Re: Definition of terms

On Mon, 26 Jun 2006 20:33:10 GMT, Gordon <gordonlr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Can anyone steer me to a book or other source of definitions for
and explanations of the terms used in this technology?

Book? This is the internet, where search engines, Blogs, wiki's and
FAQ's rule the road. Books are obsolete.

What is a Subnet Mask? Net Mask? WAN IP Address? LAN IP Address?
VPI? VCI? and so on.

I'm tempted to supply humorous definitions, but I suspect you're
serious and won't like that.

There are numerous online glossaries that explain these terms. Some
are very terse. Others supply more details. I suspect that defining
some of these terms will do little for your unless they are explained
in context with the others. Therefore, instead of a glossary, I
suggest a tutorial on basic TCP/IP networking and wireless.

I suggest reading:

Wireless Networking basics (12 pages):
| http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2006/02/27/wireless_networking_ntk_2006/

Wired routers (16 pages):
| http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2006/05/16/hardware_router_need_to_know_2006/

Our Wi-Fi FAQ (might be a bit advanced but has lots of links):
| http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi

Wikipedia Wi-Fi guide (with even more links and terms):
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-fi

If just one hardware manufacturer could get it through their
heads that most of their customers aren't Wi-Fi nerds, and have
only a minimal understanding of these terms, then present their
system setup facilities to us such that we could understand them,
I'm sure this manufacturer could take the market away from all
those who persist in keeping all such information encoded and
deeply concealed in NERD LANGUAGE.

Ask and ye shall receive. Direct from the manufacturer:
http://www.linksys.com
and click the "Learning Center" button on the top bar. It's really
quite good. Flash player required.

The setup instructions for my LinkSys components all mention IP
address in several different regions of the setup process, but
leaves me guessing as to which particular IP address they are
referring to.

Oh, it's quite simple. The WAN IP address is on the internet side of
the router. It's usually a routeable IP address assigned by the ISP.

The LAN IP address is on the LAN (local area network) side of the
router. That's your own wireless network. It's usually
192.168.1.xxx. Additional IP addresses in this form are assigned by
the DHCP server in your router to wired and wireless clients on your
LAN as they connect.

I have precious little insight as to what specific
IP address the setup program is referring to...LAN IP, WAN IP,
ISP IP, or what ever.

Hint: Do NOT use the setup program. Point your web browser to
192.168.1.1 which is probably the LAN IP address for your router. Go
through the menus and learn the terms. There's help button with some
rather terse but useful details. The basic connectivity stuff is all
on the first page (usually labelled general).

If you have any specific setup questions, I suggest you supply the
model number and hardware version of your Linksys router.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558 jeffl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@xxxxxxxxxx
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS
.

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