So, I tried to go entirely wireless this evening, and I totally failed.
I purchased the WPSM54G printer server wireless device. The goal is to have a little island anywhere in my apartment where the printer sits. No long USB wire … no long ethernet cable. Just a printer and an antenna, on a table somplace. I got it home, connected the wires in the right order, and plugged it in.
Nothing.
I looked in the manual, skipped past the part about putting the Windows CD in and running the Windows setup, and found myself on the back page. That was all that was in the manual.
Then I went to the internet. Apparently, this device really, seriously, can only be set up via a magical windows setup program. No OS X. Some Linux l33t h4x00rz have gotten it to work with, like, their rad hacked Ubuntu or some crap. Is this an lpr mod that I can run on my laptop? No it is not. And yes, all of them pussed out and did the initial setup under Windows prior to showing their mad skillz. It does not even DHCP prior to the magic setup. Apparently, there is a web interface which allows you to configure the whole goddamn thing, but only *after* you use the windows setup. Aaaaaa! Smash!
Yes, I’m aware that I have Parallels, and I can run Windows on my Mac. Perhaps, tomorrow, I will cave and do that. Depends on how badly I feel like putting on pants and going to the store. The “pants vs. money and time” dilemma is common these days.
Okay, so fuck Linksys.
On to the XBox: I also bought the Xbox wireless adapter. The plan is to not have ethernet wires all over hell in the apartment. That didn’t work either. It did fine *discovering* the network … but the WEP key … not so much.
Gah.
At least I see 20Mb/sec download and (wait for it) 4.5Mb/sec upload speeds. F-ing badass.
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