Wi-Fi Alliance Approves Wi-Fi Direct
"A new Wi-Fi specification has gone live today with the endorsement of the Wi-Fi Alliance."
Published: 26th October 2010 | Source: Wi-Fi Alliance |
A new Wi-Fi specification has gone live today with the endorsement of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Dubbed Wi-Fi Direct, it allows Wi-Fi enabled devices to connect directly to each other without the need for a Wi-Fi hotspot.
With the new specification in place, devices will find it easier to share data such as files, images, videos and a lot more by directly connecting to each other. Wi-Fi direct would of course require some changes in existing systems, and the alliance has already made arrangements for this by certifying products from five chipset manufacturers. These include Atheros, Broadcom, Intel, Ralink, and Realtek.
While it might seem a task getting new hardware just to be able to use Wi-Fi Direct, the good news is that not all devices need to be upgraded. Any one Wi-Fi Direct enabled device can act as a host, allowing other Wi-Fi enabled devices to connect with it and exchange data. The best part is that Wi-Fi Direct is not actually new hardware, but a software program that upgrades your existing device to make it Wi-Fi Direct ready.
Security too has been taken into account by the alliance where Wi-Fi Direct is concerned. WPA2 authentication and encryption protocols have been made mandatory for any and all devices that attempt to connect using Wi-Fi Direct.
Talking about the new specification, Edgar Figueroa, CEO of the Wi-Fi Alliance said, "We designed Wi-Fi Direct to unleash a wide variety of applications which require device connections, but do not need the internet or even a traditional network. Wi-Fi Direct empowers users to connect devices – when, where and how they want to, and our certification program delivers products that work well together, regardless of the brand.”
The alliance is hopeful that down the line, Wi-Fi Direct will become available as a simple software download that be directly installed on a device. Once that becomes possible, all existing devices can easily be upgraded to Wi-Fi direct. If everything works out, Wi-Fi Direct might even become one of the best means of sharing internet connectivity between computers without the need for cables.
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Now I don't know if this is because I am using 7 Pro on each machine and thus the networking allows better use, or, whether this would work in any version of 7.
The way to do it as instructed (and working after a reboot) is to go into the network and sharing center.
Click on change adapter settings.
Make sure the wired card is enabled.
Right click and select properties. (the wired card)
Under networking (left side tab) right click Internet protocol version 4 ( TCP/IPv4) and go to properties.
On the first PC use the IP address 192.168.5.1 (as apparently this won't clash with your wireless cards)
It will then say it needs a subnet mask. Click OK and it (by default) will add 255.255.255.0
Click OK a few times until it closes. Then go to the second PC, enter the properties of the other wired card (after making sure it is enabled) and follow the above only use 192.168.5.2
As you do that it will add the same subnet mask. OK OK OK etc then reboot both machines.
And hey presto !
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With the wireless being used for the net
thats fast lol
(I max my gigabit network out 
)Still, it does. Still faster than a memory stick
so is that using your net?
thats fast lol
EDIT. I have a 2m crossover cable linking the two wired cards..
Nah. It's all rather complicated.. I have a wireless card in each (Atheros in the main machine and Dlink thing on the Asrock one for media..) Those are for the net. There's absolutely no way to get the net ran with wires as the phone sockets are too far away and we're open plan. Meaning I would literally need about a 300 foot network cable to do it properly (over the doors, on the skirtings etc). Because of the way the house is to do it yeah, looooads of network cable haha. There's no phone socket up here and BT are robbing bandits. Something like £120 to put in another one
Soo, due to the wireless speed for transfers of files over the network being utter bottom I wanted to use the wired cards. But Windows doesn't have a box in the homegroups that allows you to select how you want to send them, and, defaults to the wireless. And because Windows has problems doing two things at once with a wireless adapter it automatically drops transfer speeds over a homegroup to 5mb and you get about a quarter of that.. Then allowing for interference (as the signal needs to go downstairs to the router and then back up to a PC three feet away) it drops to half of that (about 750k a sec).
So, in order to get it to use both sets of both cards (wireless and wired) you need to give it no choice. That's what the IP thingy does apparently.. Good thing my mate codes software for online gambling machines and codes the server software they use to host their machines !
Sadly last night it messed up and reverted to wireless. But by that stage I had already shifted everything big.
much to our lasses disgust as its bright purple cable
slowly, and I mean slowly getting all the rooms networked, need a gigabit switch as the netgear one I use is 10/100.
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Still fast enough for my requirements and flawless too. Kids all have lappys that can share through it too.
Xbox and Wii all connected and shared too.
If your struggling think I have a few hundred meters of cable left in the shed. As you mention will need the connectors etc..
Can sort a decent price if you do consider hardwiring. But thats for a different thread and sub forum ofc.
I decided after the end of a 30m cable in the loft broke, that a crimper and 100 ends was a pretty good idea. I'd figured you might have one considering your past with computers.
I had it all mate. Sadly when leaving the USA behind life went in order of importance given that I only had three suitcases
Clothes obs came first. I had an Alienware MJ12 in a suitcase on its own and the other one was memories (photos, car plates, things like that).
If I listed the tools I left behind you'd cry for me haha.
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Thats well slow, might want to look at increasing your internal wireless fella. Or just setting up something small as a firewall box or something and have everything in the pc room wired. Theres always ways around it just depends how bad you want it.