<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> Bottom line, Caryl, you may not need an access point, but maybe that makes all the difference as to how far they can be and still connect to each other. So I tested things, coincidentially with 10 XOs on build 802, and a Sam's Club vanilla cheapest  Linksys WRT54g2 V1 First, without even an access point all the machines but one could see each other.  When testing different builds yesterday some could see only those with their own build, and some were sort of random as to what other they could see.  My lab notes somewhere :-) When I plugged in the Access Point and logged them to it, they only could see those who were already logged in already.  They lost "sight" of those that were not connected.  Note that the Access point was not connected to the Internet, just plugged to the wall, to act as a repeater. I didn't test collaboration, just if they could "see" one another.  They were all pretty close together, except one.  Not all machines could see that one, about 15 feet away, and only after noticing that "ghost" that showed up inconsistently I remembered it in the hallway charging and on since yesterday, so I didn't get to test fully this matter of distance.  One of these days I will test them at different distances. Only two could see Access Points outside of the house, and as I mentioned, one could see nothing, even after rebooting, so I guess its radio is no good.   Out of 10,  2 better than average, one radio dead seem consistent with numbers I had been given informally at 1CC.  I am curious about other people's experiences. All in all it is not clear whether to use the access point would have made a difference, as they could "see" each other on F1 (neighborhood view) even without the access point turned on.  But that might make all the difference when it comes to distance. Yama John Watlington wrote: <blockquote cite="mid:6A18739F-D52C-4F00-B4F2-2BD3ECBE2EC7@laptop.org" type="cite"> <pre wrap="">Caryl, There are two easy solutions that jump to mind. The decision is independent of a school server, you are really choosing how to interface the laptops to a network. If the school will allow a Wifi network, add a small cheap WiFi (802.11b/g) access point, configured as a transparent access point. The laptops will have to select this AP once in the neighborhood, then "everything" will work. If the school insists on a wired network, then you can use USB/ethernet dongles to connect the laptops to the network. Several dongles are known to work (is there a list for F9 somewhere ?). If they are supported their use is automatic if plugged in. In either case, you might consider a school server to interface between the laptop network and the internet. For ten laptops in a school, however, it is definitely not required. Cheers, wad On Oct 8, 2009, at 1:01 AM, Caryl Bigenho wrote: </pre> <blockquote type="cite"> <pre wrap="">Hi All, I need to help the Audubon Middle School project get their 10 XOs on the net. Their school evidently has high speed internet, but it is all by ethernet cables... no wifi. So, I need info on how to set up something that will work with the XOs... a school server, I guess. I looked at the info on the OLPC wiki, but I don't understand enough about it to set it up or tell them how to do it. I assume they need a computer to do this. Do they have to install Linux before installing server software? Is there any place on the wiki that tells how to do this? Should they just find someone to fund a decicated school server? Where can they get one? What is the most reliable, inexpensive way for them to do this? Maybe just an inexpensive router? The school probably has some sort of firewall, what will they have to do to log on? Caroline... have you dealt with this at all? Is there a Grannie's Guide to doing this anywhere? Links appreciated! Caryl (aka "Grannie") P.S. I haven't actually seen their set up, but will go visit them next week. _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep</a> </pre> </blockquote> <pre wrap=""> _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep</a> </pre> </blockquote> </body> </html>