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Community Networking Made Easy
Rob Flickenger writes "I for one am sick and tired of all of the work it takes to build out wireless community networks. Evidently, so was the
Linksys Community Network: a Real Network project for the masses. It's about time somebody did something to bring Wi-Fi to the People."
April Fools jokes are only really funny when posted on April Fools Day. At least here, that day has been over for about half an hour.
wireless pants! Everyone needs a good pair of wireless pants for when they are away from their woman.
Real Networks have *NO* place on my computer...
*checks*
*uninstalls RealPlayer*
Ahemm, Real Networks have *NO* place on my computer.
what are u still doing up? SP ;)
Yet Socrates himself is particularly missed.
A lovely little thinker but a bugger when he's pissed.
An oldie, but goodie.
It's not that funny but people are always leaving the defaults (linksys, tsunami, etc)
Kids please remember to read the WLAN Security FAQ before playing.
Always wear underwear
Internet access wants to be free!
I mean, Ha! Ha, Ha. Ha. Ha.
Ha. Ha. No, really. Ha. Seriously.
Hey, can we extend this April Fool thing another day? Maybe we could get some other stories duped as well, not just the fiendishly clever and daringly sophisticated RFC3514 repeat joke? Heh. That was really funny, too. Ha. No, no, I mean it. Ha.
Man, these Slashdot editors know how to party, huh? Parodying themselves, posting the same story Over and OVER and OVER, like they sometimes do UNintentionally... ha. It'd be even funnier if... if... well, if it were funny at all.
Whoops, I meant, "Ha. That was funny, yo."
[yawn]
Ce n'est pas un vrai mouvement de robot!
Oh wait! Geraldo Rivera has just reported from the front lines that Slashdot editors have indeed made one last unfunny April Fool's post well after the April 1rst UN sanctioned deadline! The violation in question appears to be an equally unfunny LinkSys-does-something-post! Amazing! We have satellite imagery incoming......
If I see one more story about an evil bit and RFC, I am going to come to your houses and fuck you all up. The first story about if the bit is set, it is secure, and if not set it is not secure was cute. The rest were just fucking lame. I mean what the fuck? April Fool's and the editor's can't find any good Fool stories, so they just dupe themselves? God, what a pathetic piece of shit Slashdot is turning into. At least this major shitfest is only once a year. And for some reason Anonymous posting for me was GONE for like 4 days, but today it's back. WTF? I know others were having this problem, though it was only gone on them for like a day.
Here's a funny joke I just made up right now.
Q. How many Slashdot editors does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A. It's a trick question. VA Software can't afford the lightbulb.
One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered *Slashdot community
when IDC confirmed that *Slashdot market share has dropped yet again, now down
to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all nerds. Coming on the heels of a
recent barrage of erroneous and not funny April Fool's Day posts that turned off
readers and crippled all serious discussions on Slashdot. A new Netcraft
survey which plainly states that *Slashdot has lost more market share,
this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. *Slashdot is
collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing
dead last [samag.com] in the recent Sys Admin comprehensive
networking test.
You don't need to be a Kreskin
[amdest.com] to predict *Slashdot's future. The hand writing is on the wall: *Slashdot
faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for *Slashdot
because *Slashdot is dying. Things are looking very bad for *Slashdot. As
many of us are already aware, *Slashdot continues to lose market share. Red ink
flows like a river of blood.
Fact: *Slashdot is dying
The huuuundred and first doooon't like it!
Rock the mud hut! Rock the mud hut!
drops your bomb's all up in the mud 'a huts!
The jet pilot tuned to the location of the mud huuuuuuuuutsssss......
This is not Kosher! Lets call in Israel to join the fun!
For another TCP/IP bit story to be posted?
You all'd better hurry before midnight!
- WrexSoul
\/.
vvv
It would be nice if there was a way to intelligently bond multiple wireless connections into one. That way if you had multiple access points, say in an apartment building, everyone could share the bandwidth through the walls. I wouldn't mind having 5 cable/dsl connections piped to my laptop.
