[Cu-wireless] wireless router ideas

[David Young]

Some of these ideas come from Peter Folk.

I think that one builds a wireless router that is affordable, small,
silent, and reliable in two ways. First, by combining a cool-running
microprocessor like the Via C3, a Micro-ATX motherboard, a nonvolatile RAM
(NVRAM) card and IDE->NVRAM adapter, a couple of PCI wireless adapters,
a fanless power supply, and a compact case.

Second, by using a Soekris net4521 single-board computer (SBC) with two
PC Card wireless adapters. See soekris.com. For installation indoors,
you can buy the net4521 with a nice enclosure, I think.  I am going to
write Soekris for prices.

An outdoor router is built by combining either combination of components
I list above with a weatherproof case.

An IDE to CompactFlash adapter can be had for
$20 from http://www.pcengines.com/testordr.htm .
At http://www.magicram.com/IDEComapctFlash.htm there is an adapter
available, too.

A 128MB CompactFlash card is bought at cdw.com for about $70.  A 256MB
card is bought for about $140. 128MB will fit OpenBSD. It should fit
NetBSD or Linux, too.

There is a standards body called NEMA that publishes standards for
outdoor electronics enclosures. NEMA enclosures with ratings 3, 3R,
and 4 will give adequate protection in most the environments where we
will put a router.

NEMA enclosure types:

    http://www.nema.org/DocUploads/7B767F84-0827-45F9-9BB01319E5BC55FB/
      enclosure.html

NEMA enclosures for sale:

    http://www.grainger.com/
    http://www.adalet.com/
    http://www.itsenclosures.com/