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Buying Networking Hardware and Software

Ethernet Cards

An Ethernet card enables you to have a direct connection to UOnet, the University's campuswide network. With the residence halls, family housing and some fraternities, sororities and local apartments now wired for network access, we urge UO housing residents to purchase an Ethernet card if your system of choice does not already have one built in.

The most common cards currently in use at the UO are 3Com and Intel. Virtually all Macintoshes built after 1993 come with built-in Ethernet.

If you are living off-campus and want to have access to UOnet, you'll need to have a modem or use some type of broadband solution like DSL or cable modem.

Wireless

Wireless Ethernet works the same as wired ethernet but requires no physical connection to the network. Instead, it uses radio signals similar to cordless telephones to send and receive data. A wireless network connection is referred to as WiFi commercially.

There are three different wireless standard: 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. We recommend buying an 802.11g card. They are compatible with 802.11b networks. The university does not support 802.11a cards.

Laptops are perfect for wireless networking. WiFi cards for laptops come in two types: PCMCIA card (external) and MiniPCI (internal). MiniPCI cards are often available only at the time of purchase and are often sold in laptops that have integrated wireless antennas.

Integrated wireless is convenient but not necessarily better. For example, as new wireless standards come out, one can simply replace a wireless card but not one that is integrated. Even on a system with integrated wireless, it is typically possible to disable the integrated card, and utilize an external card. For this reason, you may not wish to pay a premium just to get wireless integrated.

PCMCIA wireless cards are equally as functional and can be moved from one computer to another. Any WiFi-compatible wireless card that has driver software for your operating system will work with our wireless network.

Most of Apple's computers are wireless-ready. Check out Apple's Airport product line.

We discourage using wireless ethernet in desktop computers except in situations where using physical wiring is impossible or very difficult.

For more details on UO's wireless network, see our Wireless page.

Modems

We have a separate page dedicated entirely to modems.

Software

Before buying software, be aware that we have a site license for some packages. Notably, we have freely available commercial antivirus software for current students, faculty and staff. The UO Bookstore can sell you Microsoft Office for about $60 through an open-license agreement. This is not the packaged product on the shelf, you'll have to ask Bookstore staff how to get this deal.

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