This is a reminder of the Linux Wifi Clinic on Saturday, May 15 from 11AM to 5PM. Riverdale High School off Terwilliger in SW Portland. http://hs.riverdale.k12.or.us/directions.html The school has tables and power plugs, and lots of bandwidth to the Internet. Invite your friends (well, no, not YOUR friends... :-) ) Post this to other user groups. If you are a business owner and too busy to do your own setup, stop by and meet some of the many consultants available who you can pay to do it for you (offsite, there are supposed to be no commercial transactions on the school grounds). There was a great deal of interest at the PLUG meeting last night, with quite a few Linux people interested in attending and helping. The big question there was, how many Wifi savvy folks would be there from Personal Telco Project? Some folks have made enthusiastic commitments, but the more the merrier! There are three levels of project we -could- do: (1) basic Linux system setup on a laptop >> (2) setting up Wifi and road warrior security (3) setting up a PTP node (4) WAP hacking, like reprogramming WRT54Gs . However, in the interests of time, we will be concentrating on (2), setting up Wifi on laptops with Linux already running. Setting up portable security, IPTABLES, SSH keys, etc. will be a priority. If the clinic works out OK, we can be more ambitious the next time. We would like to concentrate on 802.11B. Again, we can do G the next time. This is not to say we can't do some distro installs, or some advanced hacking, after we get everyone up and running and secure and cracker-tested; I just think we will have a full day with the basics. So, prerequisites: (1) Patience, and a willingness to help others if you can. (2) A laptop with a reasonably recent Linux installed, and -backed up- (we will be testing security, you may get root-kitted). Bring your AC adapter, CD drive, floppy drive, ethernet card, or whatever you need to move bits. We will be Linux distro agnostic: Redhat 8, Debian ?, SUSE ?, Mandrake ?, or better. Within the last two years so we can be sure there are drivers and security updates for that distro. Avoid Lindows (too insecure). Unless someone is pretty familiar with wifi drivers for 2.6, we should avoid this recently introduced kernel. If you want a nice distro for newbies, I suggest Xandros Desktop 2 Deluxe, which is based on Debian and has a lot of features designed for the new user. If you are a cheapskate, download Debian or Fedora Core 1 (not 2!) and burn some CDs. Check http://www.linux-laptop.net for laptop gotchas. No, you cannot run a decent road-warrior Linux on your 286 8Mbyte 240x320 10 year old cheapo. We are not here to help you recover from horrendously bad buying decisions. (3) A wifi card with linux drivers. I suggest a PRISM based Senao card, 2511CD 200mW . Cheaper, lower power PRISM cards are around, but beware, some manufacturers change to unsupported chipsets while keeping the same model number. If you are unsure, ask the list. We can support beta or oddball drivers if someone steps up to support and configure those drivers. The Atheros G stuff looks interesting, but we need a volunteer to take care of those installs. Built-in wifi can be "challenging". (4) The ethernet-connected Wireless Access Point (WAP) that you plan to use at home (no USB unless you are sure you can configure it from Linux). If you are using the WAP with external DHCP and routing, you may want to bring in your server (yikes!). If you don't have a WAP, I suggest the $80-$100 Linksys WRT54G (not GS, and serial numbers starting with CD5...) because it is a customizer's playground, or the $40-$60 Linksys BEFW11S4 because it is cheap and easy. Note that almost all current WAP units are web-page configured and pretty easy to figure out if you've read the docs. (5) Documentation - bring your system notebook to make notes and write down procedures (you DO have a system notebook, yes? If not, buy a steno pad and start taking notes!). Also, manuals for your WAP, wifi card, Linux distro, and pointers to websites you have found useful so far. Read the docs you have, please! (6) Think up some secure, easy to remember passwords. I like initial letters and numbers, like 4oYbabtU ( 4 of Your bases are belong to Us ). Rude phrases are easier to remember and harder to babble to others. We may quickly crack the passwords you have now: "Rover123", "Shirley", and "studMuffin" are overused. I cracked 4 passwords on my father-in-law's computer in 230 milliseconds ... he learned to use better passwords. (7) Crucifixes, magic amulets, black candles. Prayers and/or Spells. We will have good people there, but cannot guarantee results, so whatever supernatural gestures work for you... (8) Did I mention patience? Rick Lindahl ( rickl@invictusnetworks.com ) will be there with some gear to sell (Senao cards, antennas, cables, other fun stuff). We may also have somebody to peddle Linksys WRT54G WAPs. Since our vendor friends may run out before you get there, make arrangements in advance to be sure the device you want to buy will be reserved for you. The actual sale and transaction will need to occur off the school grounds, however. I will probably think up more stuff before next Saturday. Help of any kind will be appreciated. The cool thing about the Linux world is that there is always something you know that somebody else will appreciate learning (and vice versa)! Keith -- Keith Lofstrom keithl@keithl.com Voice (503)-520-1993 KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon" Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Version 0.3, uploaded 8:40a on Sunday May 9 2004