Most of D-Link 802.11g product line has open source drivers, etc (haven't checked completeness myself).  Much of linksys does too,
but I have been unable to locate the source for the firmware of the BEFW11S4 WAP/Routers.  Linksys PCMCIA cards have poor receiver
sensitivity compared to others.  Some site has a table of receiver/transmitter specs.  I may have that reference here somewhere if
it's not obvious from Google.

I'd look for a WAP/Switch that has: 1) open source for drivers and firmware, and 2) standard connectors so you could use a different
antenna if you have that interest later.  I think the Dell g hardware has decent specs, but may have compatibility problems and no
antenna connectors.  The "Orinoco Gold" name was bought by Proxim from Lucent(?) a while back and newer stuff is not as open and
compatible as the stuff that was raved about on TCWUG 2 years ago.  Price differences between g and b series gear seem very small
now, so I don't think buying a new b will make sense.  I think D-Link is OK, and Linksys-minus-their-PCMCIA-and-their-PCI-adapter is
OK.  There may be expensive choices as well (Cisco?).


Chuck



> -----Original Message-----
> From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org
> [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org]On Behalf Of Scott Raun
> Sent: Monday, April 19, 2004 4:34 PM
> To: TCLUG Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [TCLUG] Semi-OT: Wireless Access Point?
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 19, 2004 at 01:17:28PM -0500, Chad Walstrom wrote:
> > Take this into consideration.  You do not want access to your local
> > machines to be limited by your upstream connection.  I am running into
> > this at home because I currently do not have a firewall/private lan set
> > up.  Each of my machines is grabbing an IP address from the ISP, and all
> > traffic is being routed by the ISP's router.  This is partially because
> > I have a really stupid HUB, and not a smart switch.
> >
> > The simplest thing you can do to leverage what you currently have is
> > to use your Cisco 675 to do NAT and Firewall.  Buy a switch and
> > Wireless AP and attach your AP in bridging mode, which should let
> > your Cisco assign DHCP addresses to any device on the network.
>
> Already doing that - internally I'm running a 10.x.x.x, the Cisco
> provides DHCP, and as long as I use the actual machine name, instead
> of my domain name, I never go out over the internet.  Learned that
> trick for my wife for her webmail a couple of years ago.
>
> > Make sure you set up WEP and Mac filtering in the very least (though
> > neither are very secure).
>
> I know that I need to turn on the not terribly good security on my WAP
> - I'll be looking into exact options after I get one.
>
> > If you want a Linux firewall, you can do more fancy security measures by
> > having a capture-portal based authentication.  WEP and Mac filtering are
> > pretty useless for authorizing individuals to your network, and you
> > can't do such advanced routing with the Cisco 675.  The cool thing about
> > capture-portals is that you can apply it to the full subnet if you want.
> > It doesn't matter if the user is on wireless or wired connections.
>
> I'm middling likely to end up with a 'no unencrypted traffic accepted'
> setup by the time I'm done.  I'm going to have to tighten up some
> Windows security anyway - I may just turn it off completely, and teach
> my wife some new tricks.
>
> But none of this address my 'anyone have any local vendor or hardware
> recommendations?' question.
>
> --
> Scott Raun
> sraun at fireopal.org



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