I was interested in setting up a new wireless network in my home. I run a couple of servers out of my home, which run this site as well as a few others. I have tried products by Linksys, D-Link, and Netgear and for the most part networking products for the home have much improved in ease of use as well as performance. Technology has come a long way and setting up a wireless network in your home has become very reasonably priced. With better security and speed there is almost no reason not to use a wireless network over a wired. This statement can be argued of course and I can see an argument for both sides, but for most people a wireless network is sufficient for ones needs. I’ve been pretty happy with Netgear’s products and I was looking for an Ethernet wireless bridge and a main wireless base station. I use the Netgear WGPS606 for my living room to connect my Mac Mini, cable box, and hopefully a game system in the near future. For my main base station I chose the Netgear WPN824 RangeMax Wireless Router. This router has suited my needs very well.

After purchasing the Mac Mini and collecting quite a few USB peripherals, the two USB ports built into the machine wasn’t cutting it especially since the keyboard/mouse use one of the ports. I needed a USB hub and I didn’t really care for the units that were made to match the Mac Mini. I figured if I ever got rid of the Mac Mini I could actually use a universal hub with another machine and it wouldn’t look out of place. I came across the IOGear GUH284R and figured that I was a great idea to have a card reader built into the hub with 6 USB ports. I had been collecting quite a few items such as digital cameras and phones that used removable media so I figured I could put the card reader to good use.

I was looking for a wireless keyboard and mouse combo for the Mac Mini I have in my living room connected to the Samsung HL-R4667W. I searched the Internet for suggestions from other users and for the most part most companies did not support Bluetooth solutions for Mac OS X. I could have gone with the Logitech Bluetooth DiNovo keyboard or the Microsoft Bluetooth Desktop set, but all the functions of either of those units are not fully supported in Mac OS X. Looking at the Apple solution of their Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, I felt that they did not have enough of the features I was looking for. I don’t know why this seemed to bother me because I use the standard Apple Keyboard and Mouse on a Apple Power Macintosh G5 as well as a Powerbook G4. I guess when I buy things it all depends on what I’m feeling at the time of purchase.