Lazywebbing a challenge to port Linux to a commercial WiFi AP.

The current crop of mainstream APs aimed at the home market typically consist of WiFi (b, g or a+g), 1* ethernet in, 4*ethernet out, Router-NAT-DHCP-Simple firewall. Sometimes they include an ADSL/Cable modem. These are available from Linksys, Dlink, Buffalo, Belkin et al for ~$100

As well as the WiFi and Ethernet hardware, they've typically got quite extensive software which implies non-trivial processing power and memory. The question is how much and is it feasible to port Linux to
them? The big thing missing is something equivalent to iptables/ipchains. I don't think the built in firewall capabilities on any of these are powerful enough to properly share bandwidth with guests, let alone run a community or mesh node. But it's so close it must be worth hacking them. So the rationale is to create a programming environment for their firmware that allows us to start porting in things like Nocat, hostap and meshap.

This has been discussed a few times. But I'm not aware of anyone world wide actually doing anything apart from Sputnik.

So I think this needs a challenge like the Xbox-Linux challenge to drag in the clever hackers and make something happen.

Getting an article published on Slashdot might do the trick. So that's the first task to document the target in a form that could get on Slashdot. Then to build a wiki/weblog to track progress.

Am I blowing smoke? If not, is anyone up for this? [from: JB Wifi]

For the People, By the People... is a website devoted to mapping WiFi in Manhatten. It does go further than a simple map because the mission statement is "To PROMOTE open access to the Internet for the benefit of all people."

We really ought to do something like this for London. Anyone up for it? [from: JB Wifi]

There's some new club functions. These mostly affect Club owners rather than members.

1. Clubs can be defined as "Private" This means that the forums and membership can only be viewed by club members. The club is still listed in the All clubs list. And it's web pages are still visible to everyone.

2. Clubs can be defined as Approved Membership. This means that after you join you still can't do anything until the club owner approves you. Club owners will get an email when people attempt to join. They will also see a "Pending" menu option on the Club and "My Clubs" pages. From there they can approve or deny the applications.

3. Clubs can be defined as "Business". All this means is that the Terms and Conditions entry that says "Do not sell or advertise goods or services" is waived JUST FOR THAT CLUB and it's forum. It's a decision by the club owner that this sort of behaviour is ok in their club. It DOES NOT MEAN that this is OK anywhere else on the site and doesn't give you carte blanche to do this anywhere else or to spam the members.

These definitions can be set when creating a new club or by choosing Admin from the club home page. [from: JB Ecademy]

And this is as good a place as any to start. WEBLOGSKY - industrial-strength weblog See also Joho, O'Reilly, Kottke.

You can tell this conference is bottom up rather than top down when digerati Esther Dyson and Howard Rheingold are sitting on the floor in the packed O'Reilly presentation. Could you imagine Alan Greenspan sitting on the floor of some financial conference? [from: JB Ecademy]

The "white stripes" twins of the weblog world,Six Apart: Six Apart Ltd. Announces New Weblogging Service, Investment, Executives and Board. They've taken the best weblog software and with some added VC created a hosted weblog service to rival Pyra and blogger.com. Good luck to them. [from: JB Ecademy]

Always On interviews Google's Eric Schmidt in three parts. The first touches on Google's acquisition of Blogger.com.

I believe that this notion of self-publishing, which is what Blogger and blogging are really about, is the next big wave of human communication. The last big wave was Web activity. Before that one it was e-mail. [from: JB Ecademy]

WiFi Speed Spray

It's an old joke but a new laugh. And not even April 1st.

The patented formula in WiFi Speed Spray™ is the result of years of scientific research and testing. Simply spray the area around your computer. Usually five or six sprays is all it takes. As your computer sends data, each bit also carries hundreds of invisible WiFi Speed Spray™ "scrubbing" molecules. It works at the speed of light. and even penetrates lead walls (not even Superman can do that!). Within .0025 seconds, the entire path between you and the receiver is cleaned, scrubbed, polished, and sanitized. You'll notice the improvement immediately as your productivity soars!. [from: JB Wifi]

Bandspeed Boosts WLAN Range

Bandspeed’s technology differs from other wireless "switch" solutions in that a basic level of packet switching takes place at the AP, where up to six independent 802.11 a/b/g sectors converge.