Granted, knowing what I do know about wireless collission detection there is a limit to this before it gets counterproductive since it CAN'T detect collisions, it can only warn everyone and pray they play fair.
I think the only reason something like a wireless "community" isn't considered more seriously is because there's no benefit to having access to more than your own, unless you don't have one to begin with and you're leeching of course.
The LocustWorld Meshbox site
Seattle Wireless
Bay Area Wireless Users Grou BAWUG
Kingsbridge Link Community Wireless Network
Consume.net
Meshnet, low cost nodes
Only the default community network offers Community Wireless access at speeds up to 44Mbps without messing with unratified 802.11g, our hax0red access points don't corrupt valuable RF spectrum, we sell antennas, and our FAQ doesn't suck.
April fools day on slashdot sort of blows.
Why don't we all just check out The Onion instead.
It's new today, and at least it's funny.
Here it is, April 1, and I have 5 moderator points to use or lose. What a waste. All dressed up and nowhere to go.
is that it's always April Fools on Slashdot!
If Joe Citizen and Jane Doe can set up a node/AP in their local neighbourhood, then we are one step closer to ubiquitous wireless access.
It's by no means an easy task, though. And until it gets easier for most users, metro networks will be limited to the linux crowd.
Let's hope this works out and helps people to set up APs. It will benefit us all, some day.
"Smoking helps you lose weight - one lung at a time" -- A. E. Neumann
Quote from the site: Yo, I git dat, but need info in my native language.
And, would that language be English?
He's on Covad, I'm on SBC/PacHell. When my line is down, I can usually connect to his.
The linksyscommunitynetwork makes for a most excellent backup connection!
They claim Portland is the the most un-wired city in the USA.
Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie(free registration required to listen)
Look for the song entitled 'Behind the Scenes at Microsoft'. Wish they'd let me link the song directly... :/
Does anyone know where these folks got the idea for this page? I could swear they got their inspiration from FreeSky Wireless, who made their first public announcement at Rubi-Con on Saturday.
It's obvious that both groups are very popular, since FreeSky also uses the same SSID, and all these folks must be members of both projects. It's great to see such a community-minded spirit across America!
I wonder how long it will be until cisco changes it, just to piss some people off. ;-)
Speaking at Defcon 12 - Credit Card Networks Revisted: Pen
What you are describing is possible! There is an open source project called "Open AP". This is a tiny linux image and runs on the access point. Problems such as load sharing multiple connections, multipoint-to-multipoint bridging etc are solved! Read this for more info and some further links: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/59/28972.html
Also, there is now a smaller version of the meshbox called the meshbook -
http://www.meshbook.com
...that April Fools were only valid up until midday on 1st April.
After midday, the tables are turned and the fool is the person playing the joke.
At least it always was when I was a kid.
Why does slashdot think it's appropriate to post lies on national lie to people day? First of all, it stops most people from even getting on the internet for at least 24 hours (like me), but with the internet being more international these days, they can cause problems. I had to stop my chinese neighbor from frantically selling stocks TWICE today because I told him slashdot was a reputable news source. I guess I won't be making that mistake again.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
..I'm guessing that's probably a good thing though.
Actually, it is pretty funny, we did a WAP scan in Richmond BC awhile ago and found like 60 linksys WAP's.. pretty much all with default settings, we were all joking about setting the SSID's to Richmond Community Network.. but felt there could be some legal issues ;)
out of 500 access points found, about 150 where linksys WAP's with default settings.
Slashdot needs to get over this whole idea of the newness of community networking and "How WiFi Will Save the World." Get over your DSL/cable-fed selves and wake up. Communities all across the United States are already doing this, and have been doing so for years.
./ are so damn concerned about the forbidden "last mile" that we tend to forget what's right under our nose for solutions. Of course it's not fiber, but the the cost-to-access ratio is much better in the long run.
I live in a small north-central Missouri town of about 10,000 residents. What do I do for internet access? Not dialup, that's for sure.
