WiFi n Atheros - Where to buy in US?

[madred]

I'm unable to locate WiFi n Atheros (tried even amazon and ebay) in the US... Without WiFi, Popcorn is too limited for me... Popcorn A-100 is available from the PCH website and they ship even to US... but WiFi USB is not available...

However, same is available in Europe (http://www.popcornhour.es/en/usb-wifi)...

Can someone help me?

Thanks!

[jtrosky]

(09-25-2008 01:07 PM)madred Wrote:  I'm unable to locate WiFi n Atheros (tried even amazon and ebay) in the US... Without WiFi, Popcorn is too limited for me... Popcorn A-100 is available from the PCH website and they ship even to US... but WiFi USB is not available...

However, same is available in Europe (http://www.popcornhour.es/en/usb-wifi)...

Can someone help me?

Thanks!

Here is one from Ebay (from US):

http://cgi.ebay.com/TP-Link-TL-WN821N-Wi....m20.l1116

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(09-25-2008 01:07 PM)madred Wrote:  I'm unable to locate WiFi n Atheros (tried even amazon and ebay) in the US... Without WiFi, Popcorn is too limited for me... Popcorn A-100 is available from the PCH website and they ship even to US... but WiFi USB is not available...

However, same is available in Europe (http://www.popcornhour.es/en/usb-wifi)...

Can someone help me?

Thanks!

By the way, their web site is much nicer than the US website and they even have "extra" products, line the NMT 530, which is a popcorn hour with a built in DVD drive! Very interesting! I wonder why the US site has less products available? Anyone know?

[chris57]

You want one of these:-
TP-Link TL-WN821N 300Mbps 802.11n USB Adapter

Newegg had some for sale recently.

The Spanish site is not the manufacturers site which is the one people refer to sometimes as the US site.

The Spanish site is a reseller who is obviously free to do what he wishes.

[madred]

(09-25-2008 01:45 PM)chris57 Wrote:  You want one of these:-
TP-Link TL-WN821N 300Mbps 802.11n USB Adapter

Newegg had some for sale recently.

The Spanish site is not the manufacturers site which is the one people refer to sometimes as the US site.

The Spanish site is a reseller who is obviously free to do what he wishes.

Thanks for the link! Pardon me for my ignorance but I've a 802.11b/g network at my home... Will 802.11n give any advantage or a normal Wifi dongle will do?

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I also wanted to buy Popcorn A100 in the US... The popcorn site sells for about $200 with shipping... does anyone know of any cheaper options?

[chris57]

Yep they are backwards compatable so it will connect. It will only be good for copying files and SD streaming.

$200 is v.cheap.

[madred]

Thanks for the quick reply! I just bought myself PCH A-100 off ebay for $240 and got Wifi Adapter from Newegg...

SD as in secondary streaming? Also, do I need to buy 802.11n enabled WiFi router to fully make use of the Atheros adapter? Did I get you right? Which WiFi router you would suggest?

Also, I heard that there are heating problems in A-100. Is that correct? Do I need to connect a fan or something? (I'm a real novice in this area)

[chris57]

Sorry, SD equals Standard Defintition as opposed to HD high Definition.

You will struggle to stream any content apart from standard defintion files. I have my wireless router and my A110 with USB adapter only about 12 feet apart from one side of the room to the other. My router is a Thompson 730v6 with wireless-g.
I cannot stream a DVD ISO or most HD files, the only files that will stream are xvid/divx and some low bitrate MKV files.

I can copy via wireless fine, I recently copied a 13Gb file from my PC to the A110 through wireless as a test.

There are no heating problems. There are active threads where some users have fitted all sorts of fans etc. but they arent needed.

Your A100 will get hot. It will be hotter than one with a smaller laptop HDD fitted and hotter still than one w/o any HDD. But its designed for high temps having heatsinks and solid aluminium top/bottom to dissipate heat. dont get caught up in the heat debates.

My recommendation would be to keep your current router unless you cant stream even an xvid and lose your connection constantly.

Why was $200 direct for a new model a lot but $240 from ebay for a used A100 not?

[jtrosky]

(09-26-2008 03:57 AM)madred Wrote:  

(09-25-2008 01:45 PM)chris57 Wrote:  You want one of these:-
TP-Link TL-WN821N 300Mbps 802.11n USB Adapter

Newegg had some for sale recently.

The Spanish site is not the manufacturers site which is the one people refer to sometimes as the US site.

The Spanish site is a reseller who is obviously free to do what he wishes.