This sounds like Vivato's approach but by using 6*60deg sector antennas rather than a steered phase array panel. It should be possible to get nearly the same effects but at a cheaper price. [from: JB Wifi]

We English are so great we don't need to tell you about it (requires free registration).

We invented practical democracy (Magna Carta, Parliament); the greatest language on the planet; English literature (Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, etc); popular culture (the Beatles); America (the Pilgrim Fathers, etc); the post-coital cigarette (Sir Walter Raleigh); Australia (convicts); suspension bridges, and probably lots of other cool sorts of bridges too, only I don’t know about the subject (Brunel); recreational drug use (De Quincey); we ran the world’s largest, richest and most benign empire; we produce its doughtiest explorers, its finest, most resourceful soldiers, sailors and airmen. And not for a moment am I suggesting that we managed all this without the help of the Welsh, Scottish and Irish because I have no need. Being English, one never has to feel chippy about anything.

And I haven’t even got on to sport. We invented almost all the world’s games: rugger, football, tennis, cricket, darts. Yet such is our modesty that, rather than hanging about, crowing about how good we are and dominating the field, we have generously allowed other, less inventive, nations to get better at these games then we are.

Truly, it’s all I can do to stop a shy tear coursing down my cheek. But stop it I must, for it’s only St George’s Day — for an Englishman, a day like any other.

So being an Englishman, I don't have to prove anything because I already know I was born and raised in the best, most sane country in the world. I know we can't run a train service. I know our health and education systems don't work. I know we're home to some of the most bigoted drunks in the world. I know the concept of the home counties white anglo saxon protestant as representative of England is a joke in a racial mix that was actually born from several thousand years of immigration, never mind the last 50. I know that far too many of us are concerned, vaguely left of centre, people who read the Grauniad and worry and chatter about things that will never affect us. And I know we're still struggling with a class system that has one half of the country sure that they are somehow inherently better than the other half of the country because their great grandparents were better at exploiting the poor than those around them. And I know the weather isn't all that great, but then it's never all that bad either. And if we actually wore the right the clothes for the prevailing weather instead of the same things year round, we wouldn't notice so much. And I know we haven't got a manufacturing industry any more but that's ok because we still manage to own everyone else's via the City. And I know we have a tendency to wag our fingers and say "You shouldn't do it like that" which results in our politicians saying "Don't do that like that or we'll lock you up", and we all meekly agree saying "You shouldn't break the law, no matter how daft it is". And I know we've got too many people and too many cars in too little space. But we did invent the Balti, while also putting our own spin on cheap take away food that is cheap, cheerful and mostly completely inedible. And despite having the best raw materials in the world, we still manage to produce some of the worst food you can buy for money compared with anywhere in the world. And I know our idea of IKEA is MFI which pretty much sums up our almost complete lack of taste. And I know we feel a bit guilty cheering on our side on the very few occasions when they actually win. And our sense of inherent self-worth means we can be rude to everyone else in the world equally, because we don't really mean anything by it.

Still. Mustn't grumble.

I know that that's just another expression of our determination to be stoicly mediochre. We'll get by, muddle through, bodge something together, without making a big song and dance about it, or bragging about it, or being stuck up, or braying to loudly about our success, or being too full of it (or doing any planning). Because when the chips are down, when our backs are against the wall, when that old Dunkirk spirit is needed, we'll find a way to come out on top despite the odds because there's no more determined or resourceful person than the bloody English.

Dammit, I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather live or have been born. So on St George's day I probably ought to wave a flag or something, or sing a few patriotic songs or have a march but instead I'll...

I'll...

Well not much of anything really. Maybe I'll go down the pub later. I'll see how I feel.
[from: JB Ecademy]

The UN is hosting the The WiFi Opportunity for Developing Nations conference.

On June 26 , 2003, the Wireless Internet Institute will join forces with the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force to host "The WiFi Opportunity for Developing Nations" at UN Headquarters in New York City. [from: JB Wifi]

Checkout Lindsey's blog and Guy Kewney's write up, about Wireless mesh networking from an antique bus rally. [from: JB Wifi]

Have you ever heard some music on a TV programme and wanted to buy it? It's almost impossible to go back later and find out what was played. So here's a business idea for the TV channels.

