Slashdot Mirror

Looks like the guy who broke the story has been visited by the frame-fairy.

This isn't really new, there have been people doing this kind of thing for years. Check Seattle Wireless dot net for their experiences. I'm sure there are others.

Although the reflectors for either C or Ku band dishes would work fine, it should be noted that the FCC regulates the effective radiated power. Check out FCC EIRP (equivalent isotropic radiated power) Limits.

The reference is an isotropic radiator... like having a point source radiating energy equally in ALL directions (up and down as well as the horizontal plane. A vertically oriented half-wavelength dipole has 2.15 dB gain over an isotropic radiator. If vertical, it radiates equally in all directions horizontally, but drops to nothing straight up and straight down.
Many have used a dipole as an alternate reference since it the lowest gain and most basic antenna normally constructed.
The EIRP rating is basically the amount of power it would take fed into an isotropic antenna to equal the signal produced from the gain (focusing effect) of a directional antenna. Some get confused by antenna gain. It doesn't give us more power than a transmitter puts out, it just concentrates the signal in a desired (hopefully!) direction at the expense of other directions.

The FCC rule differ for point to point versus point to multipoint WiFi. Point to multipoint the limit is 4 Watts effective regardless of antenna gain. (36 dBm, m being mw or milliwatts) A 100 mw card (20dbmw) feeding a 16 dBi gain antenna would produce 36 dbmw EIRP if there was no cable loss. If 3 dB was lost, it would take 200 mw into the cable to compensate (23dbm -3dB + 16dBi = 36

Point to multipoint starts at the level for a low gain antenna, but only requires a fairly small reduction in transmitter output power as higher antenna gain is used. So the maximum allowable signal does increase quite a bit with higher gain antennas.

Since things are pretty close to line of sight at 2.4 GHz, a huge dish near the ground (and not pointing up in the sky) isn't likely to do nearly as well as a smaller one up above the clutter. So most C band dishes (usually 2 to 4 meters across) are too big for most situations. Gain is probably best estimated by comparison with commercial dishes of the same diameter and frequency.

Allowable power is likely different in other countries. Your mileage (kilometerage????) may vary

A couple years ago I was looking to do something similar. A bit of research shows that it's actually fairly easy to do, and with remarkably long ranges. Pretty much anything roughly parabolic will do, and a satellite dish is a great way to start. Here's a post with several useful links: http://www.seattlewireless.net/pipermail/dev/2003-June/012784.html

Consider buying paying for broadband to whoever lives in the last house on the line, getting Linksys WRT54GL, throwing on DDWRT (lets you play with transmit power settings), a couple stew or coffee cans an other bits for the antenna (http://www.seattlewireless.net/DirectionalWavegui de), and shoot a line to your place where you'll have a second 54GL set up. If you can get line of site, this would be nothing.

I have a 400' hop from my pottery studio, but I was saddened to discover it didn't take anything special at all to make that work. Getting it to go a half mile might be a bit more fun.

Seattle Wireless has been fairly quiet recently, but they are still working towards a free Seattle 802.11 network. A local network via 802.11 is an effective and minimal investment method for connecting a freenet.

The people doing roofnet have mostly suspended development on the project to form Meraki. Unfortunately, the ties to proprietary technology that Meraki is using makes it less interesting. However, there are projects such as OpenWrt used by community groups like Seattle Wireless (http://www.seattlewireless.net/), Personal Telco in Portland (http://www.personaltelco.net/) and Buffalo Wireless (http://www.buffalowireless.org/). These projects are using things like OLSR (http://www.olsr.org/) in order to create a mesh network on top of the OpenWrt linux distro. Perhaps these are some of the same technologies that the Harvard project is planning to use as well. It seems like it would be pretty easy to implement.

What about when Windows auto-connects to an open AP? Sure you would probably never get arrested for it, but its still technically illegal isnt it?

I interviewed an FBI agent here a few years ago, and he specified that they can't possibly go after every case of Windows auto-connecting to an open network. They're more focused on kiddie-porn, spam, and other 'net nasties.

But if someone access you Wifi use your bandwidth (or delete files from your computer (I actually deleted a virus from Win 98 PC once using Wifi..)) you can at least prove that you did not want them on your network.

I actually asked an FBI agent about this and a few other questions a few years ago here.

