Wireless Hacking

Listen Print

by Derrick Story
Network Newsletter for 10/07/2003

Dear Reader,

Yes, you can go buy just about anything you'd need at the local computer superstore, and it may even perform as expected. But sometimes, isn't it more satisfying to resurrect an old piece of hardware and give it a purpose in life?

O'Reilly author Rob Flickenger certainly thinks so. This week our wireless guru has rummaged around in the closet and dusted off a few PCs to convert into custom access points (APs). In his article, "Hack #51. Do-It-Yourself Access Point Hardware," Rob says that if you have an Intel 486 or faster hanging around, you can easily use it to extend the range of your wireless network. He shows you some good PC candidates and what you need to do to configure them.

This nifty trick is right out of Rob's latest book, "Wireless Hacks," where he includes an additional 99 industrial strength tips and tools. If you're a wireless aficionado, then this article, and its companion book, should be worth a look.

Until next week,

-Derrick

Derrick Story
O'Reilly Network Managing Editor

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Featured Articles

Do-It-Yourself Access Point Hardware
Rob Flickenger is back this week with another excerpt from his latest book, the recently released Wireless Hacks. Like the title of this hack says, Rob offers do-it-yourselfers four PC-compatible hardware solutions you can buy--without breaking the bank--to build and run your own custom access point.

The Double Life of Variables
The most basic duality that exists with variables is how the programmer sees them in a totally different way than the computer. When you're typing away in Project Builder, your variables are normal words smashed together, like software titles from the 80s. But when the machine compiles your code, however, it does a little bit of translation. At run time , the computer sees nothing but 1s and 0s. Seth Roby introduces you to this double life of variables.

Fast Picture Previews
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Cooking with Active Directory, Part 2
Active Directory Cookbook offers Windows administrators hundreds of troubleshooting recipes for working with AD. This week we're showcasing two more recipes for you to sample: the first is from Chapter 6 ("Users") on modifying an attribute for several users at once; and the second is from Chapter 7 ("Groups") on viewing the nested members of a group.

Manipulating Fixed-Width Integer Data Types
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Denial-of-Service Attacks
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Mozile: What You See is What You Edit
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Ant and AppleScript
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Taxing Questions: Are Compulsory Licenses a Solution to the P2P Debate?
The concept of compulsory licenses has been hailed by fair use lobbyists as the savior of persecuted file-sharers. This type of agreement would establish a common ground with the major music labels and offer the possibility that all parties might be able to reach an agreement. Miriam Rainsford examines this concept.

Which TiVo Is the Right One for You?
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SearchAssist: A Portable Search Engine in Java
While server-side Java solves many problems, it's not always available. Besides, there's more to a good UI than HTML can provide. Sometimes an applet can fit the bill. Ashwin Jayaprakash demonstrates a search engine applet designed for portability and power.

XQuery Implementation
Though not yet a W3C Recommendation, XQuery has been around for a long time now. This article looks at the trends in its deployment, and predicts the big opportunity for XQuery in web services integration.

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What's on Your Dock?
A peek into the heads of writers, bloggers, designers, movers, and yes, even shakers, on a quest to find out something crucial about their personalities; their quirks and habits; to delve into their very souls. Yes, you guessed it. We are going to look at their Docks.
Top Ten Digital Photography Tips
You have a digital camera and have recorded the typical shots of family and friends. Now what? Here are ten tips to make your next batch of digital images so impressive that people will ask: "Hey, what type of camera do you have?" Guess what? It's not the camera.
Which TiVo Is the Right One for You?
Raffi Krikorian, author of TiVo Hacks, examines the four different TiVo choices available: the Series 1 Stand-alone (SA), the S1 DirecTiVo, the Series 2 SA, and the S2 DirecTiVo. He looks at the pros and cons of each one so you'll know which one is the right one for you; and for the hackers among you, which one is right if you want to hack your TiVo.
Ant and AppleScript
Tools from the AppleScript and Java communities can help each other create new things. For example, programmers can use Ant to help develop AppleScripts, and AppleScript can help produce Java applications. David Miller shows you how to make it all stick together.