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How can anyone prevent you from using a hardware firewall? The best they can do is require you to install an ethernet card that they supply and then check the MAC address. But most descent consumer Internet router/firewalls, for example the D-Link DI-604, allow you to clone the MAC address from your NIC. Which doesn't really leave the ISP any room. You can hook up a hardware firewall (which is what the 604 is) and as many computers as you want, and the ISP can't do a damn thing about it.

Short of coming out physically to your house and checking if you have one that is. But short of that they have no way of knowing. Unless you insist on telling them that is. ;-)

The wireless group in Houston is building even smaller boxes that are capable of doing everything that this box does. A HOWTO is being assembled here. They are using the Soekris Net4501 in combination with the DWL-520 802.11b PCI card to run Linux and push HostAP and NoCatAuth. The Soekris comes with 3 NICs and no moving parts!

The PCMCIA slot would probably take a wireless card and you can buy USB based Bluetooth adaptors, such as the this one from D-Link. Even better, if you have a USB keyboard such as the one used on Macs, you can plug the adapator straight into the keyboard.

yeah, they are just introducing those into the market..
LINKSYS WAP51AB $245
DWL-6000AP$275

D-Link has also been producing one, that is also MacOS X exclusive.

I would imagine the exclusiveness would be because Apple provided support for Bluetooth and saved D-Link et al. the software effort. So if we want to see these devices working on Linux and MS-Windows, then it is a matter of the relavent groups writing the necessary drivers.

>>I see nowhere in any product description of this fact???

That is true, but I have a Hubby. Checking the web site again I find the de906 kit. On that page it says:

"Includes [...] two keyboard power cables for hub [...]"

and

"For hub features, see DE-805TP/C", which is the product for the original link i provided. They could have made that information a little more straight forward to find!

Check out http://www.dlink.com/products/hubs/de805/. Small 5 port hub, but it can be powered off of your PS/2 port with a little bit of work(see http://www.aitech.com/support/aig2install.htm) for an example.

Try this hub. It is powered from a standard keyboard socket and they can be cascaded together.

-----------------------

Oops, forgot the most important part: I've only seen 10 MBit hubs powered that way. For example this one.

I'm surprised no one's compared these products. The DWL-900P+ does the same thing as the WET11, but includes 256-bit WEP and it uses the new TI 802.11b chip that can do 22 Mbps. It's only $115, too (retail).

I just bought two of them so that I could share the DSL line with my upstairs neighbor. (I hadn't heard about the WET11 when I bought the D-Links.)

look to the apple for the answer

does it work on linux/pc? maybe a comparable product?

Along the same lines as Cisco, DLink has some products in 802.11b (AirPlus) that utilize a different modulation scheme (Packet Binary Convolutional Coding) and provide 256-bit WEP. They also claim to provide 22Mbps. DLink's gear is compatible with other vendors' products if you want to go with std 802.11b (ie. 11Mbps).

There are a lot of posts here about hard drive and CD based MP3 players. Those seem to miss the point that this is a player for 8 mi. runs. A HD or CD player is going to be too big, too heavy, and too fragile for this use.

What I use for my longer runs, mountain biking, and snowboarding is a D-Link DMP-210. It's:

• Cheap (about $70)
• Takes 128MB smartmedia ($50) for a total of 160MB
• Light (2.7oz with a Li AA battery)
• Supplied earbuds work well for running
• Sounds good on two of its four eq. presets, more than loud enough for me
• USB

Downsides are:

• MP3 only
• Minimal display
• No supplied armband

-Ryan C.

How would this affect ZoneAlarm and Linksys and D-link routers?

D-Link sells a variety of different types of antennas.

Many have mentioned the problem of interference around 2.4GHz from cordless phones, microwaves, etc. As I see it, the best solution to this (and with future capacity in mind) is to go with 802.11a instead of 802.11b. It operates at around 5GHz and has much higher bandwidth (~60 Mbps). The only drawback right now is that it costs more and only one company I know of sells them yet (D-Link).

Oh, so I guess this isn't what you are looking for. ;)

Second, at 2.4 GHz a signal doesn't follow a wire (or a circuit board trace) like it does at 60 Hz. At 2.4 GHz a wire is more of a 'suggestion' than a 'command'. This is why (radar | microwave ovens | certain satellite communication systems) use waveguides instead of wires. It's also one of the reasons everything isn't running at the same clock speed.

Third, one of the Ten Commandments of /. -- Thou shalt query Google.

