates are available so off we go.

Staring blankly at screen as they download and install and .... they all say Vista 64 bit. Genius boy had failed to mention he had decided on a 64 bit system and there is nothing that tells you that. And guess what? The Linksys drivers for their cards still do not support Vista 64bit.

In fact there are only 8 Vista 64 bit certified wireless cards on the market.

Enough to turn you into a Luddite

 

[dsolds]

Which highlights my point about avoiding Vista in the same way you would avoid a heart attack.

Working as a solution designer for a major well know Technology company (think EDF energy and maybe change the last letter) I see this all the time. Our desktop design team (over 1200 people) have so far declared Vista as "unsupportable in a commercial environment"

There is too little hardware supported, particularly at 64 bit which is where the benefits will come from, the OS is too restricitve about applications it will run and there are still a myriad of security issues with it. Until application vendors and hardware vendors start catering for Vista 64 bit natively (and M$ do away with the 32 bit version) this situation will not change one iota.

It seems to take a step forward in the "pretty it up" stakes we have to take several steps back in the "keep it stable and working" stakes. Form over function yet again.

 

[Ratz]

Which highlights my point about avoiding Vista in the same way you would avoid a heart attack.

Working as a solution designer for a major well know Technology company (think EDF energy and maybe change the last letter) I see this all the time. Our desktop design team (over 1200 people) have so far declared Vista as "unsupportable in a commercial environment"

There is too little hardware supported, particularly at 64 bit which is where the benefits will come from, the OS is too restricitve about applications it will run and there are still a myriad of security issues with it. Until application vendors and hardware vendors start catering for Vista 64 bit natively (and M$ do away with the 32 bit version) this situation will not change one iota.

It seems to take a step forward in the "pretty it up" stakes we have to take several steps back in the "keep it stable and working" stakes. Form over function yet again.

Very well put sir . At our Uni we bought an 'early adopters' licence (read cheap!) but then tell our users that it is not supported - go figure. But it works with virtually nothing, regularly goes belly up - a nightmare.

 

[Satch]

Problem solved by fitting an Asus WL-138g V2 card.

Now just 1 or 2 second lag spikes every 10 minutes to deal with!

 

[Sp!ke]

Not quite sure why people use wireless in a desktop, especially a performance desktop. Lay some cable, more reliable, infinately better performance and secure.

Wireless is, or should be only for mobility.

 

[Satch]

Not quite sure why people use wireless in a desktop, especially a performance desktop. Lay some cable, more reliable, infinately better performance and secure.

Wireless is, or should be only for mobility.

True. But with four desktops, three laptops, scanner, two printers, Xbox 360 and a PS3 dotted about that falls into the can't be arrsed catagory

 

[Sp!ke]

I make that 10 or so devices.

Christ your wireless network must be slow.

 

[Satch]

I make that 10 or so devices.

Christ your wireless network must be slow.

Keep waiting for it to all to grind to a halt as devices add up but so far it is fine.

Having a 20Mb broadband connection and being on a sparsely populated cable end helps. Usually see 12/14Mb during the day and over 19Mb late night.

 

[Sp!ke]

Not your broadband connection... your wireless must be slow.

Unlike a switch where each port is 100mb/s, you're sharing a single 54mb/s connection. Internally, your networking speeds must suck.

 

[raymont]

Not your broadband connection... your wireless must be slow.

Unlike a switch where each port is 100mb/s, you're sharing a single 54mb/s connection. Internally, your networking speeds must suck.

Kind of depends on how many devices are operating concurrently and what they're doing.

 

[IanA2]

Not your broadband connection... your wireless must be slow.

Unlike a switch where each port is 100mb/s, you're sharing a single 54mb/s connection. Internally, your networking speeds must suck.

I have four devices on my wireless network with a theoretical 5M connection which usually runs about 3.5m.....I don't find it too slow....

 

[Satch]

Not your broadband connection... your wireless must be slow.

Unlike a switch where each port is 100mb/s, you're sharing a single 54mb/s connection. Internally, your networking speeds must suck.

No doubt it could be faster but in practical terms no ill effects that anybody complains about.

 

[Sp!ke]

I guess its down to just what you're requirements are and what you're used to.

You're probably getting real world 2mb/s half duplex across your internal lan at times with that setup. I couldn't go back there having got used to gigabit ethernet to the desk at home and work for the last couple of years.

 

[IanA2]

I guess its down to just what you're requirements are and what you're used to.

You're probably getting real world 2mb/s half duplex across your internal lan at times with that setup. I couldn't go back there having got used to gigabit ethernet to the desk at home and work for the last couple of years.

The 3.5 figure comes from a speed tester thingy I have with my wireless management system (Pure Network Management). Is Mr PMN telling porkies?