[Goosepond]

First of all, I'm a complete putz when it comes to computer networks. I recently hooked up a Linksys N wireless router (given to me by my son-in-law) just to be able to use the WiFi on my Amazon Kindle. Amazingly enough, it works beautifully, for that.

Now I'm interested in the Touch for Internet radio, at least initially. Probably the smart thing would be to just use a long Ethernet cable connection to my router, but I'd at least like to be able to try the WiFi capability of the Touch.

My concern is that the specs for the Touch say it is compatible with wireless b/g networks. So my question is will the Touch wireless b/g work with my N router?

I've been reading around and I haven't seen anyone mention these kinds of problems. It seems they just hook up the Touch and address other concerns.

Thanks,

Gene

[avta]

It should Gene. Go through the setup routine which presents itself when you first start up the Touch and follow the prompts. There is a detailed online guide for the Touch as well should you run into any problems down the road and there is an online forum as well. Let us know if you're running into problems as there are many experienced Touch users who follow this site.

[srb]

The wireless 802.11n spec is backward compatible with 802.11b and 802.11g.  'B' and 'G' operate at 2.4GHz only, so if you have a dual-band router (2.4GHz and 5GHz), as long as the 2.4GHz wireless portion is enabled, it will work.

Steve

[Goosepond]

The wireless 802.11n spec is backward compatible with 802.11b and 802.11g.  'B' and 'G' operate at 2.4GHz only, so if you have a dual-band router (2.4GHz and 5GHz), as long as the 2.4GHz wireless portion is enabled, it will work.

Steve

Thanks Steve & avta.

Steve, I had a chat session yesterday with a Linksys (Cisco?) rep and he had 2 suggestions.
1. He was willing to go thru the step-by-step process with me to (in his words) "lower down the security" of my router. I declined for the moment but later found some good info on their website that seemed to be the same.

2. Buy a dual band router and set it up (easy for him to say  ) to enable both the lower freq. b/g setting on one band and have the other band still on the n setting. Sounds complicated to me.

So obviously the easiest thing to do is buy the Touch, hook it up and hope for the best. If that doesn't work, try the step 1 process above, hope it works and doesn't screw up the whole setup.

And I guess my final resort would be to invest in a good dual band router.

Thanks,

Gene

[srb]

Earlier Squeezboxes and the Squeezebox Duet may not support the more recent versions of the WPA2 wireless security protocol depending on the firmware version, but the Squeezebox Touch does, so there really shouldn't be any need to reduce or "dumb down" your wireless security to WEP.

Yes, dual-band routers will let you set a different security protocol for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios, but a dual-band router shouldn't be necessary just to accommodate the Squeezebox Touch.

Steve

[Goosepond]

Earlier Squeezboxes and the Squeezebox Duet may not support the more recent versions of the WPA2 wireless security protocol depending on the firmware version, but the Squeezebox Touch does, so there really shouldn't be any need to reduce or "dumb down" your wireless security to WEP.

Yes, dual-band routers will let you set a different security protocol for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios, but a dual-band router shouldn't be necessary just to accommodate the Squeezebox Touch.

Steve

Thanks Steve,

You gave me the answers I was hoping for.

Here goes! 

Gene

[Airborn]

Gene,

I use a Netgear N600 dual band wireless N router with my Touch.  Works flawlessly.  You should have no problems and no need to lower the security like Steve said.  Good luck.

[Boybees]

Can the Squeezebox Touch play music from a USB HDD without being controlled by a separate computer?

[Steidl Guitars]

Can the Squeezebox Touch play music from a USB HDD without being controlled by a separate computer?

Yes.

[saeyedoc]

Can the Squeezebox Touch play music from a USB HDD without being controlled by a separate computer?

Yes, but it works better if you use a separate computer. With the USB HDD, it has to run a mini version of the serve software and can bog down if there's a large number of files.

[Cacophonix]

Yes, but it works better if you use a separate computer. With the USB HDD, it has to run a mini version of the serve software and can bog down if there's a large number of files.

+1
I store my music files on a usb hdd that is attached to a wireless router. If i attach it to the SB, it takes a while to build some sort of an index and is painfully slow. I need to get a network drive enclosure .... USB interface is too slow.

[Chromisdesigns]

+1
I store my music files on a usb hdd that is attached to a wireless router. If i attach it to the SB, it takes a while to build some sort of an index and is painfully slow. I need to get a network drive enclosure .... USB interface is too slow.

May not help that much to go NAS, the bottleneck is really in the slow processor in the Touch, which has to do all the work a computer would normally do running the server software.

[Cacophonix]

May not help that much to go NAS, the bottleneck is really in the slow processor in the Touch, which has to do all the work a computer would normally do running the server software.

True but hopefully it should atleast help with how quickly the server running on my PC can access the drive attached to the router. Right now, it works, but its frustratingly slow.

[JEaton]

True but hopefully it should atleast help with how quickly the server running on my PC can access the drive attached to the router. Right now, it works, but its frustratingly slow.

Is there a reason you need to have the music library drive attached to the router/NAS/whatever instead of just attaching it to the PC running the server?

[Cacophonix]

Is there a reason you need to have the music library drive attached to the router/NAS/whatever instead of just attaching it to the PC running the server?

I stream music and movies to different parts of the house, and don't want to have my main PC running all the time. With the multimedia drive attached to the router, i can access the movies from my game room or stream it downstairs in the living room via my PS3.