• Arcowave AWL-1100P
• D-Link DWL-520
• Intel PRO/Wireless 2011B LAN PCI Adapter
• LG Wireless PCI Card
• Linksys WMP11
• Proxim Harmony 802.11b PCI Card
• Samsung SWL-2000P or SWL-2100P

PCI Cards are installed with the PCB facing in the general direction of the processor (in the ATX spec). I don't know the shielding capabilities of circuit board material, but it sure isn't a solid conductor -- and... many of your traces are exposed to the radiation inside the case. This is where I expect problems and performance degradation to have their roots.

Perhaps you remember a few years ago when it was trendy to install shielding around your audio card for a greater Signal/Noise Ratio? I saw people use copper flashing (the stuff you use to keep your roof from leaking) to construct a box, doing a very nice soldering job, use stand-offs for installation... all to remove a little static. The whole trick was to construct a Faraday cage that would allow the ISA connector (remember those?) as little clearance as possible, without actually shorting it.

We may see a resurgence of that technique.

• D-Link DFE-570tx 4-port 32bit PCI fast Ethernet adapter
  Phobos P430 (same thing)
  Adaptec 6944a Discontinued model, cheaper -- still 4-port, still 10/100

  Or, if you're lucky enough to be playing with 64 bit PCI @ 66 MHz... there's the newer Adaptec stuff.

  Adaptec 64044 4-port 64bit/66MHz PCI fast Ethernet adapter

Now, to answer the Rick's "Feasible? Stupid?" question...

• Feasible? Certainly. These cards are basically 4 Ethernet chipsets put on one card. The Phobos one uses an Intel DS21143 setup, and can be addressed with generic Linux drivers (tulip.o) as 4 separate devices.

  Stupid? Possibly. Everything coming in from the internet has to pass through the bridge first, and thus pass its' rules. Nothing can directly address it. Pretty much perfectly invulnerable. The only real vulnerability would be a DoS, but that depends on the rules you've plugged into the firewall. In any case, it's impossible to directly compromise the firewall portion of the machine.

  Having the machine providing other services does mean, however, that if something is somehow compromised that your firewall is compromised too -- it's a risk you have to weigh yourself.

  Imagine you're running a webserver on the machine -- with a vulnerable CGI. Someone discovers this, and takes over what they think is "only" a webserver -- only to find they've taken over your company's firewall, too! Ouch.

I have D-Link DI-713, which has been replaced with the DI-714. It has a built in RS-232 port so that you can set the box's IP, or change the admin password. But, you can also hook an external modem up to it.

I know, I know, it's and extra box to lug around, but I already had an extra modem to use on mine, until I got broadband.

It works pretty well, you can set the inactivty timeout, and everything.

D-Link offers a CF-II 802.11b card. Haven't used it yet, but I've used all their other wireless products with definite satisfaction.

Check out http://www.dlink.com/products/DigitalHome/Mobile/d cf650w/.

PS, go to DLink and check out their MP3 portable CD player; it plays normal CDs and MP3s off of CDs and its quite inexpensive. I'd be thrilled if it supported Ogg Vorbis, WMA and anything else that's available. As long as they keep adding and don't _subtract_ any support, we should all be happy.

The problem is hubs. I have yet to see a good gigabit hub for under $2k or so. Most of the gigabit-compatible hubs offered use gigabit for uplink, and a handful of 100-base-T links for the rest of the ports.

What sort of crack are you on? Check out the Linux [linuxrouter.org] Router Project [sourceforge.net], freesco, etc. I own an ISP [stormforge.net] that is Cisco free using entirely LRP based routers and firewalls.

And your internal routers are either not routing (saturated) gigabit traffic through multiple cards, or not running on commodity hardware.

Even a hub - not a router, which is more expensive - that can handle more than one gigabit connection at full data rate costs about $2000 US. Find me a better price, with a link. My own numbers are from dlink (http://www.dlink.com). The links you posted describe _software_. The problem is expensive _hardware_. The machines you describe do not have the internal data transfer bandwidth to handle multiple saturated gigabit interfaces, so I'm puzzled as to why you even mention them as examples.

I think for a router you will find that in practice it will be pretty difficult to saturate the 32-bit 33MHz PCI bus.

I am a-priori assuming an application that will saturate gigabit ethernet channels. Otherwise there's no reason to use gigabit at all, as you point out.

More than one saturated gigabit ethernet interface would certainly swamp a 32-bit 33 MHz PCI bus.

