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Handhelds Wireless Networking Hardware

Good PDA Wi-Fi Signal Strength Locator? 48

Posted by Cliff from the tricorders-of-the-21st-century dept.
Tark asks: "I have been tasked with creating a reliable, portable 802.11b signal strength indicator. I have looked over various PDA's, and have narrowed it down to two: the Sharp's Zaurus 5500 Linux PDA, and the HP iPAQ 2215 Pocket PC. I have chosen these due to the fact they both support cf and sd slots. Which of these 2 PDA's will provide a reliable solution for detecting an 802.11b signal, and which wi-fi card should I use with the PDA? Also, is there a CompactFlash wi-fi card that supports a external antenna connection?"
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Good PDA Wi-Fi Signal Strength Locator? More

Good PDA Wi-Fi Signal Strength Locator?

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  • ... when you're done war-driving?

  • software? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    you have software?

    I have similar app based on a hacked-up version of kismet running on the Zaurus, it works okay. What sort of stuff is available for the ipaq? I love the Zaurus because I can code in Java, C++, Perl, Ruby, Python, Shell scripts, etc., and I can use CVS to sync up code to my development workstation.

    I have a Linksys WFC12 card and it worked great for a while then crapped out (acts really flakey). So I'd recommend against Linksys especially since I have a WET11 bridge that stopped working on
  • ... as long as they can run linux. Then you have the many and varied linux apps available for precisely your purpose. Oh, and I'd go for a prism2 based card, if that's an option.

  • Card Suggesstion (Score:3, Informative)

    by MonMotha ( 514624 ) on Wednesday October 08, 2003 @07:42PM (#7167389)
    While not the best card in the world, it does work (And is supported in linux if you want to run that on your PDA) and has an external antenna connection available with little modding. The D-Link DCF-660W has an antenna connector right under the plastic cover.

    It's a CF card, so it will work in your mentioned PDAs. Just pop the plastic off, figure out what the heck that connector is, and hook up your pringles can.
    • I have this card on an ipaq h2215, and the older driver has a signal-strength indicator built in, but I haven't found a PPC app that will let me do traffic sniffing/kismet/snort stuff yet. There are two or three apps, but they support only one or two cards. If you go with the Zaurus, you will not be left wanting more software (comparatively, at least.)

      As an aside, I am extremely happy with my 2215. It's the size of my Palm m515, fast, great screen/color, etc. My Zaurus-owning friend was rather jealous of

      • I just got PocketWarrior working with my PPC/DLink 660W using DLink's "beta" drivers on their website. Just go to DLink.com and search for drivers for the 660W and download the driver for PPC2002. You'll need to reset, but it's a nicer driver. Still no option to assign multiple IP configs though.
    • I had received a Zaurus SL5600 this past year. After awhile of searching for a wirelss card, I found the AmbiCom WL1100C-CF. The specs show about 1700 feet of outdoor range at 1mbps. I haven't tried kismet or other software of that sort, but its an excellent card. I have to figure out how to decrease the bitrate without iwconfig being installed.....
  • Why PDA? Why not use this [kensington.com]?
    • There's a much better one: Smart ID [smartid.com.sg] makes one [smartid.com.sg] that is really accurate and (unlike the Kensington) rejects other sources like mobile phones. And they ship globally from Singapore AFAIK (well, it's always worth visiting Singapore - it's got Sim Lin Square, a sort of expensive version of Pan Tip Plaza in Bangkok ;-).
  • Kensington [kensington.com] has a simple product that will find 802.11b and g signals and let you know strength.

    WiFi Finder [kensington.com]

    Priced online [channelintelligence.com] from $20-$30.

  • Here's a link or two (Score:5, Informative)

    by orthogonal ( 588627 ) on Wednesday October 08, 2003 @07:50PM (#7167458) Journal
    All from the Zaurus Software Index [killefiz.de]

    Google [google.com] is your friend.

    Wireless LAN Monitor [killefiz.de]

    Wellenreiter II [killefiz.de]

    Kismet [killefiz.de]

    Kismet w/GUI [killefiz.de]

    Discoverer [killefiz.de]

    ZNetMeter [killefiz.de]

    WirelessApplet [killefiz.de]

    If you's like more research done, let's discuss hourly rates. ;)

    Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 8.9).
  • http://www.killefiz.de/zaurus/showdetail.php?app=3 45
  • Ministumbler [netstumbler.com] is a CE version of Netstumbler that runs great on my iPaq. You can even have it dynamically hop between the strongest AP's to - it reconfigures your card settings.

    I use a PCMCIA card, but i would probably recommend the CF card option, since they use less power.
  • The Zaurus SL-5500 is awesome. Being worried about battery life, I opted to purchase the Socket brand low power CF WiFi Card [socketcom.com]. The card works great for "normal" usage. It does not work with Kismet or Discoverer (or I could not get it to work).
  • Well, I'm posting this on a Zaurus, and a few clicks tell me that the WiFi signal strength of my home network is holding up at 130 to noise 11, with a quality of 52. Switching over to Kismet I can see one other network, which is atypical in my building at this hour.

    So, yeah, it's pretty easy on a Zaurus if a guy sitting on his living room couch watching the ballgame can do it while simultaneously posting to Slashdot :)
  • At work, our wireless networking people use laptops with wireless cards and (sometimes) GPS units attached. They change the BIOS so that the machines stay on with the lid closed, throw the laptop in a backpack, then go for a leisurely walk.

