Just on the topic of disassembling wifi routers and aps to see if you can pinch a master mode capable card.
I can tell you I've pulled apart my fair share of APs and wifi routers for various reasons... Almost all of them have SOC (system on chip) configurations so the main proc and the wifi circuitry is in one silicone package and therefore not separable. I did find an old Netgear FM114P that had what looked like a PCMCIA card for the wifi adapter. I did actually remove it and tried jamming it into my smack top but due to where the antenna sockets are that stopped the card from inserting enough to contact the headers in the laptop so I couldn't really check it. Your last option might be to find a Cisco 870 series wifi module on ebay. From what I understand these use a pci interface, BUT, they are in more of a laptop RAM type card and interface so probably not much use to you...except maybe if you have a MINI-ATX board because I think some of those boards have this type of interface. Sent from my BlackBerry -----Original Message----- From: Ben Donohue <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2011 07:32:19 To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [SLUG] Cheap Linux/Windows wireless home networking options ? Hi Rod, the usual small wireless card that you get with laptops which measures about 40mm x 30mm and is usually an Altheros chipset, does NOT support master mode. You need master mode in order to switch the card into AP mode or access point mode. (same thing really). Also most cheap PCI based cards (Anatel chipset) don't go into AP or master mode. I would like to pull apart a cheap wireless ADSL router to see whether they have such a beast inside them that I could use... however don't have one to look at. Good luck finding a card that can go into AP mode... if you find one then please post it back to the list. you could try www.minibox.com.au (think that's right). Not sure what they have now... Thanks, Ben Donohue On 13/10/2011 11:55 PM, Rod Butcher wrote: > What I found at > https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WirelessAccessPoint and > http://www.su-root.eu/computing/turn-your-linux-computer-in-a-wireless-access-point-using-hostapd > > (but not at http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com) is what seems to be > the clincher : the chipset of the PCI or USB wireless NIC needs to > support "Master mode". Now my task appears to be to chaseup chip specs > for the cheap NICS available to me ! > I will report back when I have it all working. > cheers > Rod > On 10/13/11 23:28, Kevin Shackleton wrote: >> Rod, >> >> Seems to me that pages like: >> http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/wiki/index.php/Quick_HOWTO_:_Ch13_:_Linux_Wireless_Networking >> >> >> make it fairly plain that with the right card you will get a PC-based AP >> working & hang the extra bits like iptables off it. Which is an >> achievement in itself - I've never done it. >> >> Others have commented that you might be better off focusing on specific >> other solutions like Cisco, but a) many on-ground examples you might >> come across would not be Cisco-based so you'll have to manage somehow >> else and b) if you go to e.g. Cisco, you will only learn that >> skill-set. So I'm all for starting out as you are suggesting. Then >> maybe look at an AP modified with Tomato. Then see if you can find a >> secondhand Cisco e.g. 1xxx or 2xxx series if you come into the funding - >> I would not bother with the basic 800 series devices because they are >> made in hardware-specific models rather than having plug-in hardware >> bits. >> >> hth >> >> Kevin >> >> On 13 October 2011 19:14, Rod Butcher <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >> My budget for this is tiny, $100 max for the whole setup, as it's >> only for training, and I don't want to acquire hardware I will have >> no use for afterward... >> So I'm trying to get specific info on whether it is possible to >> configure a Linux PC with a cheap 80211g/n PCI card to provide a >> reasonably full-featured WAP - user/computer credential validation, >> data encryption, network and Internet access. >> It's fairly simple to configure multiple Ethernet network cards on a >> Linux box to provide routing and Internet access (iptables & NAT)... >> I had assumed a similar software solution should be possible for >> wifi-based LAN. ?? >> thanks >> Rod >> On 10/13/11 10:48, Ken Wilson wrote: >> >> I have seen them at Reverse Garbage in Addison Rd Marrickville, >> where >> whole computing setups have been discarded including routers, >> their >> price is always not much. >> Ken >> >> On 12/10/11 22:17, Heracles wrote: >> >> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- >> Hash: SHA1 >> >> On 12/10/11 21:29, Rod Butcher wrote: >> >> Sounds like my best option is just to use a cheap PCI >> wireless card as a >> WAP - can I do that ? - and use the PC as the router. >> Does this sound >> right ? My question then is, if serious businesses use >> expensive >> standalone programmable devices to provide WAPs, rather >> than the $100 >> routers at my local PC shop, how realistic is the setup >> I will be >> training on ? I will be configuring the PC as the >> router, along with >> security, encryption, iptables etc... how closely do the >> skills involved >> relate to those involved in a realword business setup ? >> thanks >> Rod >> >> >> Depends upon the situation. It could be a worthwhile >> exercise to get a >> cheap second hand CISCO router, as one of my students did, >> and learn >> with that. A relatively new one should be quite cheap and >> will give you >> skills in their scripting. >> >> Heracles >> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- >> Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux) >> Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - >> http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ >> >> >> iEYEARECAAYFAk6Vdy4ACgkQybPcBA__s9CE8PygCgqp0TLrxxBJYuBROmhj5C__P2DO >> HKYAnRznIS5Gdym34KCNO8X+__Qd6SUwLW >> =h/SR >> -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- >> >> >> -- >> SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ >> Subscription info and FAQs: >> http://slug.org.au/faq/__mailinglists.html >> <http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html> >> >> > -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
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