Need advice about an Access Point

[Madhusudan Singh]

Hi
    I am thinking of buying an Access Point to set up a wireless network 
at home. I have a laptop with a working MA401 Netgear Wireless card, and 
so far have used a cross over cable to connect to my desktop machine 
(DHCP server + name server). This constrains my range of access as I 
have to be in the same room to use it. Buying any "old style" ethernet 
equipment is going to be expensive as well as limited in terms of the 
number of machines I can add later. Which Access Points work well with 
Hostap ? Does hostap support USB access points yet ? Is it possible to 
set up secure communications with WEP, etc ? Case studies and personal 
recommendations are especially welcome :)

Thanks,

MS