I got a nice $12 30cm wok that gives me 15dB+ (I confirmed this by measuring signal strength without and without wok). I used a $28 "Shintaro" branded USB device which uses the rt73 chipset supported by the rt2x00 driver. Apparently the driver supports master mode (but I couldn't get it to work). Debian testing and unstable versions of the driver works alright on my NSLU2 device, but not a hundred percent stable. Gentoo uses the CVS version at the time you install the driver, and some days it works some days it doesn't, other times it doesn't. Ralink have their own GPL'd version of the driver, but I haven't tested because you need to patch wpa_supplicant to use the Ralink version of the driver.
I found using the Windows driver on the CD worked perfectly with ndiswrapper v1.32 (including measuring signal strength). I haven't tried it with Debian testing or unstable versions of ndiswrapper. Funny thing is that my acer laptop has a "Signal Up" technology that gives the in-built wifi heaps better signal reception than the best I could get out of my wokfi (by about 5dB). On Friday 05 January 2007 00:37, david wrote: > I've got a line of site between AP and laptop in buildings about 150 > metres apart. Even when I tried dangling my lappie out the window I > got no joy :( Even if that had worked, it would have been tricky > holding my T30 in one hand 3 stories up while typing with the other. > [1] > > I've checked google... lots of advice about using woks and steamers > as parabolic reflectors for USB wifi's [2], and even some custom made > doodads. > > It doesn't seem such a long range. Any suggestions? I'm presently > using a netgear router/AP (not sure what model) at one end and a > netgear wg511t pcmcia at the other end. > > On the same topic, does anyone know if it makes a difference which > way you point the access point's fold out antenna? Should you point > it AT the target, or side on to the target, or does it make no > difference? Or should I place a direction-finding wok behind it! > > Linux related: If i have to get a USB wifi adaptor to fit the > directional wok (as suggested by a couple of sites), are there any > recommended? > > Many thanks > > David. > > [1] I tried walking between the buildings - the signal runs out about > 10 metres short :( although it's possibly unusable before that. [2] > suggested gadgets I've read about so far: > fold out vegetable strainer, > metal gauze chip strainer, > wok, > folded cardboard lined with kitchen foil. > Lots of blog comments about how it *sounds* like a good idea, but not > much saying "hey, I tried it and it works" -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