No, he's talking about groups like Seattle Wireless who are building free metropolitan area networks.

According to the article, there are three companies that have actually worked with the free software community on drivers. Here is the list:

Ralink Technology

Atmel Corporation

Realtek Linux drivers here

Vote with your money, folks. If you would like to see companies cooperate with the free software community, reward the companies that do so by buying their products.

If you know of a particular piece of WiFi hardware that works particularly well in Linux or BSD, please follow up here so we all know what to buy. (See also this list.)

According to the article, there are three companies that have actually worked with the free software community on drivers. Here is the list:

Ralink Technology

Atmel Corporation

Realtek Linux drivers here

Vote with your money, folks. If you would like to see companies cooperate with the free software community, reward the companies that do so by buying their products.

If you know of a particular piece of WiFi hardware that works particularly well in Linux or BSD, please follow up here so we all know what to buy. (See also this list.)

steveha

The last time I looked, the best info seemed to be the seattlewireless.net page. Are there any pages with more info? I haven't had the time or need (so far) to alter it, but eventually...

This is also common. The coffee houses here in the South Side of Pittsburgh have signs that say 'Free Internet'. There's no disclaimer, provisions, or signed documents. Why need 'em? Generally, the lower cost places simply plug an AP into a DSL router, and call it done. Places like Starbucks and the Telerama hotspots have a splashpage, and instructions for you to login, but those are expensive solutions to implement (Even though Telerama does it cheap, see tv.seattlewireless.net for a video on Telerama's installations).

The root of the problem, is that people are uninformed. You can't drive a car without a license, but you can distribute Internet to your neighborhood, operate a powerboat, weild power tools, and spawn childeren. Which one is more dangerous?

Perhaps it is time to take back *our* Internet, and more importantly, *MY* Internet. While I am only a generic sysadmin, and not Vinton Cerf, I did help build the Internet in what it is today. I worked at ISPs, webshops, and software huts. I took care of Internet customers. I told everyone how useful the Internet was. I posted to Usenet, sent emails, published videos, toyed with mashups, and other things. I helped make the Internet work, even if only in a teensy tiny small way.

I want to continue to experiment with everything Internet. I want to post, and send email, and publish. A tiered Internet would not make that financially possible for me, if I have to have two or three colocations to publish my stuff. Or, by not being an approved corporation that is allowed to reach certain network endpoints, how do I reach my intended audience?

So I suggest that the Internet's users take back what is rightfully theirs, and ours, and more importantly to me, mine. We can build our own infrastructure, which some groups have already started doing. Go get some wireless gear. Learn about it. Go wardriving. Have fun at a Wi-Fi shootout. Know the geeks in the area. I think the best way to take back our Internet, is to own a larger piece of it. I think the only way this can happen, is if there are more of us interested in wireless networking -- enough of an interest to start taking this more seriously.

Boy do I wish I were a better salesman sometimes.

Perhaps it is time to take back *our* Internet, and more importantly, *MY* Internet. While I am only a generic sysadmin, and not Vinton Cerf, I did help build the Internet in what it is today. I worked at ISPs, webshops, and software huts. I took care of Internet customers. I told everyone how useful the Internet was. I posted to Usenet, sent emails, published videos, toyed with mashups, and other things. I helped make the Internet work, even if only in a teensy tiny small way.

I want to continue to experiment with everything Internet. I want to post, and send email, and publish. A tiered Internet would not make that financially possible for me, if I have to have two or three colocations to publish my stuff. Or, by not being an approved corporation that is allowed to reach certain network endpoints, how do I reach my intended audience?

So I suggest that the Internet's users take back what is rightfully theirs, and ours, and more importantly to me, mine. We can build our own infrastructure, which some groups have already started doing. Go get some wireless gear. Learn about it. Go wardriving. Have fun at a Wi-Fi shootout. Know the geeks in the area. I think the best way to take back our Internet, is to own a larger piece of it. I think the only way this can happen, is if there are more of us interested in wireless networking -- enough of an interest to start taking this more seriously.

Boy do I wish I were a better salesman sometimes.

