Configuring router as a bridge?

[Mikesername]

Hey, I'm missing my bridge at the moment and was wondering how I could configure another router to act as a bridge. I'm not too great at networks, and was wondering if anyone has any help to offer? Googling hasn't offered too much for me.

[Joe Ross]

You can actually just stick the original router on the robot and plug the cRIO into one of the non-wan/internet ports and it will work just fine.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

You can actually just stick the original router on the robot and plug the cRIO into one of the non-wan/internet ports and it will work just fine.

I'm pretty sure you meant non-wan/ethernet port :-)

[EricVanWyk]

Originally Posted by Ether

I'm pretty sure you meant non-wan/ethernet port :-)

I'm not sure what it says on the KoP bridges, but a lot of routers label that port as "WAN/Internet" because they assume folk don't know what a WAN is.

Have you gotten into the routers configuration yet? Once you can configure it to be on the right network (10.TE.AM.x), it is relatively straight forward.

Full disclosure: I pushed Mike towards chief delphi because I couldn't remember the way to do this over the phone.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by EricVanWyk

I'm not sure what it says on the KoP bridges, but a lot of routers label that port as "WAN/Internet" because they assume folk don't know what a WAN is

The WRT610N User Guide calls them Ethernet ports. I was just being lighthearted.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Ether

The WRT610N User Guide calls them Ethernet ports. I was just being lighthearted.

I don't know what part of the guide you're reading, but the actual WRT610N router I have in my hand prominently labels the port Joe was talking about with the word "INTERNET".

[Ether]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

You can actually just stick the original router on the robot and plug the cRIO into one of the non-wan/internet ports and it will work just fine.

I misread your post Joe, sorry.

You intended non-wan/internet to mean !(wan/internet).

I read it as (!wan)/internet.

The (!wan) ports are Ethernet ports.

Does he have to change the IP address of the router on the robot to 10.xx.yy.1, or should he leave it 10.xx.yy.4 ?

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Ether

Does he have to change the IP address of the router on the robot to 10.xx.yy.1, or should he leave it 10.xx.yy.4 ?

It does not matter.

[Mikesername]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

You can actually just stick the original router on the robot and plug the cRIO into one of the non-wan/internet ports and it will work just fine.

if the router is connected to the cRIO this way, will it wirelessly connect to the driver's station or will it have to be tethered?

[Ether]

Originally Posted by Mikesername

if the router is connected to the cRIO this way, will it wirelessly connect to the driver's station or will it have to be tethered?

I was assuming from your original post that you wanted to use another router to replace the missing bridge on the bot, leaving the original router in place (connected to the Classmate) for wireless operation.

I guess what's being suggested here is to move your router to the robot, instead of adding another router, and use the Classmate's wireless card. That's why Joe said the router's IP address need not be changed.

I don't know about the Classmate and the WRT610N, but the router I have here at home for our wireless network has a better signal than the typical laptop wireless card.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Mikesername

if the router is connected to the cRIO this way, will it wirelessly connect to the driver's station or will it have to be tethered?

The Driver Station does not have the capability of using 802.11n Wi-Fi on the 5 GHz frequency band. The "official" configuration of the WRT610N router has the 2.4 GHz frequencies disabled. You will have to modify the wireless settings on the router to enable 802.11g at 2.4 GHz, setting an appropriate SSID. Once you do that, the Driver Station (and any other 802.11b/g devices) should be able to connect to it wirelessly.

[Mikesername]

Okay, I was just checking to see if that was what he meant. Sorry for adding confusion, but I did mean that we have two routers (one connected to classmate, one that would like to be a bridge). So it's just as easy as plug it in then? And configure it to have the settings the bridge would have?

[Alan Anderson]

I don't think the WRT610N router has a setting to turn it into a wireless bridge. The easiest thing is probably to use it on the robot as an access point, suitably configured so that your Driver Station computer can connect to it over Wi-Fi.

Some other routers do have wireless bridge modes, and there are third-party firmware images available for many popular routers which add that option.