Thanks for the link! Pardon me for my ignorance but I've a 802.11b/g network at my home... Will 802.11n give any advantage or a normal Wifi dongle will do?

---

I also wanted to buy Popcorn A100 in the US... The popcorn site sells for about $200 with shipping... does anyone know of any cheaper options?

Just some things I've learned from experience...

I would NOT use the wireless USB dongle. I originally tried that, but as Chris states, it doesn't do very good speed wise. You'd be much better off getting a used Linksys WRT-54G router off ebay and installing the third party DD-WRT firmware, which will allow it to connect to your existing wifi router and then run a cable from the WRT-54G to your Popcorn. With this setup, I was able to play DVD images and 720p .mkv files without any stuttering... I recently upgraded to a Linksys WRN-160N (wiressless N) router, installed DD-WRT on it and it also works flawlessly... Cost $79 new. Let me know if you need more info...

[madred]

(09-26-2008 03:16 PM)chris57 Wrote:  Your A100 will get hot. It will be hotter than one with a smaller laptop HDD fitted and hotter still than one w/o any HDD.

Are you suggesting that A100 is better off by putting an internal HDD? And that I should connect an internal HDD?

(09-26-2008 03:16 PM)chris57 Wrote:  Why was $200 direct for a new model a lot but $240 from ebay for a used A100 not?

I was looking for a deal but then I realized that PCH website had a long queue and I didn't had that much time. The best I found was on ebay with the guy claiming that it's new and in the box (I don't know if it is true and whether to believe or not but I did take my chance). So $40 extra was to remind me to keep a high patience level in the future!

I would normally stream 700MB Avi movie files (downloaded from torrent) and don't need (at this point of time) the HD streaming. Will it be safe to assume that Atheros with existing b/g router suffice? Also, how about YouTube videos? Is the quality good enough? I saw some YouTube videos (on YouTube website) of the PCH but couldn't get hang of the actual quality.

Am glad to note that there are no heating problems!

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(09-26-2008 04:21 PM)jtrosky Wrote:  Just some things I've learned from experience...

I would NOT use the wireless USB dongle. I originally tried that, but as Chris states, it doesn't do very good speed wise. You'd be much better off getting a used Linksys WRT-54G router off ebay and installing the third party DD-WRT firmware, which will allow it to connect to your existing wifi router and then run a cable from the WRT-54G to your Popcorn. With this setup, I was able to play DVD images and 720p .mkv files without any stuttering... I recently upgraded to a Linksys WRN-160N (wiressless N) router, installed DD-WRT on it and it also works flawlessly... Cost $79 new. Let me know if you need more info...

Damn! Why did I buy $48 worth Atheros USB Adapter? Linksys WRT-160N is available for $70 (new) on Amazon Can I return Atheros that I just bought from Newegg?

[madred]

(09-26-2008 04:21 PM)jtrosky Wrote:  Just some things I've learned from experience...

I would NOT use the wireless USB dongle. I originally tried that, but as Chris states, it doesn't do very good speed wise. You'd be much better off getting a used Linksys WRT-54G router off ebay and installing the third party DD-WRT firmware, which will allow it to connect to your existing wifi router and then run a cable from the WRT-54G to your Popcorn. With this setup, I was able to play DVD images and 720p .mkv files without any stuttering... I recently upgraded to a Linksys WRN-160N (wiressless N) router, installed DD-WRT on it and it also works flawlessly... Cost $79 new. Let me know if you need more info...

I still have the option to return Atheros adapter... Can you please help me with the above solution? I'm really not aware of the DD-WRT stuff...

[chris57]

I like you have never had any experience of using a wireless bridge or the Linksys routers with third party firmware.

I have heard nothing but good reports from users here and before about the combination. Return the USB adapter and get the router to bridge, try PM'g jtrosky to see if he has any links to help. Ultimately im sure that the buys here will help you when you get stuck.

[Pirki]

I just bought a WRT160N over the weekend flashed it with the DD-WRT firmware and the A-100 is not connected to the net.


I took about 2 days to do my reading up before i ventured into doing this. I only just got it up and running in the last 20mins so im very excited.

I suggest you read some of the following links

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices (make sure your device is on the list)

Instructions on setting up a wireless bridge
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices

this link is a basic run down of what you should do
http://www.coderetard.com/2008/05/30/ins...ess-router

I am very surprised i managed to get this done despite my basic knowledge. Hopefully in the next few days i will get my Samba etc working.