[Sussex] Wireless AP

[Steve Dobson]

Colin

On Fri, Jan 28, 2005 at 08:02:42AM +0000, Colin Tuckley wrote:
> Richie Jarvis wrote:
> 
> >SnS (part of the feeed.net network) uses the following charging system:
> >
> >£6.95 per user on each node, of which £5 goes to the node owner, and 
> >£1.95 goes to SnS (minus paypal charges.)
> 
> This sounds like it's aimed at people who want to use the WiFi portal as 
> their primary net connection, i.e. people who live nearby but don't have 
> their own broadband access.
> 
> What the Holbrook Club want is more akin to the way a hotel provides WiFi 
> to it's residents. I suspect that the Holbrook only want coverage on their 
> site, so no massive antennas would be needed.

I don't like the sound of there being a charge for using the WiFi.  I
agree with Colin, use at the Holbrook should be free (as in beer) for all.
Holbrook get a WiFi network their business clients can use.  We get a free
(as in beer) room to meet in with free WiFi.

Jon:  Can you confirm that please.

Nik: Can you look into getting the Sussex Business Grant (or whatever it
was you were talking about last night) that we could use to purchase
the hardware?

If we can't get a grant then we are back to the thorny issue of how 
do we fun the thing!
 
> I think that we should aim more at the sort of node that pier-to-pier in 
> Brighton are using. On that subject, I read some stuff recently about a 
> LinkSys router that can be flashed to run Linux and Mesh software - this 
> would do what we want and if I remember correctly it was someone from SLUG 
> talking about it.
> 
> If a PC :is: needed then I have a PII 266MHz box that I'd be willing to 
> donate to the project, it probably ought to have a new processor fan (it 
> sounds a bit rough) and it's not got much memory but is otherwise ok.

Colin: Thanks for the offer of the PC, but the problem with this is adding
in a Wireless card that Linux can support as an WiFi Access Point (AP).
The only card/software I know that works is HostAP with a Prism-II/III
card.  I use a Prism-II in my own AP and it works very well.  However,
the later model of the PCI card that I have is no longer based on the
Prism chip set (so it doesn't work anymore with the HostAP kernel driver),
and I don't know of which WiFi cards currently available are based on the
chip set we need.  The MeshAP system that I bought from www.linitx.com
no longer appears to be there - all I see when I put in "MeshAP" into their
search engine is the MeshAP 32MB Compact Flash.  I know it has been a
problem for others to find suitable hardware to build a x86/Linux/AP
system.

Also do we want to build the AP station on old, maybe soon to die, PC
hardware?  I just have this feeling that an off the shelf WiFi AP system,
while more expensive to begin with, will be cheaper long term.

Known Facts:
  Holbrook will be providing the ADSL line, so we do not need to cover
  the running costs of a Internet link.  All we need to provide is the
  AP hardware, configure it, install and maintain it.

Questions:
  What hardware does Brighton's Peer2Peer system use (and can we still
  get the appropriate hardware)?

  How are we going to fund any purchases we need to buy?

Steve