* steve ulrich <sulrich at botwerks.org> [040920 00:19]: > cd based router w/hostap or something similar off of a laptop or > appropriately equipped pc and use a web based gui to configure all of > the interesting elements (available b/w, pointer to captive portal > content, AUP, etc.). support would be provided by the TCWUG group. A soekris net4511, cardbus prism 2.5 card, 128mb cf (you can't buy em smaller! they are $30 or less as is!) and m0n0wall is already fairly close. You could easily modify m0n0wall to do more, too. I've not used the captive portal features, but the rest of it seems pretty solid. Even has altq support! My guess is that the easiest way to us it is just radius back to a central server (over ipsec tunnel if necessary). It also does radius accounting so we can catch account sharing abuse. (ie: if we see it more than two times, start wondering -- especially if its in tons of locations, we need individuals to sign up minimally so we know who was on if there are abuse issues) I would recommend having the locations check the ID of the user and enter their first/last/middle initial and if we dont have that user blocked create an account on the spot and let them get a password. I think a unified AUP would also be needed across locations. the website is: http://www.m0n0.ch/wall/ I'm not sure exactly how the captive firewall works, but its all in php -- so its fairly easy to modify and do what would be needed. It looks like minimally you can upload a login page to the device with custom content. Couple this with an images server someplace and some links to 'free' information on that server too about how to join and stuff it could be very useful. We could run the auth server and require people to verify who they are in some way so that if we have an abuser we can kick them out for (hopefully) good. I think this could all be had for about : Soekris: $201 (4511, case, 1.25A power supply) Fleeman anderson & bird: Two 5.5 dBi R-TNC antennas, two MMCX->RP-TNC pigtails : $68.90+ shipping Newegg: SMC2532W-B, 128mb compact flash, $80.50 + shipping (knowing newegg nearly free) So, about $350 (plus shipping) for the hardware to have a turn-key system -- I think we could easily find volunteers (including myself) to put together the boxes. The 4511 has 2 ethernet ports, so more ap's or a wired segment could be strung off of it as well. Or, the $125.40 for the wireless portion (the SMC card and the antennas are argubaly miles ahead of a cheapo access point however) could be dropped if they are already on-site access points -- bringing it to $224.60. Plus, with the 4511 it will work for a damn long time and not require anything horribly special in the way of cooling, power, or space. (ie: not outside, but not needing cooling or fans!) If you know of anyone offhand looking to pilot this and can front the $350 we could get the ball rolling quickly. I'm pretty sure one of us (including myself) could get a radius server for the project setup quickly. -- Scott Dier <dieman at ringworld.org> KC0OBS http://www.ringworld.org/ -- http://www.railworks.org/ -- http://publictransportation.org/ -- Stop "playing political splat ball," support the Northstar Train! _______________________________________________ Twin Cities Wireless Users Group Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.tcwug.org tcwug-list at tcwug.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tcwug-list