Yes, thank you -- I like to think I take a personal hand in promoting safe wardriving practices. I also recommend having a bit of fun, but I do not advocate breaking any laws -- like siphoning credit card information, passwords, etc.
With all the hubub freakout over people wi-camping streetside, I wonder how people would react to superceding in-home APs with a more mobile approach. I think a game, or "tag you're it" type of thing might be fun. I think I'd hate to have to carry a couple of laptops in my backpack but it would be fun to watch the hit counter -- especially in a dense City area.

The Portable Node idea is nothing new. It Has Been Done Before, but this is the first (that I have seen) commercial implementation. At the price it is going for ($600) I doubt anyone will buy it, as you can build your own for almost half as much.

We use one over at the Toughbook wiki to keep track of details of various machines.

I've been looking for a good table manipulation tool. Wiki tables like the HardwareComparison quickly grow out of control. A way to sort and filter records, show and hide columns, an define alternate views for tabular data, would be great.

I picture sort of a webmail-like interface. Perhaps the data shouldn't live in the wiki page at all, but in a real database back-end with the appropriate interface(s) for adding and editing records.

In some projects I work on, the bosses email a "tracker" spreadsheet back and forth, where each site has a row, and each stage or activity has a column. They sort and filter the spreadsheets to get a picture of progress. One challenge is getting the data in, since it comes from dozens of different field techs, shippers, other companies, and arbitrary other events. Another challenge is making sure everyone has the most updated version, since emailing a file around is effectively file-level locking, so no more than one person can be working at once.

A central store like a database, with web interfaces that any Excel weenie could use, would alleviate much of the trouble. A hybrid of spreadsheet functions, database query tools, and wiki-like markup, could be really powerful. Anyone know if such a thing might exist, or if such projects might be in the works?

Macro Lens, Directional Antenna (http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/Pringles Cantenna), Explode the top off with Liquid Nitrogen (http://www.physik.uni-augsburg.de/~ubws/nitrogen. html) and some prefer to use it in the event they need to use the restroom and facilities are not available (http://www.emericaskate.com/more/parisbarca/). I tell ya, I'd like to know what that can with the delicious potato chips CAN'T do.

Check out Seattle Wireless for lots of good info.

BTW, I have a 7 mile plain old 802.11B connection that can saturate the T1 upstream connection at the access point. I use a YDI 1/2 watt amp and a 24 dBi grid-dish antenna with a direct line-of-sight path to the access point. Low loss LMR400 coax cable is used to connect to the amp and antenna. Any 802.11B card that can connect to a pigtail can be used to drive the amp and antenna. I use a wireless ISP.

Why not just look at how many people use it.

Here's a List of people with bookmarks.

There are several community wireless networks that do very well and the one in seattle is larger than this if you count all the hotspot's and their square footage of coverage.

Maybe for a privately owned pay for use, but not for existing wireless coverage.

and the funny part is the community wireless projects are done without wimax. 802.11 point to point works very well.

I have just bought 2 from Fremont Fry's for $17 each. I opened it up and found these:

CPU: Marvell 88W8510-BAN ARM processor
Ethernet: Marvell 88E6060-RCJ
16Mbit SDRAM x2: Etrontech EM63165TS-6 (4M bytes)
Flash memory: AMD AM29L

Same as Linksys WRT54GC

Maybe parent assumed that everyone knew about this.

http://www.hyperspacehome.com/hyperwrt/index.php?p age=home-page
http://www.sveasoft.com/modules/phpBB2/
http://www.sveasoft.com/content/view/3/1/
http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/LinksysWr t54g
https://sourceforge.net/projects/wifi-box/

Not a complete list and some of the above may be a little dated but you can get an idea of the additional features that hackers have been able to squeeze into these devices.

Even though they didn't include one, you can add your own backlight to the zipit. Makes it much more useable when using the thing anywhere other than in direct sunlight.

add your own backlight

And that's what seperates wardriving from theft of services, or tresspass, or whatever you want to call it -- crossing the line.

I recommend wardriving, but I do not recommend using networks for which you have no authorization. I interviewed the FBI on this topic, and also went over safe wardriving procedures.

Of course, I could also go to jail for taking pictures of a hospital 3 blocks from my house, but that's another story that I haven't blogged about yet.

Okay, this is much more likely to happen on the PSP, since everyone is running (roughly) the same code. But if there are obvious enough cracks, even more obscure appliances will be cracked.

