fun with wireless networking...

[katster]

I need to get some program that will scan for wireless networks and tell me where the base is.

Seriously. Right now, I'm sitting in the main lounge of College-Durant, the apartment complex where I live. I'm on somebody's wireless network. It's not a campus network, because I'm familiar with all of campus' addresses. It's a pretty marginal signal, and I've learned through experimentation that the best range of an 802.11b network isn't very big at all. (the distance from Heller to Golden Bear, which is maybe 500 feet, I'm not good at guesstimating distance.)

And I'd like to be able to play with this power, and see what's around in places. The ultimate goal is to sit in some outdoor location with the laptop (nicely placed in 802.11b network range) and just cause somebody to wonder in horror how I am managing to surf the net with no cable and no visible wireless card. (mini-PCI card in the computer case *rocks*)

Any help?

Comments

[fb.livejournal.com]

If I can remember I'll ask a couple people I know, one of whom has with a group constructed a map of San Francisco showing areas with wireless networks that are lax on security. And yeah, I think 500 feet is the outer range Apple lists for Airport, which is just their fancy copyrighted name for 802.11b, I've never tried moving my parents iMac around to find out.

[tropism.livejournal.com]

Look for information on Warchalking and Wardriving.

The problem is that most 802.11b networks are omnidirectional, may be of varying power, and may be behind obstructions with varying ability to block the signal. There're three methods I know of to pinpoint the signal; two of them require additional materials to work well.

1: Wander around with your eye on the signal strength monitor. Guesstimate the source.

2: Get a directional antenna -- from what I hear, these are actually easy to build -- and triangulate. The advantage of this is that it really only needs two points to get a location, though more will of course add accuracy. The only drawback I can think of this is that you might get thrown off on occasion by reflected radio sources.

3: Get a GPS receiver that you can link into the computer. Then get some mapping software that links up with the signal strength meter, and wander around. The advantage to this is that all you have to do is walk around; you can leave it going when you're walking between classes, or driving around, and it makes purdy maps. The primary disadvantages are that it requires multiple sampling points for accurate estimations of location, and the cost of a GPS receiver. Oh, and that you probably have to run Linux.

[gdmusumeci.livejournal.com]

MacStumbler will do what you seek. (The page also has links to similar software for other platforms.)


Clear skies! Stout hearts!

[tropism.livejournal.com]

Too bad she has a Thinkpad. ;)

[tropism.livejournal.com]

Whoops, apologies. Posted before I parsed the rest of your post ... all ten or so words of it. Sheesh.

[katster.livejournal.com]

GP *tried* to get me to get a Mac. He nearly succeeded too.

I really *wanted* a TiBook, but I couldn't justify the cost.

-kat

[tropism.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

From what I've heard, OS X has made Macs not suck, but they're still too damned expensive for a model that's equivalent to a PC in performance.