Put up a page on your websites with listings of all the music played in the background of your TV programs. Link these through to an Amazon affiliate page where you can buy it.

With the number of databases on the web and you own internal program scheduling software, it should be possible to largely automate this. [from: JB Ecademy]

Warchalking || First War Stroll in Croydon : Best catch of the day and warranting further investigation is a BTOpenZone covering much of the central Croydon Area. Does anyone know if BT are testing new Wireless hardware in Croydon(UK). Will post further info when available. Griff@myzaurus.co.uk

So what's going on here then? And why Croydon? [from: JB Wifi]

I'd recommend keeping an eye on The Daily Wireless. They post far too much quality content with far too many links! Take for example this piece DailyWireless - Tri-Mode Last Mile It covers the current state of the art on 802.11a and b access points with particular relevance to backhaul bandwidth distribution. There must be about 50 links in the article. Then there's the list of links down the lhs side of the page. It's as comprehensive as anything I've seen.

Altogether a very good site for WiFi and Wireless specialists. [from: JB Wifi]

American airline pilots are being allowed to carry handguns on domestic flights from this weekend.

Just another of those stories. However, I have to wonder what they're doing. I thought an aircraft was absolutely the wrong place to be firing guns? Explosive decompression is no joke. But then maybe they'll be issued with those plastic bag bullets that can stop a person but won't go straight through the hull.

It also seems like another reason not to use US domestic flights. [from: JB Ecademy]

I'm hoping someone with more biological-organic chemistry tech knowledge than me can answer this one and point out the holes.

Many micro-organisms can turn raw materials into methane. (an awful lot of them live in cows!). So would it be feasible to genetically engineer them to turn say carbon dioxide and water and/or plant sugars into propane? After all propane is only slightly more complex than methane.

The reason for asking is that we're building an LPG infrastructure to power cars and so a cheap high volume source of propane would let us retain personal mobility after the oil runs out.

Far-fetched but possible? Or a ludicrous pipe dream that won't work for all sorts of reasons? [from: JB Ecademy]

Oh My! Radebaugh: The Future We Were Promised

When I was a kid I bought a comic book called "You will go to the moon". It featured an all american boy and his father taking a trip by space-liner to the moon for a weekend holiday. Ever since then I've been a sucker for this sort of 50s and early 60s futurism. The future was so bright and so optimistic then.

So let's bring back retro-futurism! I want to put on my silver spandex all-in-one jump suit and fly my personal jetcopter now!

Fans of this stuff should also check out a short story by Gibson. The Gernsback Continuum. [from: JB Ecademy]

I just found the US Antenna and power regs.

The FCC power limitations for systems that use higher gain directive antennas (at least 6 dB), allows operation up to 4 watts EIRP. With a 1/4 watt (802.11g), feeding a +12dB sector, you get an EIRP of 4 watts - the FCC limit. This is 1 watt plus 6 dB of gain. The 5.725-5.825GHz band has the same output power restrictions as the 2.4GHz ISM band, and lesser restrictions on PtP antennas.

This is an eminently sensible way of recognising that narrow angle antennas have less potential for interference and so can be allowed to put out more power. This contrasts strongly with the UK 100mW EIRP max, which means a typical 30mW card is only allowed a 5db gain antenna.

There's a strong case here for relaxing the UK rules as they severely restrict the distances you can get for rural point to point links. This in turn is a blocker on using WiFi for rural broadband distribution. I wonder how much other commercial interests (such as GPRS, 3G, 3.6Ghz auctions) had a hand in the current restrictions.

Of course, reality is that you should just go ahead and do it and to hell with the rules. An approach that's OK for private use but impossible for commercial. [from: JB Wifi]

I've just got the email invitation to the 802.11 Planet Conference & Expo, Boston, MA - June 25 - 27, 2003

Does anyone want to pay me to go? [from: JB Wifi]

TIME.com: Will You Buy WiFi? -- Apr. 21, 2003 In the middle of what is really a fluff piece for Cometa, here's a number to conjure with. IBM sold approximately $1 billion in Wi-Fi services in 2002

Did you ever think you were in the wrong business? [from: JB Wifi]