"Skip - Working on the boat" <SkipGundlach@gmail.com> hath wroth:

>On the other, we have Jeff's somewhat more erudite
>reasoning/explanation of why I got clashes.

No. It's an explanation as to why you couldn't reliably connect and
stay connected. No IP's involved.

>Is it that Windoze is calling clashes IP conflicts when it's really not
>that problem, but they label it that way so as not to confuse the hoi
>polloi?

No. Please print out the following in 72 point type and plaster it on
the wall before your computer:
"ALL WIRELESS IS BRIDGING, NOT ROUTING"
What this means is that at the bridging level, there are no IP
addresses involved. In your case, if you can't get reliable bridging,
then the IP addresses that sit on top of the bridging layer aren't
going to work reliably. I don't wanna hear about anything on the IP
layer until you have the bridging layer (MAC layer) stabilized.

>is it, in
>fact, possible to set an AP and a bridge on the same netclass, have the
>bridge scanning for open sites (and exclude, somehow, my AP right next
>to it or 60 feet away belowdecks, perhaps), and not have conflicts?

That's a judgment call so I'll suggest that it is not possible when
using SSID=ANY. Your wireless client will opportunistically hop from
access point to access point at the slightest provocation and will not
remain connected to any specific access point because you didn't
specify a specific access point when you use SSID=ANY.

>Much more importantly to me, is it possible for *any* setup to allow me
>to use a configuration tool to see, and select from, available APs
>without having to do the manual resetting/configuration of some unit,
>whether by wifi or ethernet cable, as is the case now (understanding
>that I'm so thrilled with the end result that doing so is now a minor
>inconvenience)?

I read this to ask: "Can I connect to a specific access point without
first manually specifying what to connect to?" Maybe, if you can find
a wireless client bridge that allows connection by MAC address instead
of SSID. You would need to supply it with a pre-approved list of
acceptable MAC addresses for all the harbors you visit. I don't know
of any such magic devices offhand. Using the limitations of existing
hardware, the answer is "no", you can't.

Put differently, what you're asking for the wireless client to do is
sail into a random and unknown harbor, and somehow be able to guess
which SSID you want to connect. Sorry, but without artificial
intelligence or a Ouija Board, it's not going to happen. You have to
somehow tell it which SSID to connect with. Perhaps if all the harbor
access points had the same SSID, but not when they're almost random.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558