Direct wirless network of two laptops

[Deskana]

OK, I have a laptop and my colleague has a laptop. We need to work out a way to get a direct connection between our laptops going. We've tried it with (an extremely short) crossover cable with great success, but now we want to go to wireless. However, I am not educated in wireless networking. So what I need to know is what technology I'd need to use to get an equivilant connection between our laptops going. No routers, or anything. So, if we went to another galaxy, we could use wireless on our laptops to transfer files. Do I go with Wireless Products or Bluetooth Products? I've got two standard size PC card slots in my laptop so that's not a problem. Bluetooth or wireless?

AND.... what sort of program would we need to send instant messages over our newly created network? I've heard Windows Messenger can do it, but how would I configure it to?

Thanks,
Dan

[sschulak]

if im not mistaken i think you can configure you laptop to use your wireless card in ad-hoc mode which will allow you to access other clients with out an AP. research ad-mode and your operating system on google and see if it will work for you.

[Mr Lodin]

Hi!

Bluetooth has a bit rate of less than 1 Mbps and doesn't support Ethernet-based communication without some kind of conversion.
802.11b has bit rates of 11 Mbps (~5 Mbps throughput) and 802.11a/g has 54 Mbps (~20 Mbps throughput) and they both support IP addressing.

802.11 protocols are designed to make regular networks wireless. Bluetooth is designed for real-time, short-range and low data rate applications such as cordless mice, head-sets and such.

I advice you to go with 802.11 (Wi-Fi) equipment if you want a wireless network.

Good Luck!