    Why spend money on a single-purpose PDA with hard-to-find software?
  • Saw this [bvsystems.com] in the back of PopSci, may be what you need and more.
  • I have a Zaurus 5500 and a Linksys WCF12. While driving to work a sometimes leave Wellenreiter running, logging whatever networks I run across. Most of my trip is on highways and I pick up at least 20 networks that are at least 100m away from the highway. If I leave Wellenreiter running at the default channel hop delay of 100ms it gets warm after running for 30 minutes continuously so I set it to 1000ms insead. I run openzaurus 3.2 upgraded to Opie 1.0. OZ comes with the HostAP drivers and the WCF12 is a Pr
  • I personally own an iPaq, and I'm very happy with it (good price, refurbished off eBay) Complaints = Backlight has a mind of its own, I've hard the stylus latch is not to quality, but I losy my stilii, so no problem. As far as both CF and SD, I have a CF expansion pack and my 3835 has onboard SD. Wi-Fi finder? I really don't know; I haven't tried a Zaurus out. However, my device driver/manager has a signal strength checker bult in, but a utility called WINC is also available; it's more powerful, but co
  • When I first saw this, I started to do the "who needs a USB LED light?" kind of groan until the idea started to grow on me.

    Kensington wifi finder [kensington.com]

    It's a small dedicated wifi finder/key fob.
  • Why don't you just get a Kensington WiFi Finder [kensington.com]
    for 16 to 20 bucks [google.com]

    described thusly

    The only WiFi detector on the market today Completely hassle free --
    no more booting up your notebook to find a WiFi signal Detects most
    available WiFi networks with the press of a button Three lights
    indicate signal strength Compact and lightweight - fits in your
    pocket. Detects 802.11b and most 802.11b/g signals from up to 200
    feet away Filters out other wireless signals, including cordless
    phones, microwave ovens and Blu

  • Why not Palm? (Score:3)

    by stickyc ( 38756 ) on Thursday October 09, 2003 @12:55AM (#7169261) Homepage
    Out of curiosity, why did the Palm Tungsten C not make the list? It's got built in WiFi and the OS has a build in strength meter. There is a GPS solution for it as well, although I doubt there's hotspot mapping software yet (if that was your need).
  • I'm using my laptop and my Sony UX50 [sonystyle.com] on a Wi-Fi network as I type this. I get great signal strength and the pages look great on the high resolution screen. I also sync with my laptop through the bluetooth connection on the UX50 and an Ambicon USB bluetooth adapter. I would be wearing a bluetooth wireless headset and talking/surfing through a Bluetooth phone, but Sprint and Verizon do not offer one Come on, people want Bluetooth phones!!! NOT the crappy motorola 230c for Verizon. I want to see a non-gsm

  • With a GPS (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mnmn ( 145599 ) on Thursday October 09, 2003 @10:26AM (#7171851) Homepage
    Would be more interesting if a gps locator can be hooked to one of these PDAs, using a microdrive and hopefully running Linux, so you could throw the thing in a mailman's vehicle and get a geographical map of hotspots. I wonder if it would be small enough to strap on a stray cat, get a really detailed map, or that slutty girl down the street, get a REALLY detailed map of the whole city. Dont get too involved strapping it on her though.
  • I use Netschaser [bitsnbolts.com] on my Tungsten C. It works great. Even though the receive isn't as good as a laptop, I pick up hotspots driving around.

    It shows signal strength, MAC address and if WEP is enabled.



  • Kensingtion WiFi Locator [kensington.com]

    Not very sophisticated but super-quick and easy!
  • I have this combo running Windows Mobile 2003. It's not the best hardware for this job, but I can report my results. So far Pocket WinC and Boingo work with 2003. Others are supposed to be working on 2003 compatibility too. I haven't compared first hand, but the forums on Aximsite say the Dell TM1180 has shit for range but it's efficient with power. CF wifi cards are less powerful than PCMCIA, but it seems the Dell is the worst of the lot. If you need range, they sell a CF-PCMCIA adapter for PDAs. It'll sti
  • From the site (which is slow right now):

    Yellowjacket(TM) is a wireless receiver module designed to work with Compaq's iPAQ(R) PDA in sweeping, analyzing and optimizing 2.4 GHz W-LANs and WISPs. The receiver measures all 14 DSSS network channels operating on the IEEE 802.11b standard allowing the user to determine the AP (Access Point), PER (Packet Error Rate), Multipath (Ec/Io), SSID and RSSI (narrow and wideband) signal levels of any Access Point and Client STA. Yellowjacket(TM) allows those familiar wi
  • If you want a complete solution including site survey capabilities, security audits, etc then the best solution I have seen is airmagnet's [airmagnet.com] handheld solution. It worked well even in Cisco Aironet's office which is possibly the most wifi busy location on the planet. I would definitly suggest you take a look.
  • The PDA is fast and powerful (400 MHz ARM + 64 MB RAM) and NetChaser (http://www.bitsnbolts.com/netchaser.html) is cheap ($10), robust, and under active development. I warwalk/wardrive with this combo all the time and it works like a champ.

  • Having been a patron of hand-held wireless devices for a long time. I must say, after I got my TabletPC, I'll never go to a Palm-sized pocket PC.

    Besides, the tablet offers much more flexibility. The processor is an x86 compatible, the operating system is XP or can be replaced easily with Linux, the weight is just under 1.5 pounds, and the best part, it features a built-in 802.11 device, and your desktop apps work without any problem.

    I currently use Netstumbler and it suits most of my needs to "audit" th

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