Wireless bridge using Linksys WGA54G Game adapter

[Techstyle]

Guys, thanks in advance for any help

I have 'acquired' a Linksys WGA54G Game adapter (http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1115416826619&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper) and want to use it as a bridge between a WIFI access point I have attached to the hydrid core and a Media Director I have in another room.  Is this possible?  if so, how do I set it up?  with the game adapter setup I can say what the IP address should be or let it be automatically assigned one?

For Info:
Hybrid/Core (living room)
•   Gigabyte GA-M61SME-S2 with GeForce 6100 (256Mb shared), Realtek 8201 phy (10/100Mbit – eth0) LAN onboard
•   AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+
•   2 x 1Gb DDRII
•   Nvidia GeForce 8600GT 512Mb (fitted but not working – yet)
•   10/100 LAN card (eth1)
•   Creative Labs Audigy2 ZS (connected to receiver by Digital Coax and multi channel Analogue – digital works, analogue is just stereo)
•   Western Digital 200 Gb IDE drive (boot drive)
•   Hitachi 450 Gb SATAII drive (NTFS with Windows MCE and all media)
•   Bluetooth Dongle (from www.techstyleuk.co.uk)
•   DVD Player with Lightscribe
•   Wireless Keyboard
•   Wireless Trackball Mouse (from www.techstyleuk.co.uk)
•   Windows MCE Remote with IR Blaster
•   LG RZ-37LZ55 37” LCD TV connected by RS232
•   Pioneer VSX-411 A/V Receiver – ‘Blasted’ by the IR Blaster
•   CM11A X10 interface connected by RS232
•   Microphone

MD1 (Master Bedroom)
•   Matsonic MS8147C VIA KT400 Chipset Socket A, Realtek RT8100B LAN (10/100 Mbit), AC’97 audio (sound did not work)
•   AMD Athlon XP 2600+
•   3 x 256Mb PC133 DDR
•   Elsa Erazor 8x AGP (Nvidia GeForce 440MX chipset) 128Mb
•   Creative Labs 5.1 sound card
•   Maxtor 40Gb IDE drive
•   CDRom
•   Viewsonic VE500 15” LCD Monitor
•   Cheapish Computer Speakers
•   Bluetooth Dongle (from www.techstyleuk.co.uk)
•   Wireless Trackball Mouse (from www.techstyleuk.co.uk)

Mobile Orbiter
•   O2 XDA Iii connected via WIFI (802.11b)

Network Equipment
•   Sky (Netgear) WIFI DSL router connected to eth0
•   Linksys WRT54G router connected to eth1, mobile orbiter connected via WIFI - MD1 needs to be connected via the game adapter if possible

[Techstyle]

I got this to work after days of messing about and getting frustrated.

The key to getting it working is the fact the Game adapter clones the MAC address of the computer it is attached to.

here are directions to setting up a WGA54G Game adapter as a bridge from a wireless access point that is connected to a core.

eg.   [CORE] ---cat5--- [linksys WRT54G] ~~~~~~~(Wireless)~~~~~~~~[linksys WGA54G] ---cat5--- [MD]

1.  Set up the MD using a cat5 cable attached to router directly (this will save you some time) - follow the directions on how to set up a diskless boot media director from the Wiki

2.  Attach a Hard drive to the MD either with Windows already on it or install windows on it.  Once this is installed set up the WGA54G as per the instructions.

3.  Disconnect the donor hard drive.  and set up the bios to PXE boot.

4.  reboot and it should diskless boot

The WGA54G only works with WEP so set the router up accordingly

These WGA54G devices are quite cheap, I paid £25

Good Luck

[pigdog]

Hi,

I've got a WRT54G but I was wondering about the WGA54G setup.

If you didn't have a donor HDD couldn't you just run the WGA54G setup disk from a CDROM/DVD drive to program the WGA54G?

Thanks.

[Techstyle]

the WGA54G setup disk is windows based.  If you run the device from any other machine it assumes that MAC address.

I tried to set it up with a laptop and the WGA54G was setup properly but it assumed the MAC address of the Laptop, when I connected back to the MD it would not PXE boot.  I stuck in a HDD with windows on it booted it up and then set it up from the MD, then successfully PXE booted into Linux MCE.

I am new to Linux but do have some experience on Windows systems so it was easier for me to do it that way.  The key is that you need to set up the WGA54G on the machine it is going to be attached to, however you do it is fine, I guess.

[pigdog]

Hi.

I was wondering about a DOS or whatever CDROM/DVD OS boot disk.  When you have an bootable OS loaded into memory if that was enough for the autorun on the Linksys disk to allow you to get things set up.  I'm just being lazy (plus do not have a spare HDD).  I do not want to rip a box apart that has a CDROM/DVD installed, then install a temp HDD, if I can use the existing CDROM/DVD to my advantage.

Thanks for your time.

[Techstyle]

Pigdog,

All of those are options, I was thinking about installing windows on a memory stick and booting from it, I think that would be useful for a number of projects.

With regards to my installation, I am not sure this method works very well.  The first time I got it to work it worked fine, since then I have had trouble getting my WiFi PDA orbiter working at the same time as the Wifi bridge connected MD.  I also have a condition where everything losses communication, like the DCErouter needs rebooting - I do remember a post that talked about a problem with a certain motherboard where the connection was unstable but I cannot find the post.

My issues may be related to the motherboard rather than the setup.  Once I have solved the m'brd issue I will post new results

techstyle

[pigdog]

Thanks for the info.

I'll watch for the results of your investigation.

Cheers.

[Techstyle]

I have now switched the NIC's of my core and have the internal network very stable (although my external network losses connection - but that is another story)

I have successfully streamed video and audio from the core to the MD wirelessly using the method discussed in the rest of this post.  Simultaneous video and audio with the core also works but the PXE boot takes a few mins longer than with wired.

[pigdog]

Hi,

Great stuff.  No problems with dropout during a movie?

 

[colinjones]

Just a thought - doesn't the adaptor have a web admin interface?? Surely all that needs to be "setup" is associating with an SSID, setting the WEP key, giving it a MAC address to copy.... having to use a "setup disk" for trivial stuff like this seems way excessive....

[Techstyle]

I watched a DVD sychronized with the core with no issues

As for the Web admin page.  I tried to access the web admin page instead of running the setup disk and it will not let you access the page until the setup program has told the device what its IP address is.  I tried the default and it didn't work, once the setup disk is complete you can access the admin page

[roberto99]

Hey, thanks for all that input ! I did not expect that much, I will look into this,but it will take time as I am not relly familiar with linux still

Will update this
Thanks and cheers
Roberto