Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Interesting to compare

I had a crappy old (about 15 years) Bose Lifestyle system that I hadn't listened to for many months (not since before we moved in April): since I had an Airport Express I wasn't using, and we have a very protected verandah, I thought I might set it up out there, and stream music from one of the Macs to it. If you haven't used an Express, you're missing something: what an amazing piece of kit.

Wow, it sounds pretty bad, even outdoors: listening to the Axioms for a few months has definitely spoiled my ears.

Just goes to show I should never listen to better quality gear. No, wait, that isn't right . . . :-)

Regards,
David

Isn't it a great feeling when your decision to move on to something better (despite some company's best marketing efforts) is reaffirmed? I knew that I liked my Axioms the first time I heard them, but now that I am tinkering with the room acoustics in my home theater, I am loving them even more.

David - definitely agreed on the Express. I have two in my house and will probably have 3-4 before I consider my work here done.

I have 4 - 2 11g, then when the 11n's came out, I couldn't resist and bought 2 more.

What's so fantastic about them is the wide range of functionality:

1) Can feed speakers, picking up wifi streaming from one or more Macs (and PC's too, anything that runs iTunes).

2) Can network a USB printer, turning it into a wifi printer on your network

3) Can be a wifi base station: plug an ethernet cable into it, and it provides wifi access. Great when traveling: you can access the hotel wired network from anywhere in your room.

And all from a funny little gadget that looks like a strange power plug :-)

I don't think Apple sells them hard enuff.

Regards,
David

Thanks guys I never heard of these, I just found the product I needed.

You're welcome. As David said, they're quite the little Swiss Army Knife of a product.

Though now I'm a little jealous that David has 4 of them... maybe I'll ask for another one for Christmas, which of course would require another pair of Axiom speakers to go with it.

So this might be a good time to ask.

I need a wireless bridge that runs from Ethernet, just as you have described that the Airport Express can do. I don't need it's other features so I'm wondering if there is a recommended product in a lower price category.

I have a DSL MODEM/Wireless Router serving my basement and the copper LAN but the wireless is severely weakened the next floor up by the radiant, metal fins that run all along the in-floor heating pipes in the floor.

I admit I have not yet researched this to death as I normally do, as having the house well wired keeps this logically as a side burner project. However, the geek in me is 'ashamed' that my wireless doesn't work on the main floor.

The times I have spontaneously thought about it while wandering in an electronics store, I have been hesitant to purchase as all they seem to carry are wireless 'routers' and it is not obvious from the packaging if they can be configured for a bridge mode.

Thanks all.

Any multi-port gateway will work as long as you only use the "LAN" ports (the WAN port is not bridged) and make sure to disable DHCP so your main access point will serve the addresses.

Thanks Fred!

I hoped as much but wasn't sure if the wireless would take it's feed from the LAN ports. However, now that you mention it, if you think of the wireless antenna as just like being another port on the LAN side of it's switch, it makes sense that it wouldn't care where the data is coming from or going to.

Lighbulb on!
or "open", in your case. heh heh.

Both Wi-Fi and cabled LAN link layers are Ethernet (802.3). Only the MAC (Media Access Control) layer differs (one being XX.XX on the physical wires while the other one is 802.11 on the wireless antenna).

Mmmmh, Layer 2, where all the real action happens!!

Seriously though, I appreciate the explanation. You also just reminded me of my favorite old mnemonic. It both helped me pass exams and proved to be a creditable creed to live by when I did PC support for a retail computing company.

Please Do Not Tell Sales People Anything

Let's see who can translate. Fred, you are not allowed to answer.

Forgot one other thing the Express can do, and that is extend a wifi network. Pretty sure your base station needs to be an Apple one for this trick, tho.

Regards,
David

Another way you can put it:

People Don't Need To See Peter's Ass

or, in reverse order:

All People Seem To Need Delicious Pizza

(If you don't understand it, the problem exists at layer 8.)

layer 8 of the pizza?
I'm confused

Is that the urp! layer?