Garage computer lab connectivity

A little bit off topic, but I'm looking for ideas.

I live in a Condo, and have my garage underneath it. The garage is totally "sealed", there is no access to it from up stairs unless you go down and open it.

I've already got my bench and power outlet setup. Also got a nice P4 tower from my father and set it up last night.

Now comes the connectivity part.

I have my Cable Modem router up stairs. I would like to connect my garage device into my LAN.

I was thinking:

1. Wireless card. With this route though, I won't be able to connect other machines I get unless I get a wireless card for each of them.

2. Powerline and an 8 port switch. I'm afraid the speeds won't be as good.

Ideas welcomed.

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Comments

earweed

If you have a wireless router upstairs then get a USB wireless adapter.
Amazon.com: usb wireless network adapter: Electronics

Netwurk

If you have a spare ethernet port on the router, just run a CAT5 wire down to the basement. Plug it into a switch and anything else you plug into that switch will be able to access the router. Just keep everything on the same subnet if you aren't using routers downstairs.

If you know how to make your own cables, you can use a smaller hole when you drill.

2URGSE

I can make my own cables, but I'm afraid of drilling into my floor...

I'll probably start with a USB wireless and see how the connectivity goes.

Time to put the 802.11 N to the test!

Netwurk

2URGSE wrote: »

I can make my own cables, but I'm afraid of drilling into my floor

My wife has that fear but I ignore her and drill anyway. The carpet covers the holes anyhow.

My network runs the opposite from yours. It starts in the basement and then goes upstairs. At one time I even had a line to the second floor, but now we just use wireless up there.

earweed

How about a wireless bridge? Found one on Amazon that would suit your needs.
Amazon.com: Cisco-Linksys Wireless-G Ethernet Bridge with 5-port Switch WET54GS5: Electronics

You'll find it's a lot cheaper to drill.

alan2308

earweed wrote: »

How about a wireless bridge? Found one on Amazon that would suit your needs.
Amazon.com: Cisco-Linksys Wireless-G Ethernet Bridge with 5-port Switch WET54GS5: Electronics

You'll find it's a lot cheaper to drill.

On this same train of thought, if you have another router laying around, put DD-WRT or OpenWRT on it and then it can act as a wireless bridge. This is how I have connectivity for my lab in the basement.

Reseven

+1 for drilling.

My wife actually trusts me to do it.

My PC was the only wired one in the house. I decided to run an ethernet cable to the basement for my workbench computer. The wife was jealous because my workbench PC had superior speed compared to the other systems that were wireless. Instead of going the N route, I just bought some more cables and drilled. Ran cable for the HTPC in the living room and her machine in her office. So much better than wireless. The only things left on wireless are the game boxes (I don't care about online gaming) and my laptop when I use it. Cost me less than $30 for all the ethernet cable vs $300 for an N router and new PC cards.

Drill baby drill.

dynamik

Don't be practical; that's not our way. Run fiber

Netwurk

dynamik wrote: »

Don't be practical; that's not our way. Run fiber

I use fiber to get from my rack to my workbench

eMeS

I have a similar situation. I use something like this:

Amazon.com: Netgear XE102 Powerline Ethernet Adapter: Electronics

I can't remember the exact brand/model that I own, but speed is not an issue.

MS

chmorin

dynamik wrote: »

Don't be practical; that's not our way. Run fiber

I'm with you on this. If you're going to drill a hole, might as well make it overkill!

eMeS

Netwurk wrote: »

My wife has that fear but I ignore her and drill anyway. The carpet covers the holes anyhow.

I'm guessing that I totally misread this...but, LOL.

MS

genXrcist

Connect your garage PC to the WLAN with a wireless adapter and then setup ICS. Then get yourself a switch and connect your LAN NIC to the Switch and voila!

Now just run cables from the switch to whatever you want to connect. As long as the ICS PC is up you'll be fine.

*edit: I just re-read OP and realized he doesn't need to connect multiple machines downstairs. In this case, I'd still use Wireless as opposed to EoP because I've heard that their security sucks (depending on the HW vendor) and your neighbors could tap into your network.

tha_dub

Just a tip when drilling through carpet make sure to cut a small hole first with an exacto blade otherwise you may find the drill pulls up a strip of carpet from one side of the room to the other. Thankfully for me someone else showed me the hard way what not to do.. ;0

Netwurk

eMeS wrote: »

I'm guessing that I totally misread this...but, LOL.

MS

Yes, a quote out of context can sound, um, different

tha_dub wrote: »

Just a tip when drilling through carpet make sure to cut a small hole first with an exacto blade otherwise you may find the drill pulls up a strip of carpet from one side of the room to the other. Thankfully for me someone else showed me the hard way what not to do.. ;0

I drill near the baseboard, of course taking care not to hit electrical wires. You just pull the carpet back and then tack it back down afterwords. No harm to the carpet at all.