Hack the thing yourself, check out here.

why do you want the government to do what you can already do yourself? [seattlewireless.net]

It seems time to go wardriving with the FBI. In the last interview I did with them, the agent said he's be interested in going out for a wardrive. It's prolly time to schedule that, and pick up a few more soundbites.

People can take those "BBQ grill" antennas and point them towards downtown and then re-transmit the packets near them.

Other people farther out can do the same and you create a sort of mesh network!

It's easy, you can use the linksys router with "rodents" WRT54GS software to put a WRT54GS into "client mode" and just attach the big antenna to that, then just plug in a regular cheap router to the linksys and that will re-broadcast the packets locally! You could put a omni 8dbi antenna on the other router to give it a bit more range, but put it up high!

See:
http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/LinksysWr t54g
http://openwrt.org/

I see new embedded designs based on MIPS and I'm not sure that's just because "MIPS processors have become entrenched everywhere". The reason is more likely that MIPS can give enough performance with low power consumption at attractive price point.

As an example look at Linksys routers (plastic boxes with Linksys logo and Broadcom reference designs inside), they switched from ARM (earlier routers without WiFi) to MIPS:
http://www.broadcom.com/products/Wireless+LAN/802. 11+Wireless+LAN+Solutions
http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/LinksysWr t54g

I got a note in my box from the (local western Pennsylvania) LUG, which describes a talk from a state trooper who said that wardriving was illegal. After years of debunking, talking nicely to less-informed journalists, and even having an FBI agents on video say otherwise, there is still a lack of understanding.

I heard at my last contract that they didn't use SSH because it was "inherently insecure." They used telnet instead.

Best thing to do, is be patient, try to educate the uninformed, and convince others to do the same.

Just don't get too angry, or they won't want to listen to you in the first place.

...at least in cities like Seattle. Chicago should be about the same.

see, theres already a bazillion free wifi hotspots. get a group to map 'em out (if they havent already), and bingo. you have free wireless almost anywhere you go.

http://www.seattlewireless.net/

Call it surWIver, or Wi-Fi Rally, or whatever. Neet idea for my next video segment for tv.

Especially in Seattle, you can't assume that every open access point is that way only because the owner doesn't know how to secure it. Many folks leave their access points open intentionally, as a service to the community. There's even a substantial, organized effort, Seattle Wireless, to encourage more folks to do so.

In light of this, I think the whole argument about whether finding and using APs is illegal is nonsense. What's the difference between an open-by-ignorance and open-by-design AP? Nothing. Maybe this is an argument for routers to ship with some sort of security on by default, but clearly you can't consider all war-driving in Seattle to be prima facie malicious.

If you really want distance, get an antenna with a very small beam width.

I have two WiFi antennas. A homemade cantenna I built using these instructions. I've experimented with adding a funnel with limited success.

I get pretty good distance with it (big improvement over standard Omni that came with my D-Link 802.11b card, but nothing like what I get using my parabolic grid antenna. It's about $50 after shipping, but the 15 degree beam width is worth it over the 35-50 degree beam width you'll get out of a home made antenna.

I strongly advise against home made pringles can's. They are nothing compared to a simple wave guide, and cost a lot more. Sure they work, but not as well. I'm not sure about that more professional pringles can you posted in your question...

I interviewed the FBI at SeattleWireless TV, and the agent I talked to said he hadn't seen any attempted attacks. I should probably get an update and post it.

as far as i know ipw2100 support monitor mode but sister project ipw2200 do not support it. Both are developed by the same Intel developer, so i guest it is only a matter of time :-)
For a extensive list of drivers supporting monitor mode, check seattlewireless wireless driver characteristic table

You might want to set up something like NoCatAuth. NoCatAuth redirects users to a login page, implementing a captive portal system. This is important if you're selling the service because you want to be able to grant and deny access, and 802.11[A-Za-z] is otherwise full of holes.

I did an interview with the FBI about wireless security, and they also agree that wardriving is not illegal.

Check out how compare Intel wireless driver with other Linux wireless drivers. Linux Wireless Drivers

Meh, I'll just get verizon's fiber to the home service. Then setup a Less Networks node, roll my own NoCat Auth AP or join one of the great Area Wide Wireless networks.

Verizon is just a 500lb gorilla that can't see more than 2inches infront of its face!

