Does my dream router exist?

[wankrtron]

So, I'm wanting to add a wireless setup in my apartment. I have been looking at a few, but am left wanting more.

I am currently living in South Korea, so I don't really know how that will affect the outcome of my venture. I assume that I can get most of anything computer related, but I could be wrong.

I have a very small apartment, and a Macbook. I have been considering both Airport options (Extreme and Express) from Apple, but am not sure.

Here's the skinny:
- I would love to have a router that can I can stream music to and plug speakers into a'la Airport Express.
- I would love to have a router that I could plug my USB drive into and access wirelessly a'la the Airport Extreme. (I brought a 400gig drive full of movies and stuff as I didn't know what the entertainment was like here...but thought I wouldn't understand most. And I can't.)
- I am not really suck on an Apple product. I just want what I want. Functions. Also, there is no Korean native version of the Extreme. I could have it shipped to me for a little extra flow, but if I can get it here, why not?
- I would like an N capable router. My Macbook can easily be flashed to support N, so if it really is a performance boost, why not?

So, does anybody out there make a router with these options? Music streaming and hard drive sharing? I know they have N routers.

Anyway, are there any recommendations you can give me for my dream router, or if not, just a good one? I haven't looked at routers in about 2 years since my last place could only have dialup.

Any help, of course, will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[LANm0nk3y]

Run Linux with Two NICs, and Wireless NIC, get however many ports you need for that switch. I think there's a distro that's for Router. You'll be able to plug in USB devices.


I am not sure if there's such an all in one router you're looking for. I've heard of Network Storages but not on a router.

 

[PedroDaGr8]

Linksys makes a router with a USB port to attach USB HD's

 

[wankrtron]

Run Linux with Two NICs, and Wireless NIC, get however many ports you need for that switch. I think there's a distro that's for Router. You'll be able to plug in USB devices.

Not sure I'm following you here. what are you telling me to run Linux on, my Macbook, or the Airport? Could you spell it out for me a little?

Linksys makes a router with a USB port to attach USB HD's

Thanks Pedro, you have a model number you could toss my way?

Anyone else have any suggestions?

 

[LANm0nk3y]

Not sure I'm following you here. what are you telling me to run Linux on, my Macbook, or the Airport? Could you spell it out for me a little?

Run it on another box.

But I think you should go with Pedro's suggestion, if it fits your requirement -- It's cheaper and less hassle.

 

[PedroDaGr8]

The router is the linksys WRT350N, it is their top of the line router which has Wireless-N, gigabit router and the storage link usb port included. It is a bit on the high side in price.
Another option would be the D-Link 624S which also has a usb port on the back, but no gigabit and no Wireless N. I know nothing about the later but have heard good things about the linksys one.

 

[KenF]

In order to support Macs with 802.11n, you need a router based on the newest revision of the Atheros XPAN chipset. That is the only 802.11n implementation supported by Apple and Intel.

The Linksys WRT350N mentioned above uses Broadcom's 802.11n chipset which is not compatible. If you bought the WRT350N, you would be stuck using 802.11g.

I would suggest you buy the 802.11n version of the Airport Extreme (which is Atheros-based). There are plenty of other Atheros-based 802.11n routers, but I don't know of any that include built-in support for USB storage. Of course, you were to buy a separate storage server (NAS) such as the Buffalo Linkstation Pro or the D-Link DNS-323, that would free up your router options.

 

[wankrtron]

Run it on another box.

I thought that is what you meant, but was hoping not. I don't have access to another computer, not even a scrappy one, and I don't really want to build one just for this purpose.

...linksys WRT350N...
...D-Link 624S...

Thanks! I'll check into both of those and see what turns up.

In order to support Macs with 802.11n, you need a router based on the newest revision of the Atheros XPAN chipset. That is the only 802.11n implementation supported by Apple and Intel.

I did not know this. Where are you reading about that, I think I need to play a little catch up. Got a link?

Of course, you were to buy a separate storage server (NAS) such as the Buffalo Linkstation Pro or the D-Link DNS-323, that would free up your router options.

This may be an option. I hadn't even thought about buying a NAS to work with it. Was just thinking all in one would be great. I'll check out the Buffalo and D-Link products you mentioned and scope around for some prices. Can you vouch for either of these? Thanks.

 

[wankrtron]

Wow. This has turned out to be much more complicated than I first hoped. While looking around, I found that a lot of people are having problems getting different format drives to work with the USB enabled routers.

Most say that NTFS is read only, and the FAT32 has the 32gig limit. My drive is 400gig and is a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. So I am kinda worried that it might not work at all, unless I go the Airport Extreme route. And, so far, I'm not guaranteed anything on it working then either.

The NAS devices ore one solution, but more than I want to spend to get this working while in Korea. If I were in the States, it wouldn't be such a big deal, but here, I don't have easy access to most of this stuff. If I can find it here, it would be next to impossible to find until I learn the language.

I think I'm gonna ditch the idea about attaching my drive.

Either way, I am still looking for a wireless router, and any suggestions are appreciated. Can anyone point me to a resource on the Mac compatible chipset that was mentioned earlier? I want to read about that and get myself up to speed. Hopefully before I buy the wrong router!

 

[PedroDaGr8]

Hmm, I was thinking that 802.11n was still in the draft stages hence the reasons for all ofthese problems

 

[KenF]

Either way, I am still looking for a wireless router, and any suggestions are appreciated. Can anyone point me to a resource on the Mac compatible chipset that was mentioned earlier? I want to read about that and get myself up to speed. Hopefully before I buy the wrong router!

I don't know of any source. But Atheros and Intel worked together, so their solutions are compatible. Others are not.

Apple uses Intel wireless chipsets in its notebooks and desktops. Hence, they chose Atheros for their 802.11n routers.

I think the simplest thing for you to do is buy the Airport Extreme 802.11n router.