The Wireless Networking Starter Kit
Your faithful blog operator Glenn Fleishman has written a book on wireless networking for small networks at home and at work with his colleague and friend Adam Engst (TidBITS, Macworld Magazine). The book, 336 pages long, covers the whole range of issues that neophytes and experienced users alike face when on their own at home or with no information technology staff to call on, from configuring wireless network adapters to working wirelessly on the road to creating long-distance wireless links.
The book, where it's operating system specific, covers Macintosh and Windows issues, focusing primarily on Mac OS X and Windows XP/2000, but also including more limited instructions for Mac OS X 8.6 and later, and Windows 98 and later.
The book can be pre-ordered through Amazon.com, and it will be shipped in mid-December. Amazon.com is discounting the $30 cover price to $21. (Neither the title or cover represents the final results, by the way.)
The book is illustrated throughout to demonstrate important concepts that don't leap readily to mind, such as how PGP encryption works, or how to sketch a network diagram for planning the pieces of your network.
Practical advice in the book includes step-by-step instructions for turning a Mac OS 8.6/9.x, Mac OS X, or Windows XP system into a software access point, and setting up network-to-network wireless bridges.
Table of contents (download complete TOC in Acrobat PDF form)
1 Why Wireless?
2 Networking Basics
3 How Wireless Works
4 Connecting Your Computer
5 Building Your Wireless Network
6 Wireless Security
7 Taking It on the Road
8 Going the Distance
9 Things That Go Bump in the Net
10 The Future of Wireless
A full table of contents and index in PDF form are coming, along with excerpts from the book and other information.