Of course, no one ever use consumer-grade equipment to setup wireless coverage to a city. Why that would be unthinkable!

How to send video back from a kite over 802.11 is a good start. I'd like to see similar projects for remote controlled planes. Sending the control signals up on the same wireless link is a logical extension.

I'd like to see other wireless related projects, like some of the things that have been covered by http://tv.seattlewireless.net/ - making antennas, community access points with cheap hardware and free software etc.

Details of simple hacks (hardware and software) would be great to fill in between the big articles. Show me how to add an external antenna to my Airport Express. Show me how power it from 12 Volts in the car without adding an inverter.

It's probably of too limited appeal, but I'd like to see a simple add-on I could use with old surplus 20" fixed-frequency workstation monitors to give them a shut-down sleep mode. It'd be something that looks at the video signal and kills power with a triac.

I'd like to see a project showing how to convert a power supply from an old PC into a general-purpose bench supply. (Perhaps some kind of diode/capacitor voltage multiplier on the coil for the 5 Volt circuit to make a higher current 12 Volt output. It might be easier to add a new winding though hmmmm...)

I'd enjoy seeing various PVR (personal video recorder) projects... how about one with an analog/HDTV tuner that works with Linux, and has a slick version for OS X too? (I expect both to be able to send audio out to an Airport Express)

Projects based on software that'll let us take analog audio and other sources and stream it out to an Airport Express would be fun in general.

How about something that'll let me send multiple streams from analog and HDTV off-air and broadcast them from a hilltop with 802.11b/g for multiple people to receive?

How about a homemade subwoofer with motion-sensing feedback from the cone to the amplifier driving it. That'd flatten frequency response while reducing distortion and box-effects.

How about modifications to consumer appliances to reduce their energy consumption when they're "off"?

How about a collection of Voice over IP telephony projects?

How about a framework for a P2P open-source owned-by-nobody global community-access TV network?

How about noise-cancelling electronics to add to old headphones so I can use my woodworking tools in comfort?

How about a collection of software tools and hardware hacks that can be adapted for mechanical control of all sorts of things? If someone makes a radio-controlled flying chainsaw, please make the link secure. Thank you!

I've used Smoothwall too, and it's great. I'll add another suggestion, though: IPCop, a free GPLed fork of Smoothwall which adds many features not available in the basic Smoothwall distro; great for home and small network use (though I'd highly recommend SW if you need any commercial support). The latest version - on release candidate 4 now, watch out for 1.4 stable any day now! - includes traffic shaping using Wondershaper, so will solve your P2P problems quite nicely. See the unofficial support forums for the latest news and plenty of help.

Of course, if you just want a standalone device, like others have said youe best bet is to get a LinkSys WRT54G/WAP54G plus alternative firmware, such as the Sveasoft one. See more info here:
http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/LinksysWr t54g

While Sveasoft may be violating the 'spirit' of the GPL, they are not violating the wording- even Mr Stallman himself said that there method is perfectly acceptable, see here for some source information
http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/SveaSoft

Now, as I said- they may be violating the 'spirit' of the GPL with there littel double entamble there- Pay $50, get the source and the binary, share either (legally), loose the license to continue to get the source and the binary updates.

But, there are plenty of people who have allready found a way around this, and if you want you can get your source and binary for free from places like overnet, and other sharing networks

No such forced terms of service exist for open WAPs that I know of unfortunately

There are a few: anyone thinking of running an open Access Point should strongly consider the use of something like the NoCatSplash firmware (if you've got a WRT54G). This'll turn your AP into a "NoCat open portal", which means that users will be presented with a "splash page" of your choosing, and must click a button before they can access the network from your AP: instant ToS agreement/disclaimer. Also, you'll need to make sure all logging is turned off and there's no way of recording or knowing who is doing what with the connection; this'll then protect you - at least to some extent - though, like you say, you'll probably still be breaking your own ISP's ToS, and maybe other laws (depending on where you live).

There are plenty of other firmware hacks for the WRT54G (and similar) around, too, check out LinksysInfo.org for more details. There are a good few that include similar features to NoCatSplash, plus enhancements such as the "ping" hack (to boost the AP's signal strength), in an easier-to-use firmware: for example EWRT. Oh, and Seattle Wireless is another good source of information.

It's being attempted in Seattle.