Joe user's LAN and cable modem won't do this. A fileserver with a single IDE drive won't do this.

Something like, say, a communications-limited distributed computing project sure would, and most interesting computing problems are communications-limited when scaled up past one box.

Any application that requires streaming uncompressed (lossless) video streams between machines at better-than-NTSC resolution would also require better bandwidth than 100-base-T provides. Why someone would use multiple machines for something like this is left as an exercise for the reader.

Either way, both I and the post I was replying to were assuming the existence of some need for gigabit ethernet.

The new URL is http://www.dlink.com/products/DigitalHome/Broadban d/di804/

Quite a few DSL/Cable router box manufacturers have their manuals posted on their web site. It doesn't take long to get familiar with these devices' capabilities by reading the instructions. Just a few:

Linksys
D-Link
Netgear
Cisco (expensive but flexible)

While a Cisco Aironet would be nice, $1400 is a bit steep.

The issue is, with all these current 802.11b security issues and the probable introduction of new security features, what are good products to use and steps take? It's one thing to point out the flaws in the system; another entirely to show how to fix (or at least avoid) them.

I detect an "Ask Slashdot" here....

While a Cisco Aironet would be nice, $1400 is a bit steep.

The issue is, with all these current 802.11b security issues and the probable introduction of new security features, what are good products to use and steps take? It's one thing to point out the flaws in the system; another entirely to show how to fix (or at least avoid) them.

I detect an "Ask Slashdot" here....

A nice package that I could install... A firewall/802.11b combination. I plug in the cable modem ethernet in one port, and in the other 2 ports, my local protected network, and then a place to put in the 802.11b base device. That way those around me can have internet access through my connection.

Check out the LinkSys BEFW11S4, the D-Link DI-711 or DI-713, or the 3Com 3CRWE50194. They all have the physical specs to do what you're asking. It's just a matter of finding out if their built in firewall abilities are flexible enough for your specific needs.

-Aaron

A nice package that I could install... A firewall/802.11b combination. I plug in the cable modem ethernet in one port, and in the other 2 ports, my local protected network, and then a place to put in the 802.11b base device. That way those around me can have internet access through my connection.

Check out the LinkSys BEFW11S4, the D-Link DI-711 or DI-713, or the 3Com 3CRWE50194. They all have the physical specs to do what you're asking. It's just a matter of finding out if their built in firewall abilities are flexible enough for your specific needs.

-Aaron

DLink's 713 Wireless 11Mbps/10/100 Mbps router".

word.

Apple has the Airport which can purchased for $299 at CompUsa, Circuit City and their own web site. I also think that DLink might have an accesspoint for $299 (I might of seen this at circuit city also). Even though the Airport is an Apple product, it is configured through snmp. You can get a java application to configure it. I use the Airport at my house as a transparent bridge which allows me to use my laptop anywhere in my house.

I'm looking around at both cards and access points with linux compatibility, here's what I've found. It seems 802.11b wireless networking is definitely getting cheaper and a number of decent products have been showing up at half previous typical prices. D-Link and SMC are leading the low end of the market with decent quality products and at least stated linux support and Orinico/Lucent and Aironet/Cisco are the leaders if you want a more robust feature set for your access point (in particular, support for external antennas).

PCMCIA Cards

• For cards, the cheapest decent card I've been able to find is the D-Link DWL-650, which can be had for around $120 from a reputable web retailer. However, while D-Link claims linux support in their FAQ, I can't find a driver to download from their FTP and a google search didn't reveal anything elsewhere. Haven't really looked hard, but dubious with that in mind. I should also note that the D-Link claims shorter ranges (1,000 ft. v. 1,500) than most of the other cards/access points, but I suspect that has little real world relevance.
• The next best option seems to be the SMC 2632W, which has linux drivers available for download (haven't tried them out, though). It tends to run about $20-30 more from similar sources, but looks like a good product and appears to have better support.
• After that, its a tossup in the $200-300 range from the major networking manufacturers. I don't see a clear advantage of any of them over the cheaper products, but haven't looked at power consumption levels and comparison tests from major publications aren't new enough to include these products (that I've seen).

