Question : How do walls reduce the 802.11.g distance

Is there a rule of thumb on the number walls wireless can penetrate? I have a linksys wireless router connectting to a laptop and a desktop wirelessly. The desktop is on the same floor as the router but is close to 50 feet away. There are several walls between the desktop and the router. The signal is zero. The laptop about 20 feet away and only a wall and the ceiling seperate them. The signal is fine.
Is there a cheap peice of test equipment that could measure the signal strength?
Is there a more sensitive antenna I could add to the desktop? it is a Dlink card.
Should the sgnal be able  penetrate a brick wall?

Thanks
Whiwex

Answer : How do walls reduce the 802.11.g distance

Strange I tried many upgrades and all failed unless I TFTP it in. But if it said success and it now running 5.4a then sounds like it worked to me.

It's tough to get the timing right for the TFTP but not impossible (was boot wait on?)

Now you need to setup WDS.

Setup the wireless setting identically
Under Wireless -> Basic Settings & Wireless -> Security
SSID / WEP (don't use WPA yet there are few problems with that still) / Channel

Wireless -> Advanced  Make sure Afterburner is disable.

Now I'll assume Router1 will be your internet connection as well.
Under Setup -> Basic Setup
Give Router1 192.168.1.1 and the other 192.168.1.2 and set it's default gateway to 192.168.1.1

Now lets setup WDS (Wireless Bridging)
Wireless -> WDS
Router 1
Line one enter the MAC address you see at the top of this page from Router2 WDS config screen.
Change Disabled to LAN

Router 2
Line one enter the MAC address you see at the top of this page from Router1 WDS config screen.
Change Disabled to LAN

Now you should have a working WDS.  Test them close together by pinging the ip of the other one.
Under Status -> Wireless you should also see it connected.

If you want you can now change the power of the transmit and such under Wireless -> Advanced.

-= Felix =-