what nodes? (was [Cu-wireless] Memory for nodes)

[David Young]

What nodes? =)

Seriously, we have more install candidates near Urbana High School than
we have nodes. And then there is the 400 block of Green Street, where
I think we could install at three more homes, easy.

Incidentally, I am still looking for an inexpensive local distribution,
and I am not finding it. Any ideas?

We have cable and connectors for a few installs.  We need radios and
antennas.

I want to survey on Ivan's roof just as soon as the snow has melted from
it. I forgot to check it this AM. Ivan's is an iffy install because we
will have to use a lot of cable or an outdoor router. The outdoor router
is more than we can afford.

The LinkSys WET11 is a tiny ethernet<->wireless bridge with decent
output power and mediocre receive sensitivity (but mediocre beats
crappy any day). Detaching its antenna exposes an RP-SMA connector.
If it will not already tap ethernet for DC power (not the laboratory
namesake, but the electricity), then we can build it a tap using plans at
nycwireless.net. Then we can buy/build the injector.  I think that if we
"pull a ham" and put it in Tupperware with holes punched for ethernet
and radio connector, then we've avoided excessive cable losses on the
cheap. Maybe....

We still need to attach a PC to provide the routing/forwarding function,
and we should to verify certain properties of the WET11, such as its

  1 power requirements (50 feet Cat5 turns a lot of electricity
    to heat, but a 48VDC injector could cook the thing at 75)
  2 its radio properties (I think that it is superior to our WMP11's,
    with 100mW and -83dB RX sensitivity, but maybe I am wrong)
  3 its configurability for channel and SSID (I prefer that it is
    Web- or SNMP-configurable. I have read that it will start a Web
    configurator if you give it an IP by DHCP, but seeing is believing.)
  4 its ability to handle an IBSS merge (this should not be a problem
    if it has a Prism MAC with recent firmware, but you never know)
  5 temperature range
  6 software reliability (does it conk out after N hours or Q packets?)

If somebody on the list already owns one of these, maybe you will put
it through its paces? If not, I will front the lesser of $50 or half the
purchase price for a WET11 if somebody will evaluate its suitability by
those criteria.

Dave

On Thu, Jan 23, 2003 at 10:34:43PM -0600, Perry Melange wrote:
> Hey, I have just gotten 19 pieces of 72 pin SIMM memory for us to use on 
> the nodes.  Do we want to get together some time soon and set up a few 
> computers?
> 
> Perry
> 
> -- 
> Perry Melange      "Make things as simple as possible, but no simpler."
> pmelange at null.cc.uic.edu                              - Albert Einstein
> http://null.cc.uic.edu/~pmelange/resume
> 
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-- 
David Young             OJC Technologies
dyoung at ojctech.com      Engineering from the Right Brain
                        Urbana, IL * (217) 278-3933