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Open Source Hotspots

Posted by michael on from the freebie dept.

darthcamaro writes "Not that long ago it was a serious pain to get an 802.11b card to work on a Linux machine. [ed note: We love you Jean Tourrilhes!] Wi-Fi Planet has a story where they do an overview of a wad of open source Wi-Fi projects. Did you realize that you don't even need to spend the dough for an Access Point? - standard Linux routing is enough to create your own access point, with a few other tools like Public IP's Zone CD or the Less Networks Hotspot server, you can freely create a hotspot and manage it all in minutes. I guess all this means that both Wi-Fi and open source are literally 'everywhere'."

6 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. Its like.... magic hardware. by Kenja · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "Did you realize that you don't even need to spend the dough for an Access Point? - standard Linux routing is enough to create your own access point"

    Please explain how Linux software and transmit data via a wireless network without any hardware. While that sure would be a neat trick, I'm going to have to file this under the "you dont need to spend 90$ on a wireless acess point! Just spend 300$ on a computer, 50$ on a WAN card and install Linux for FREE!!!" brand of zealotry.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    1. Re:Its like.... magic hardware. by m1a1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I can't believe this got rated insightful.

      The author of the parent post should really sit down and think for a minute about what he's saying. Sure the post didn't point out that you need a wireless card in the computer you plan to have act as the access point, but come on. I think most people here could figure that much out.

      As far as spending $300 on a computer just to be the access point... BS. Nobody suggested such a thing. The point is that you probably already have a primary computer hardwired to some kind of WAN connection. Why not let it also be the access point. People who do this using windows aren't labelled Windows zealots. It's just being smart with your resources. If the computer is going to be on anyways it's cheaper (or at least it used to be cheaper) to grab a usb 802.11b antennae than it is to buy an access point.

      Bottom line is you are looking for a reason to call someone a zealot. Especially seeing as the post was rather non-zealful. There was no pushing you to use linux or use of phrases like "M$" and "Winbloze". The author simply pointed out that wireless is no longer a problem with Linux. Oh geez, he must be a zealot.

      Dumbass.

  2. Re:Jean Tourrilhes by dukeluke · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Indeed - with the vast number of open-source projects out there - there is no legitimate reason why any business should have their WiFi at a security risk.

    The community is committed to quality - and most importantly, community. (yeah, yeah - play on words). We work together to make the 802.11x standards as bullet-proof and understood as possible.

  3. Hmmmm by Richard_at_work · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Did you realize that you don't even need to spend the dough for an Access Point?

    Really? Who is giving away mini-itx systems these days then? My $40 Netgear access point is silent and very small and has all the features I want, Id like to see someone put together a linux based wifi router for that sort of money. The whole point of an access point is that its small and discreat enough to be wall mounted, ceiling mounted, crawl space mounted or whatever. Yes this statement may be true if you are looking to reuse old PC hardware, but then you loose much of the point of an AP.

  4. Re:Attention "Duh! A computer costs $300!" posters by rjstanford · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Remember...

    Most poeple running Linux already have a computer...

    What they don't have is a Wi-Fi hotspot...

    Hmm. Yes, but an awful lot of people running Linux have a, singular, computer. And they'd kind of like to use it in different places without running wires everywhere. IE: the normal use of a wireless internet connection.

    This is only useful as you point out if they have two computers, one of which they want to leave right where its it. Oh, and they're willing to pay about the same amount of money to get a wireless card as you can pay for a decent WAP. Which is fine, if you get your jollies hacking on your WAP ... personally, that falls into the "Just make it work" category for me - there are more interesting things that I can do with my time, even while coding.

    --
    You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
  5. Re:Jean Tourrilhes by Minna+Kirai · · Score: 3, Insightful

    We work together to make the 802.11x standards as bullet-proof and understood as possible.

    There is no need to add security to 802.11x. To do so would be a waste of effort, or even counterproductive.

    Adequate networking security already exists for the application-layer that runs on top of whatever physical communication mechanism you have. (It has names like SSL, SSH, VPN, and PGP).

    If you extend Wifi to be "secure", then people will depend on it, and may ignore other measures that would protect them not only from radio sniffers, but also from eavesdroppers at the ISP or promiscuous PCs on the local ethernet.