kenwar said:
I'm a bit of a novice at all this but bought the Aldi laptop and am very pleased with it. The only thing I have noticed is that the battery does not last the advertised 6 hours, though I think that the more usual 4 hours is still very good.
I hope someone can help me with a more general question. I've no idea how to go about setting up it's wireless facility. Basically, I've got an old Pentium 3 Windows 98 PC hooked up to Blueyonder Broadband. Basically, I want to leave this in place for my son but be able to utilise the internet myself using the new laptop wirelessly. I don't know where to start, as someone told me that it would not be straightforward as the existing PVC is not Windows XP. Having seen the variety of routers, ethernet connections, etc on sale in PC World, etc, I am even more confused about what I need to buy - and what I need to do when I've bought it! Can anyone explain in very simple terms what I need to do, or direct me to a more appropriate thread or website that will help me understand? Many thanks.
Hi, I use Blueyonder Cable and have set up my PC and Aldi laptop wirelessly using Belkin equipment so here goes:
Firstly because you use a cable internet connection as opposed to a phone line, you need a Cable Gateway Router
NOT an ADSL Router.
You can go to the Belkin website (
http://www.belkin.com ) and they have various very helpful Wizards which you input what you are trying to achieve, and they suggest the equipment and model numbers you need. Also there is a downloadable video set-up demo you can look at.
I use a Belkin F5D7230uk4 Wireless Cable Router, You connect the cable that currently goes from the Blueyonder Cable Modem to the back of your PC into the Router, and then you connect another cable from the Router into the back of your PC.
When you switch on, the Router SHOULD detect your Cable Internet settings and connect with the PC.
However, as you use Windows 98, and I use XP, I'm not sure how well that is set-up for Networking, I'm sure someone on here can help you on that.
Once you have the PC internet connection running correctly, you switch on your Laptop, activate the wireless and then click on the Intel Pro-wireless (via Start/Programs or on the icon on the right side of the toolbar). You then should find it detects that there is a wireless network present, if you use the Belkin it will show as 'Belkin54g' click on connect and off you go.
Thats the easy part, what you then need to do is set-up your wireless network security to stop others hacking in. On your PC you need to access your Routers setup, so you go to the web and tap in
http://192.168.2.1/ and this brings up your set-up page. You need to then need to create a login password (by default there isnt one) to stop others getting to your setup page, and then setup at least 128-bit encription for your wireless.
At this point I'm going to stop, as it starts to get a little complicated, but I hope you get the drift. When you get to that stage I'm more than happy for you to contact me and I'll give you a hand.
You can get this sort of equipment from PC World, Comet etc, or just search online. As previously stated
www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk is a good place to go, they have very helpful support forums.
As regards wireless speeds, I would stick with standard 54g, it will be more than fast enough.
Re the 6 hours battery life, that will be under test conditions, with no programs running, wireless off, power-saving options at its most energy efficient etc. In the real world your never going to achieve that.
Good Luck!
