Clie Wireless

[Unregistered]

When you buy the Sony WL-100 are you given a mac id #?

[EvilGenius]

The WL-100 has a MAC id assigned to it. Its printed in small letters on the back label right below the barcode.

[ckshaf012]

Thanks. Do you know if it will work with a CIsco setup? Specifically a Cisco Aironet 340 or 350? My university is calling for this spec.

[n2ifp]

It may, it may also depend on the settings, some of which may not be compatible with the clie. Talk to your IT person first and see what the requirements are.

If they use short preamble or LEAP, it will not work. Some places may need a MAC address to be added to the WLAN.

[EvilGenius]

Thanks. Do you know if it will work with a CIsco setup? Specifically a Cisco Aironet 340 or 350? My university is calling for this spec.

It may, it may also depend on the settings, some of which may not be compatible with the clie. Talk to your IT person first and see what the requirements are.

If they use short preamble or LEAP, it will not work. Some places may need a MAC address to be added to the WLAN.

I n2ifp sums it up pretty well.

Now bear in mind I'm not a network engineer, I just play one on TV, but as I understand it WiFi (technically called 802.11) is a standard protocol and as such any two devices able to use that protocol are able to communicate. Asking if equipment X will work with equipment Y is sort of like asking if a certain 10-BaseT network card will work with a certain router. The specific bits of equipment should be irrelevant.

Of course there's a couple of old adages to bear in mind. The first is this: Standards aren't.

Not being a network engineer I don't know what the exact definitions are for 802.11, but I see lots of equipment with options like short preamble, flow control speeds, etc., and I have to assume that at least some of those extras are not part of the base 802.11 protocol. They seem to be more of a semi-standard. Lots of equipment uses them but I don't think everything does. What that means is that maybe there's no problem between a WL100 and a 'normally' configured Cisco router but the router you want to connect to might have some options set that make it impossible for you to connect.

The other adage is this: In theory there is not difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

What that means is that even if everything -should- work correctly, it might not. I believe there are people having some difficulty with the WL100 cards connecting to certain Linksys systems. I can't say if there's a standardization problem with the Linksys, the WL100, or if its just 'one of those things'. I really don't know. At any rate its only relevant as an example since your question doesn't concern the Linksys in question.

My advice is first talk to whomever is responsible for the node you want to connect to. See if there are any funky settings that might make the connection impossible. Maybe they even know if someone else is already using a WL100 or if its impossible. Assuming they say its all good, go to a store and talk with someone. Lots of times stores will let you return an item if you are unable to utilize it (they may only give you store credit, but if you shop there somewhat regularly that's just about as good as getting your money back). If the store you go to doesn't want to make such a guarantee then shop around at another store. Its probably better to spend an extra $10-20 on the card and be sure you won't get stuck with something you can't use.

Finally, if nothing else works, analyze your needs. If you can't use the wireless router you want to use can you hook up a wireless access point that you can use? There's always more than one way to skin a cat.

Anyway, hope this helps you out.

[modem_man]

ckshaf012 I have a Cisco Aironet 350 and I'm having difficulty connecting to it with the Clie and the WL-100. I'm currently communicating with a Cisco engineer and we still haven't figured it out yet.

He's going to speak to the senior engineers and the Sony people to see if there is a solution to it.

Hopefully, we'll be able to support it. In the meantime....I'll be getting a Linksys Wireless Router (WRT54G) to test to see if it'll work.

As for the setting on the AP350, I've set it to open without any encryption and it still hasn't worked. When I set in a IP address on the Clie, it'll connect, but the Clie will not browse (network timed out). And when I try to ping it from the base station, no ping answered.

Anyway, if you find a solution, please e-mail me with a response. My e-mail addy is modem_man@hotmail.com
and I'll post a solution if there ever is one, on this forum.

Melvyn

[david.silva]

Anyone ever figure this out? I'm also using an Aironet 350 with no luck. Connecting, but no surfing.

[modem_man]

David silva....there's another thread on this forum:

the heading is:
List of wireless routers that work?

Kernal has posted an explanation concerning the Cisco Aironet.

As soon as he gives me permission to forward his post to Cisco....maybe we can get Cisco to get something up and running.

Melvyn