Let's see if eMes can misinterpret that one too

Forsaken_GA

I agree, just drill the hole and drop your wire.

If your wife absolutely prohibits you, you could get a pair of access points and form a wireless bridge. Or just price out the most expensive AP's you can find for it, show your wife how much that will cost, and see if she'll reconsider her stance on the drilling policy.

tiersten

genXrcist wrote: »

In this case, I'd still use Wireless as opposed to EoP because I've heard that their security sucks (depending on the HW vendor) and your neighbors could tap into your network.

It'd be easier for your neighbours to get your WiFi signal than to hope that they're on the same phase as you so they get your powerline signal.

If you buy any recent HomeAV device then it will have encryption support. The earlier devices used DES encryption which is still generally good enough.

The downsides to powerline networking are that if you have interference from somebody else using it or big noisy loads like motors then you can't do much to solve it apart from buying and fitting a filter to the incoming mains supply along with individual filters on each noisy appliance.

eMeS

Netwurk wrote: »

No harm to the carpet at all.

Let's see if eMes can misinterpret that one too

I'm still trying to figure out what is this "carpet" you speak of?

MS

Netwurk

eMeS wrote: »

I'm still trying to figure out what is this "carpet" you speak of?

MS

You couldn't resist, could you?

I suggest we steer the subject back to basement labs.

Here's looking at you, kid

genXrcist

tiersten wrote: »

It'd be easier for your neighbours to get your WiFi signal than to hope that they're on the same phase as you so they get your powerline signal.

If you buy any recent HomeAV device then it will have encryption support. The earlier devices used DES encryption which is still generally good enough.

The downsides to powerline networking are that if you have interference from somebody else using it or big noisy loads like motors then you can't do much to solve it apart from buying and fitting a filter to the incoming mains supply along with individual filters on each noisy appliance.

Really? Even with WPA2-Personal & AES? As for EoP these guys make one of the best units I think.

http://www.amazon.com/Corinex-AV200-Powerline-Ethernet-Adapter/dp/B000NU253W/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3CP2Z19OLA1KP&colid=2BPLL7NFPMAV8

eMeS

Netwurk wrote: »

I suggest we steer the subject back to basement labs.

Gosh, I would, but it seems like establishing connectivity to a garage lab should be fairly simple. Not pointing the finger at anyone specifically, but it seems like you're getting a lot of over-engineered solutions proposed here.

MS

Netwurk

eMeS wrote: »

Gosh, I would, but it seems like establishing connectivity to a garage lab should be fairly simple. Not pointing the finger at anyone specifically, but it seems like you're getting a lot of over-engineered solutions proposed here.

MS

You are right, a lot of the folks here prefer using wireless instead of just poking a hole through the carpet

Forsaken_GA

Netwurk wrote: »

You are right, a lot of the folks here prefer using wireless instead of just poking a hole through the carpet

Personally, I don't like using wireless solutions to join two networks together. If I have the option to run a cable, I'll do that every single time. And if I have my choice of what cable to run, I'll take fiber every single time, if at all possible.

tiersten

genXrcist wrote: »

Really? Even with WPA2-Personal & AES?

Newer models of the powerline networking equipment (HomePlug AV) supports AES so I'd say they were equivalent. Even regular DES in the older models is going to be good enough for your home network.

genXrcist wrote: »

As for EoP these guys make one of the best units I think.

Amazon.com: Corinex AV200 Powerline Ethernet Adapter - Desktop: Electronics

Never heard of them. There aren't many manufacturers of the actual powerline networking chip though so they're generally all the same design with a different case and maybe different quality components.

Plantwiz

Netwurk wrote: »

My wife has that fear but I ignore her and drill anyway. The carpet covers the holes anyhow.

....

Yeah, the next person to own that house will love you for this

I had to fix several holes in my first home because someone was too lazy to pull the line through the wall (which was a straight shot). The worst part of it was they ruined a fantastic wooden floor. I crafted some decent patches and almost matched the grain, but it's never the same.

Avoid going through the floor, it's not difficult to pull through a wall to a reach a basement or attic.

2URGSE

eMeS wrote: »

I have a similar situation. I use something like this:

Amazon.com: Netgear XE102 Powerline Ethernet Adapter: Electronics

I can't remember the exact brand/model that I own, but speed is not an issue.

MS

I was looking into that as well. I might buy that and experiment with both.

2URGSE

Oh, by the way, I'm single so I can do whatever I want. (If I decide to drill)

I sold my fast car ("my g/f" ......

) to get this condo.

Another fast car to follow in a few years......(some addictions just don't go away)