new to wi-fi and need info

[johnee]

hi folks
i have put together a pentium 3 256mb pc for my son and i am running a pentium 4 with 2gb of ram. i would like to network them with wi-fi.the to pc's are running win xp home service pack 2.my broadband modem is a zoom adsl usb (model number 5510b )

my question is what hardware would i need to buy to have wi-fi.
i was thinking along the lines of buying 2 NETGEAR Wireless PCI Adapter 54 Mbps 802.11g and popping them in to each machine.would that be all i need or do i need a router as well.


link for netgear wireless pci adapter
http://www.netgear.com/Products/Adapters/GWirelessAdapters/WG311.aspx

 

[tlarkin]

here is a good place to start

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi

Also, you may want to plan out how your network is going to be then look into buying equipment. Luckily a basic home network is real basic. You could do something like this

Internet > Modem > wifi router > PC 1 --------------PC 2

Have your modem hookup to a wifi router, then wire your machine into the router and have your sons PC connect wirelessly. This adds security and if you wanted to cut your son off from the internet (say like late on a school night) a lot of routers have a button to turn off the wifi access.

 

[computerhakk]

Yeah, those cards should work. Now, all you need is the router to go with it. Since those are netgear, you might want to get a netgear just to make sure. I'm not saying there will be any incompatibility issue, but it's just a thought. But it all depends on your and which router you pick because nowadays, most wireless cards will and should pick up the signal without any problems or incompatibility. Go through a couple reviews and look for one router you like and trust.

I just recently got one a couple days ago. I eventually ended up with the Linksys WRT54gs although the WRT54g is exactly the same. I just wanted the speedbooster option for future use if I do plan to use it.