Askey Computer WLL220 User Manual

802.11a/b Wireless LAN Card

User’s Manual

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Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 1

Wireless LAN Basics ...................................................................................................................................................2

Local Area Network (LAN) .......................................................................................................................................2

Wireless Network Topologies .................................................................................................................................. 3

Chapter 2 Installing the Driver and Utility Software .................................................................................................5

System Requirements ................................................................................................................................................. 6

Installing Wireless LAN Driver and Software............................................................................................................... 6

Chapter 3 Station Configuration............................................................................................................................... 11

Accessing the Atheros Configuration Utility ..............................................................................................................11

Note to Windows XP Users.................................................................................................................................... 12

Basic Configuration for Ad Hoc Network ................................................................................................................... 12

Basic Configuration for Infrastructure Network.......................................................................................................... 13

Edit the Security Tab ................................................................................................................................................. 14

Edit the Advanced Tab ..............................................................................................................................................15

To Connect to an Existing Network ...........................................................................................................................17

To Modify a Configuration Profile ..............................................................................................................................17

To Remove a Configuration Profile ...........................................................................................................................17

To Switch to a Different Profile ..................................................................................................................................17

Chapter 4 Checking Status or Statistics.................................................................................................................. 19

Link Status .................................................................................................................................................................19

Advanced Link Status ............................................................................................................................................21

Driver Information ......................................................................................................................................................22

WLAN Status .............................................................................................................................................................22

Statistics ....................................................................................................................................................................23

Tools ..........................................................................................................................................................................24

Chapter 5 Tools ...........................................................................................................................................................27

Changing Display Settings ........................................................................................................................................27

Select the Country Code ...........................................................................................................................................27

Status Monitor Tray Icon ...........................................................................................................................................28

Chapter 4 Uninstalling the Wireless LAN Card....................................................................................................... 31

802.11a/b Mini PCI Wireless LAN Card User's Manual

Chapter 1 Introduction

This Wireless LAN Card is an IEEE 802.11a/b dual band combo radio solution. The dual band design provides backward compatibility with 802.11b standard compliant devices and forward compatibility to new wave of 802.11a devices. Now users have the flexibility to connect to either the legacy 802.11b or higher-speed 802.11a network effortlessly.

The Wireless LAN Card design is based on Atheros WLAN chipset. It supports 802.11a and 802.11b standard to provide maximum data rates of 54 Mbps and 11 Mbps respectively. Based on Atheros Turbo Mode, the 802.11a transfer speed can be extended up to blazing 108 Mbps. Additionally, the Wireless LAN Card provides a comprehensive security suit including WEP encryption, Atheros Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and 802.1x authentication.

802.11a/b Mini PCI Wireless LAN Card User's Manual

Wireless LAN Basics

This section conations some Wireless LAN basics to help you better understand how the product work together to create a wireless network.

Local Area Network (LAN)

Simply put, a LAN is a network that exists in a relatively limited area. A network is two or more computers connected together sharing files and peripheral devices such as printers.

The Wireless LAN Card allows you to interact with other computers without having to run cables normally associated with networks. This lets you move your computer around while staying connected to your network.

There are two ways to use the Wireless LAN Card. One way is to connect directly to one or more Wireless LAN Card equipped computers, forming an Ad Hoc wireless network. The second way is to connect to an Access Point that gives you access to an existing wired LAN, forming an Infrastructure wireless network.

Chapter 1 Introduction

Wireless Network Topologies

The 802.11 standard defines two modes: Infrastructure mode and Ad Hoc mode.

Ad Hoc Network

An Ad Hoc network offers peer to peer connections between wireless stations that are in range of each other. The stations communicate directly with each other without using an Access Point or any connection to a wired network. This mode is useful for quickly and easily setting up a wireless network anywhere that a wireless infrastructure does not exist or is not required for services. In an Ad Hoc network, all wireless stations must have the same SSID, channel and WEP keys (if enabled) to communicate.

Infrastructure Network

The infrastructure network uses an access point (or several access points) as a gateway, linking the wireless network to a wired LAN. As a result, portable workstations or desktops on your wireless network have access to all of the features of your wired LAN including e-mail, Internet access, network printers and files server.

An Infrastructure wireless network consists of at least one Access Point connected to the wired network infrastructure and a set of wireless end stations. The AP acts as a gateway, linking the wireless network to a wired LAN. As a result, wireless stations have access to all of the features of your wired LAN including e-mail, Internet, network printers and files server access.

802.11a/b Mini PCI Wireless LAN Card User's Manual

Roaming Between Multiple APs

For large environments, multiple APs can be implemented to extend the wireless service coverage area for seamless wireless access. It allows wireless clients to roam from one AP to another while maintaining the wireless connectivity at all times.

In a roaming network, all APs and wireless clients must have the same Service Set Identity (SSID) and security setting (if enabled). Alternatively the mobile station may use an SSID of “any” to associate with any available AP, regardless of the AP’s SSID.

Chapter 2 Installing the Driver and Utility Software

This chapter describes the first-time installation for the driver and software for the Wireless LAN Card. Proper driver installation is to allow the device to operate on your host computer while the utility software, a Windows program, is to help you configure and monitor your Wireless LAN Card.

Note: As this Wireless LAN Card is an embedded solution, your computer is probably shipped with its driver and software properly installed. If this is the case, ignore this chapter and proceed with configuration steps in next chapter.

In case you need to re-install the driver and software for any reason, we recommend that you remove any previously installed driver and software from your system first. Refer to the section “Chapter 4 Uninstalling the Wireless LAN Card” for the instruction on how to remove previous driver releases.

802.11a/b Mini PCI Wireless LAN Card User's Manual

System Requirements

To use the Wireless LAN Card, your computer must meet the following minimum requirements:

 Windows 98



/Me/2000/XP



 32 MB memory or greater  300 MHz processor or higher

Installing Wireless LAN Driver and Software

If your operation system has not been installed with the Wireless LAN Card driver, the Windows Plug-and-Play capability will automatically detect the new device (e.g., Ethernet Controller) and display the wizard requesting for drivers. Click Cancel to bypass the wizard screen and then take out the steps below.

1. Close all Windows programs that are running.

2. Insert the provided Software Utility CD into your CD-ROM drive. Run Setup.exe from the Software Utility CD to launch the setup program.

3. Select the language for this installation.

4. Click Next to continue.

Chapter 2

802.11a/b Mini PCI Wireless LAN Card User's Manual

5. Click Yes to accept the license agreement.

6. Select the path to add the shortcut to and then click Next.

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