Access Points

For those who are also interested in what's going on with access points, including linux support on configuration:

• Currently thinking about the D-Link DWL-1000AP which goes for a little under $300 if you look around for a good web retailer. Main downside is a lack of linux support in configuration software (needed to set static IPs by address), though this isn't a big deal for me as I run a mixed network. Too bad it doesn't have a nice mini-web server for management like my HP printer (LaserJet 2100NT). They list telnet support in the data sheet, but its not clear to me if you can telnet to the hub to make changes ...
• Another potentially good and cheap model is the SMC 2652W, but supply seems to be limited on this right now. Again, no linux configuration utilities, but you can console connect via RS-232, which the D-Link doesn't have. SMC has linux drivers available for its PCMCIA card now.

Unfortunately, neither of these have the antenna adapter that some of the Lucent Orinoco (formerly WaveLAN) access points feature, but they also don't cost $700+ (its more for the 2 radio model). Not really much of an issue for household use (unless you have a multilevel apartment with concrete flooring), but if you want to cover multiple houses, roam around farther outdoors, or set up a free wireless LAN (slashdot discussion) for people in the area [SF for me] (I could run a really popular access point, living across the street from Moscone). There are a number of other good access points from Cisco/Aironet, HP, Intel, etc., but these are the standouts for price/performance in my research.

Regards, RJS

I'm looking around at both cards and access points with linux compatibility, here's what I've found. It seems 802.11b wireless networking is definitely getting cheaper and a number of decent products have been showing up at half previous typical prices. D-Link and SMC are leading the low end of the market with decent quality products and at least stated linux support and Orinico/Lucent and Aironet/Cisco are the leaders if you want a more robust feature set for your access point (in particular, support for external antennas).

PCMCIA Cards

• For cards, the cheapest decent card I've been able to find is the D-Link DWL-650, which can be had for around $120 from a reputable web retailer. However, while D-Link claims linux support in their FAQ, I can't find a driver to download from their FTP and a google search didn't reveal anything elsewhere. Haven't really looked hard, but dubious with that in mind. I should also note that the D-Link claims shorter ranges (1,000 ft. v. 1,500) than most of the other cards/access points, but I suspect that has little real world relevance.
• The next best option seems to be the SMC 2632W, which has linux drivers available for download (haven't tried them out, though). It tends to run about $20-30 more from similar sources, but looks like a good product and appears to have better support.
• After that, its a tossup in the $200-300 range from the major networking manufacturers. I don't see a clear advantage of any of them over the cheaper products, but haven't looked at power consumption levels and comparison tests from major publications aren't new enough to include these products (that I've seen).

Access Points

For those who are also interested in what's going on with access points, including linux support on configuration:

• Currently thinking about the D-Link DWL-1000AP which goes for a little under $300 if you look around for a good web retailer. Main downside is a lack of linux support in configuration software (needed to set static IPs by address), though this isn't a big deal for me as I run a mixed network. Too bad it doesn't have a nice mini-web server for management like my HP printer (LaserJet 2100NT). They list telnet support in the data sheet, but its not clear to me if you can telnet to the hub to make changes ...
• Another potentially good and cheap model is the SMC 2652W, but supply seems to be limited on this right now. Again, no linux configuration utilities, but you can console connect via RS-232, which the D-Link doesn't have. SMC has linux drivers available for its PCMCIA card now.

Unfortunately, neither of these have the antenna adapter that some of the Lucent Orinoco (formerly WaveLAN) access points feature, but they also don't cost $700+ (its more for the 2 radio model). Not really much of an issue for household use (unless you have a multilevel apartment with concrete flooring), but if you want to cover multiple houses, roam around farther outdoors, or set up a free wireless LAN (slashdot discussion) for people in the area [SF for me] (I could run a really popular access point, living across the street from Moscone). There are a number of other good access points from Cisco/Aironet, HP, Intel, etc., but these are the standouts for price/performance in my research.

Regards, RJS

Ogg can't chain me to my computer or even to a PDA and expect to thrive. Ogg should spend some time bringing their codec to the typical embedded A/V processors found in the new generation of cheap OEM DVD and CD chipsets for consumer electronics (like the ESS VideoDrive 4308 and 4318, found in most of the DVD/VCD/MP3 combo players)

-Isaac

What about products like this one that let you listen to radio on your PC, and then record the songs into mp3 format?

There are two companies offering Fast, FDX Ethernet switches for $25/port, not $50/port. They are:

• D-Link DSS-8+

• NetGear FS108

The Fast Ethernet switch market has been competing hard lately around the 8-port switch models - that's the sweet spot. Go check out the prices on CNET's Shopper.com; they even show the state where the mail order company is based so that you can avoid sales taxes.

Enjoy!