Wireless?

Accompanying the current Internet revolution, the wireless revolution is also having a profound impact on the way people work and live. Today, more people in Europe have a mobile phone than a PC or a car. And the wireless trend is continuing with many analysts predicting that wireless (and often mobile) handheld devices -- such as mobile phones and PDAs—will overtake wired computers as the dominant Internet access devices throughout the world. Today, there are two common types of wireless Internet access. In a wireless LAN, wireless users transmit/receive packets to/from a base station (also known as a wireless access point) within a radius of a few tens of meters. 

The base station is typically connected to the wired Internet and thus serves to connect wireless users to the wired network. In wide-area wireless access networks, packets are transmitted over the same wireless infrastructure used for cellular telephony, with the base station thus being managed by a telecommunications provider. This provides wireless access to users within a radius of tens of kilometers of the base station.

Wireless LANs, based on IEE 802.11 technology (also known as wireless Ethernet and WiFi), are currently enjoying widespread deployment in university departments, business offices, cafes, and homes. Many universities install IEEE 802.11 base stations across their campuses, allowing students to send and receive e-mail or surf the Web from anywhere on campus (for example, library, dorm room, classroom, or outdoor campus bench). In many cities, one can stand on a street corner and be within range of ten or twenty base stations (for a browse able global map of 802.11 base stations that have been discovered and logged on a Web site by people who take great enjoyment in doing such things, see [wiggle.net 20071). The most commonly deployed 802.11 technology.

Today many homes are combining broadband residential access (that is, cable modems or DSL) with inexpensive wireless LAN technology to create powerful home networks. This home network consists of a roaming laptop as well as a wired PC; a base station (the wireless access point), which communicates with the wireless PC; a cable modem, providing broadband access to the Internet; and a router, which interconnects the base station and the stationary PC With the cable modem. This network allows household members to have broadband access to the Internet, with one member roaming from the kitchen to the backyard to the bedrooms. The total fixed cost for such a network is less than $150 (including the cable/DSL modem). 

When you access the Internet through wireless LAN technology, you typically need to be within a few tens of meters of a base station. This is feasible for home access, coffee shop access, and, more generally, access within and around a building. But what if you are on the beach or in your car and you need Internet access? For such wide-area access, roaming Internet users make use of the cellular phone infrastructure, accessing base stations that are up to tens of kilometers away. Conceptually, this is similar to a home user with a dial-up connection to the Internet over a wired telephone line, except that now the cellular telephony infrastructure, rather than the wired telephony infrastructure, is used.

Linux?

Linux – the operating system for a GNU (pronounced Gnew) generation. It has been dubbed the alternative to Microsoft, the solution to all life’s problems and many other things that may or may not be true. But what is Linux, and should you care?

To answer the first question, it’s a free operating system that looks and acts very much like Unix. You can download it off the Net for free, or you can copy it legally from a friend – although this might take all the fun out of using that CD-Writer you’ve got and never use for anything, except to brag about it to your friends.

Alternatively, you can buy it nicely packaged from an Internet store and get it delivered with a book about Linux, (Linux Unleashed).

Distributors charge not for the operating system itself, but for their time in packaging and presenting it. Two popular flavors of Linux are Free BSD and Ubuntu. These offer the same basic systems with a few slight differences that can lead to long and entertaining godly wars between supporters of each.

If you’re getting into Linux for the first time, Ubuntu is a good bet. You can either go for Ubuntu Desktop which comes with a GUI, or you can opt for Ubuntu Server if you planning to host websites of your own. The server edition has no GUI, but you can install KDE or Gnome to make your life easier. Most of your configuration will be done via the Terminal and you will have to learn a lot of Linux commands.

Linux is more complicated, and it depends on the kind of person you are. If you’re the type of computer user who wants every application to run straight out of the box and your system to just do what it’s told and run your games, then stick with Windows. But if you’re a pioneering soul who wants to find out more about your system and tweak it to perform to the max, then Linux is definitely worth a try.

If you want rock-solid Internet access, if you want to support the development of free software and more efficient solutions, or if you’re just the type of person who needs control over every aspect of your life including how your machine performs, then you’re definitely a Linux candidate. Linux is perfectly suited to students, developers and just about anyone who wants to try something other than the norm. Newcomers will find support straight off the Internet from thousands of kindred spirits.

It’s worth a try – maybe you’ll discover a Whole New World of fun and adventure. Or maybe you’ll just take it straight off your machine and go back to Windows. However, if you planning to try it out, then load it on that old machine that’s just lying around in the basement. You don’t need powerful processors and hardware – the most important component is memory. If you have 512mb and a 20gig hard drive then you should be OK. You should be able to run all your applications including your websites with ease. Remember, you will need a permanent connection to the Internet if you going to host your own websites. The best part is that you don’t need any antivirus and antispyware software if you’re running Linux. Every would-be-virus-writer out there has only one target in mind – Microsoft Windows.

Whether you stick with Linux or not, you’ll have come out of your safety zone and taken a trip to the cutting edge of computer technology.