The local utility company is a co-op run under mandate from the city council. Its services include electric, water, sewer, trash, curbside recycling, and internet access. While they do offer dialup access, they also offer WiFi access all across town.
The CO downtown has three T1 lines to their servers, which are then fed wirelessly to the three antennae in town, sitting atop the water towers. From the towers, end-users can access the network, usually using higher gain external antennae for better reception.
When I moved to town, I asked the netadmin all about the network, and wondered if they were going to upgrade to 802.11g anytime soon. She said they hadn't thought about it recently, but with my limited input, they are considering the upgrade now.
Data throughput depends on network usage and other factors like a normal network, but I average between 700-800Kbps. Not blazing speed by any stretch of the imagination, but very workable and usable.
I realize this is probably going on in other areas of the country as well. But we on
*plink plink*
Heh, good one!
The People? Are these the same ones always gettin' shafted by The Man(tm)?
Java is the blue pill
Choose the red pill
Looks like they've daisy chained three Linksys amplifiers in series to boost their power. These guys obviously know dick(a technical term) about wireless.
... useless crap.
...
Amplifiers accept a certain input power level, probably 30mw (+15dBm) in the case of Linksys gear, and they output a certain power level, likely 100mw (+20dBm). If you over drive the amp, you don't get any more out of it, you just shorten its life dramatically.
On the return path side those devices usually have a low noise amplifier(LNA). Put three LNAs in series and you're going to pump up the background noise to the point where the AP sees a noise floor just as high as the signal. Typically the noise floor in an urban environment is around -90dBm and a good useable signal would be around -70dBm. Three times boosting both noise and signal by +10dB via an LNA and you get
I net these fellows have also 'hacked' their AP to put out 100mw - take a look around on the net and you'll find that you *do* get 100mw out of a hacker AP - 31mw in the channel you wanted, and 69mw of crap spattered all over 2300 - 2500 MHz.
Linksys is a cheap, wireless LAN product. Wireless LAN was meant to be deployed indoors and that goes double for this stuff.
If you must run 802.11b as an access product, stick with quality amps from YDI, Teletronics, or RFLinx, and use decent radios - Cisco or Lucent being the most common.
The FCC is gonna bitch slap the entire unlicensed wireless internet business over the behavior of a few clue free dorks with shiny new BestBuy credit cards.
God save us all
I am very easy to get along with, but I don't have time to waste being nice to people who are being stupid. -Theo
Try using 802.11. It doesn't sound as bad as that damn wi-fi name.
IF you have a HAM radio license, you can pump up to 100w (thats 100 WATTS, not milliwatts) into channels 1-6 legally.
However, there are a few catches.
1) Transmission over 1w requires an AutoPowerControl device, which only beams as much power as is neccessary.
2) While non-HAM radio operators have to -put up- according to FCC reg. part 15, be considerate of the slashdotted masses. You would want to use this only as a crosslink between WAP's. Additionally, since you are camping a whole channel, you would want to use a horizontally polarized antenna, or better yet, a dish. A surplus sattelite minidish shell works great.
3) There are other non-wifi uses for these frequencies. Channel 1 gets used by power-sensitive sattelite transmissions, and high powered blanket transmissions would hinder their work.
4) HAM radio is also limited for non-commercial applications, and requires that you identify your transmission every 5-10 minutes. Also, there is the restriction that communications must be clear channel. The standard interpretation is that WEP encryption would be illegal for ham transmission.
- So, for you experimenters out there, this may be an option. For you business people, sorry. For community coop's, my hunch is that there may or may not be some application.
For more information, see www.arrl.org, or their publication QST in the April 2003 issue, page 28.
KC7UQ0
I woke up this morning and discovered that everything in my apartment
had been stolen and replaced with an exact replica. I told my roommate,
"Isn't this amazing? Everything in the apartment has been stolen and
replaced with an exact replica." He said, "Do I know you?"
-- Steven Wright
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