[ale] OT: Wireless access points?

[Joseph A Knapka]

Somewhat off-topic, but maybe amusing: last week I set
my wife up with a Linux laptop, and while doing so
I discovered that when I booted the machine in our
bedroom it wouldn't talk on the network, though everything
was fine if I booted it next to the access point and
then *carried* it into the bedroom. The access
point was literally only about ten feet away from the bed,
but on the other side of the wall and down a story.
Still should be easily in range.

Eventually I figured out that in the bedroom, the
WaveLAN card was acquiring its DHCP address
from somebody else's server - I could actually
surf the Internet, and telnet to this mysterious
server, too! (Though I could not log in, since they
had apparently chosen some fiendishly clever
password that I was incapable of guessing in three
tries.)

The solution, in case anyone else has this sort of
issue, was to set the SSID (kind of like a network
name, I guess) for the access point and the PC card
to the same known, non-default value; that forces
the PC card to only accept service via the access
point with the matching SSID. On the Linux
side that was done via module options to the
wvlan_cs module, and on the access point it was
done via the AP config utility.

-- Joe

Fulton Green wrote:
> 
> Now that Wi-Fi's gone "mainstream" (i.e., feature story in Newsweek last
> week), I was wondering if anyone here knew of any publicly-accessible
> wireless access points (preferably legit :). I'm assuming I need a
> WiFi/802.11b card. I know this was asked a few months ago, but I figured
> there might have been some more adoptions of the technology since then.
> Specifically:
> 
> - Any ATL-area Starbucks or other public food/drink places w/WiFi (or, at
>   the very least, Ethernet jacks)? The "barrista" at the Va-Hi Starbucks
>   mentioned they were getting a T3 installed "real soon now" and that it was
>   "going to kick some serious a**", so maybe some of the local Starbucks are
>   ramping up for wireless.
> - Any more details on what Georgia Tech might provide?
> 
> And in case anyone was going to suggest it, Innovox Lounge is now closed.
> 
> TIA
> 
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   "Thanks to Microsoft, I am now blind in both eyes. They have
    rolled back in my head so many times this week that they
    are apparently stuck there now."
      - Jonathan Rickman, regarding M$ anti-open-source PR.

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