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Many people are now thinking of how they too can
install a wireless hot spot in their area. In this new section we hope to
explain the equipment that we use, the mistakes that we made, and the
services that we now provide to Horsted Keynes in Sussex.
Whilst it is
relatively easy to stick an aerial out of your bedroom window and set your
home server to be unencrypted there are several reasons why this way of
"going public" is to be avoided. Obviously you can get on air this way but
this leaves your home computers wide open to hackers who think it a great
evenings entertainment to sit in their car trying to see what lies hidden
away in your bedroom!
Perhaps the best way to start would be for us to describe
the equipment that we use and why. Before we start we should make clear that
we in fact run two hotspots side by side. One operates at the low speed of
10 Meg and the other can connect at speeds up to 55 Meg. The reasons for
running two channels are partly historic but what follows describes our main
low speed server which has by far the greater range. As we are primarily
dealing with people wanting to check their email and take a quick look at a
web site or two speed of connection isn't as important as range.
Whilst it is possible to use a ready made "hardware"
router such as the Netgear DG834G we decided to use a dedicated computer as
our server. The main reason for this was because we had an old PC to hand
and by running a Linux based programme on this we were able to customise all
the parameters far more easily.
You don't need much speed to run a computer as a server.
It is after all only through putting signals at the speed of your internet
connection which will not exceed 8 Meg per second for several years to come.
We had a spare 500MHz Pentium III to hand and this had the advantage of not
using a dedicated fan for processor cooling which helps keep the noise down!
On the other hand while speed is not an issue in our opinion the amount of
memory IS. Fortunately we had to hand several 250MByte sticks and the
motherboard had room for 3 so we run with 750 Meg of RAM. To be honest we
doubt that more than one stick ever gets used, but it's better on the
motherboard than in a drawer!
If you are thinking of emulating us then a quick scan of
the second-hand pages shows that a suitable PIII can be purchased very
cheaply these days. As new computers all require DDR memory then suitable
DIMs can also be picked up for a song.
Next the hard disk which is only required to start up the server
programme and we could if we wished use a RAM disk or even run this direct
from a CD, but having an old 4 Gig H.D. to hand we chose to use that.
Unfortunately we have found that despite not being accessed for a long time
our hard disk
does not stop, but runs continuously. We will have to sort that minor
problem out some time in the future.
One of the main requirements of a wireless connection for
public use - as opposed to a set up that just need to cover a small home -
is the range at which a useful connection speed can be achieved. We have
decided to put our greatest effort in the slower speed connection - for the
reasons explained above.
(This article is obviously
still in the early stages of preparation ;-) |
