Wireless Home Networking - Index of

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Part III: Installing a Wireless Network
After you’ve gone through these steps, you have an AirPort icon on your
menu bar. The next time you want to connect to this AirPort network, simply
go up to the menu bar, click the AirPort icon, and select the network name.
That’s it!
Adding a Non-Apple Computer
to Your AirPort Network
One reason why wireless home networking has become so popular is the
interoperability between wireless networking equipment from different vendors.
Because it adheres to the standards and is Wi-Fi certified, Apple wireless
networking equipment is no exception. You can even use a Windows or
Linux computer to connect to an Apple AirPort base station.
The procedure for entering wireless network parameters in non-Apple wireless
software when configuring a wireless network adapter varies by manufacturer.
Follow these general steps to add your non-Apple computer (or
even your Apple computer with non-Apple wireless hardware and software)
to your AirPort Network:
1. Select the network name of the AirPort base station.
The wireless network adapter configuration software usually presents a
list of available wireless networks in range of the adapter. From the list,
select the network name you assigned to the AirPort base station.
For example, in Windows XP, right-click the Network icon in the notification
area of the taskbar and select View Available Wireless Networks
from the pop-up menu that appears. Then select the AirPort base station’s
network name from the list presented in the Wireless Network
Connection dialog box.
2. Enter the network password (your WEP key or WPA passphrase).
If you’re using WEP, the password you entered in the AirPort base station
setup probably doesn’t work. Here’s how to find the password — the
WEP key — that works. Apple uses a different password naming convention
than other wireless manufacturers. Fortunately, Apple has provided
a function in the AirPort Admin Utility that does the conversion for you:
a. Using the computer you used to configure the AirPort, open the
AirPort Admin utility.
b. Select your base station from the list, and then click the Configure
icon.
c. When presented with a pop-up window, enter the password for
configuring the base station, and then click OK to display the
main AirPort Admin Utility window.