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®
Instant Wireless Series
Wireless-B
Notebook Adapter
Use this Guide to install: WPC11
User Guide
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COPYRIGHT & TRADEMARKS INDUSTRY CANADA (CANADA) This Class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003. Copyright © 2002 Linksys, All Rights Reserved. Instant Wireless, Linksys, and the Cet appareil numérique de la classe B est conforme à la norme NMB-003 du Canada. Linksys logo are registered trademarks of Linksys Group, Inc. Microsoft, Windows, and The use of this device in a system operating either partially or completely outdoors may require the Windows logo are registered trademark
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Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1 The Wireless-B Notebook Adapter 1 Appendix A: Troubleshooting 27 Features 1 Common Problems and Solutions 27 Frequently Asked Questions 28 Chapter 2: Planning Your Wireless Network 2 Appendix B: Glossary 32 Network Topology 2 Ad-Hoc versus Infrastructure Mode 2 Appendix C: Specifications 40 Environmental 40 Chapter 3: Getting to Know the Wireless-B Notebook Adapter 4 The Adapter’s LEDs 4 Appendix D: Warranty Information 41 Chapter 4: Using the Setup Wi
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Planning Your Wireless The Wireless-B Notebook Adapter Network The Linksys Wireless-B Notebook Adapter lets your notebook communicate Network Topology with the popular 802.11b wireless network standard. 802.11b wireless net- works are commonly found in corporate environments, and are used in homes A wireless local area network (WLAN) is exactly like a regular local area net- for household Internet connectiv
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter If the wireless network is relatively small and needs to share resources only Chapter 3: Getting to Know the with the other computers on the wireless network, then the ad-hoc mode can be used. (See Figure 2-2.) Ad-hoc mode allows computers equipped with wire- less transmitters and receivers to communicate directly with each other, elimi- Wireless-B Notebook Adapter nating the need for an access point. The drawback of this mode is that, in Ad
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter 1. To install the PC Card, click the Install button on the Welcome screen, Chapter 4: Using the Setup Wizard Figure 4-1. Click User Guide to view the User Guide or click Exit to exit the Setup Wizard. to Configure Windows 98SE, Me, 2. After reading the License Agreement on the following screen, shown in Figure 4-2, click the Next button to continue the installation, or click the and 2000 Cancel button to end the installation. The Adapter’s Se
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter In the SSID field, enter the SSID (Network Name) of your wireless net- 5. The next screen, shown in Figure 4-5, will ask you to review your settings work. The SSID must be identical for all devices in the network. The before it starts to copy files. Click the Next button to save these settings, or default set- click the Back button to change any settings. ting is linksys (all lower- case). Click the Next but- ton, or click the Back but- to
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter Chapter 5: Hardware Installation Chapter 6: Driver Installation and Important for Windows 98SE, Me, and 2000 users: You must run Configuration for Windows XP the Setup Wizard to install the software before installing the hardware. Overview Important for Windows XP users: You must install the PC Card’s After inserting it into your notebook, you will install the driver and configure hardware before installing the software. the Adapter. 1. Turn
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter 2. The following screen, shown in Figure 6-2, mentions Windows XP com- Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration patibility. The Adapter has For Windows XP users: Windows XP has a built-in configuration tool. been tested and Use Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration (in the system tray at is compatible the bottom of your screen) to configure the PC Card. with Windows XP. Click the Contin ue 1. After installing the PCCard, the Anyway but- Window
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter 3. The screen in Figure 6- Chapter 7: Using the WLAN Monitor 5 will appear. Enter the WEP key of your wire- less network in the for Windows 98SE, Me, and 2000 Network key field, and Overview re-enter it in the Confirm network key Use the WLAN Monitor to check the link information, search for available field. Click the wireless networks, or create profiles that hold different configuration settings. Connect button. Accessing the WLAN Monitor A
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter Link Information The Link Information screen, shown in Figure 7-3, displays signal strength and link quality information about the current connection and provides a button to click for additional status information. Figure 7-4 Wireless Network Status State - The status of the wireless network connection. SSID - The unique name of the wireless network. Wireless Mode - The mode of the wireless network currently in use. Transfer Rate - The da
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter Site Survey The Site Survey screen, shown in Figure 7-5, displays a list of infrastructure and ad-hoc networks available for connection. Figure 7-6 In the WEP drop-down box, select the type of WEP encryption used by the wireless network: 64-bit/10 hex.characters, or 128-bit/26 hex.characters WEP. Figure 7-5 SSID - The SSID or unique name of the wireless network. If the wireless network uses a passphrase, enter the passphrase in the Signal -
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter Import - Click the Import button to import a profile that has been saved in Profiles another location. Select the appropriate file, in the screen that appears (Figure 7-8), and click the Open button. The Profiles screen, shown in Figure 7-7, lets you save different configuration profiles for different network setups. You can also import or export profiles. The default profile holds the initial configuration saved when you ran the Setup Wizard
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter 2. The Choose a wireless mode screen (Figure 7-12) shows a choice of two Creating a New Profile wireless modes. Click the Infrastructure Mode radio button if you want 1. On the Profiles screen, shown in Figure 7-10, click the New button to cre- your wireless computers to communicate with computers on your wired ate a new profile. network via a wireless access point. Click the Ad-Hoc Mode radio button if you want multiple wireless computers t
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter 3. The Wireless Settings screen, shown in Figure 7-13, will appear. If you 4. The Network Setting screen, shown in Figure 7-14, will appear. chose Infrastructure Mode, go to Step 4 now. If you chose Ad-Hoc Mode, select the correct operating channel for your network from the Channel If your network has a DHCP server, click the radio button next to Obtain drop-down menu. Click the Next button, and go to Step 4. Click the Back an IP address au
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter 5. The Security Settings screen, shown in Figure 7-15, will appear. Enable or 6. The Confirm New disable Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption for your wireless net- Settings screen work. If you enable WEP, enter a Passphrase or WEP key. Click the Next (Figure 7-16) will button to continue or the Back button to return to the previous screen. appear. To save the new settings, click WEP (Disabled/64-bit WEP/128-bit WEP) - If you do not want
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter If the Adapter does not function after attempting the above steps, Appendix A: Troubleshooting remove the card and do the following: Uninstall the driver software from your PC. Restart your PC and repeat the hardware and software installation as This chapter provides solutions to problems usually occurring during the instal- specified in this User Guide. lation and operation of the Adapter. Read the description below to solve your 3. I ca
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter What is Infrastructure? What is ISM band? An integrated wireless and wired LAN is called an Infrastructure configura- The FCC and their counterparts outside of the U.S. have set aside bandwidth tion. Infrastructure is applicable to enterprise scale for wireless access to a cen- for unlicensed use in the ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) band. tral database, or wireless application for mobile workers. Spectrum in the vicinity of 2.4 GHz
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter ® Can Instant Wireless products support file and printer sharing? TM Appendix B: Glossary Instant Wireless products perform the same function as LAN products. TM Therefore, Instant Wireless products can work with Netware, Windows NT/2000, or other LAN operating systems to support printer or file sharing. 802.11b - One of the IEEE standards for wireless networking hardware. Products that adhere to a specific IEEE standard will work with each o
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® Instant Wireless Series Wireless-B Notebook Adapter sion multiplexing with carrier sense multiple access/collision detection Driver - A workstation or server software module that provides an interface (CSMA/CD) to avoid having collisions occur a second time. This works best if between a network interface card and the upper-layer protocol software running the time allocated is short compared to packet length and if the number of sit- in the computer; it is designed for a specific NIC, and is in
