| | |  | Software Design, Testing & Engineering | Home » » » Wireless Hacking: Projects for Wi-Fi Enthusiasts: Cut the cord and discover the world of wireless hacks! | | | | | | | Description: | | Sales of wireless LANs to home users and small businesses will soar this year, with products using IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology leading the way, according to a report by Cahners research. Worldwide, consumers will buy 7.3 million wireless LAN nodes--which include client and network hub devices--up from about 4 million last year. This third book in the "HACKING" series from Syngress is written by the SoCalFreeNet Wireless Users Group and will cover 802.11a/b/g ("Wi-Fi") projects teaching these millions of Wi-Fi users how to "mod" and "hack" Wi-Fi access points, network cards, and antennas to run various Linux distributions and create robust Wi-Fi networks.
Cahners predicts that wireless LANs next year will gain on Ethernet as the most popular home network technology. Consumers will hook up 10.9 million Ethernet nodes and 7.3 million wireless out of a total of 14.4 million home LAN nodes shipped. This book will show Wi-Fi enthusiasts and consumers of Wi-Fi LANs who want to modify their Wi-Fi hardware how to build and deploy "homebrew" Wi-Fi networks, both large and small.
* Wireless LANs next year will gain on Ethernet as the most popular home network technology. Consumers will hook up 10.9 million Ethernet nodes and 7.3 million wireless clients out of a total of 14.4 million home LAN nodes shipped.
* This book will use a series of detailed, inter-related projects to teach readers how to modify their Wi-Fi hardware to increase power and performance to match that of far more expensive enterprise networking products. Also features hacks to allow mobile laptop users to actively seek wireless connections everywhere they go!
* The authors are all members of the San Diego Wireless Users Group, which is famous for building some of the most innovative and powerful "home brew" Wi-Fi networks in the world. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Lee Barken | | Paperback:
| 416 pages | | Publisher:
| Syngress | | Publication Date:
| November 25, 2004 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 193183637X | | Package Length:
| 9.2 inches | | Package Width:
| 8.0 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.0 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.5 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 4 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 4 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 26 found the following review helpful:
The title is somewhat deceptive...Feb 13, 2005
By Thomas Duff
"Duffbert"
If you're highly interested in hacking together wi-fi networks and such, you'll probably enjoy Wireless Hacking Projects for Wi-Fi Enthusiasts by Lee Barken and the SoCalFreeNet.org Wireless Users Group. I personally had hoped for something a little different, however...
Chapter list: A Brief Overview of the Wireless World; SoCalFreeNet.org: Building Large Scale Community Wireless Networks; Securing Our Wireless Community; Wireless Access Points; Wireless Client Access Devices; Wireless Operating Systems; Monitoring Your Network; Low-Cost Commercial Options; Mesh Networking; Antennas; Building Outdoor Enclosures and Antenna Masts; Solar-Powered Access Points and Repeaters; Wireless 802.11 Hacks; Index
OK, to be fair, there's a lot of technical information in this book. SoCalFreeNet.org is a group committed to building community access wireless networks in order to offer free wireless coverage for everyone in the range of the network. They go into great detail on the hardware to use, how to configure it, the reason for setting up an access portal, building a firewall for the network, and so on. If this is your interest or if you're interested in starting this type of a network in your area, I don't think there's another book out there that would help as much.
Having said that, I'd probably be a little less harsh if the book had been titled How To Build A Community Wireless Network Based On The SoCalFreeNet.org Model. Someone who is looking to play around with wi-fi in their own house, build cantennas, or possibly control devices over the wireless network will have to dig hard in the book to find what they are looking for. The information is there, but it seems to be secondary to the primary purpose (or what I perceive it to be), which is to spread wireless access to the masses.
So, depending on what you're looking for, this may or may not be a good match for you. I was expecting something different from the title and cover, and was somewhat disappointed...
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
 great book with great ideasAug 16, 2005
By Tom Wolfe
I have been wanting to build a community wireless network for a long time now, but digging through google and looking for books turned out to be difficult to find someone else doing something like me, until I found this book. Read the first 30 pages of it in the bookstore and I was hooked, I had to have it. The only problem I see with it is that they seem to do things in a cookie cutter way allowing little flexablity (the 802.11a backhaul is a good idea, but there are other ways than using hardware that is no longer being made and having to do cheap 'hacks' to get things going. I guess thats why it is called wireless 'hacking'. It assumes a good deal of prior knowledge, which for me is great since I am familiar with vi and unix, etc. but a newbie might be a bit confused. They should have made it a bit more friendly for newbies, at times I felt the whole book was somewhat of a hack, like they rushed to throw something together that people could use since nothing else exists like this book. They also seem to focus too much on configuring windows stuff which I find annoying since I use OS X/Linux. Many times it felt like hey were reading my mind, everything I have wanted to do for years, they did. It is a wee bit overpriced though, I would say it's worth $20-25.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 Just right for me!Sep 30, 2005
By Trevor G. Doust
"LT"
This book sets out to educate, inspire and be a resource for building community wireless networks. For me the book lives up to my expectations. When dealing with the elements of building a wireless networks, some topics are difficult to get clear information on. Configuring m0n0wall is a good example. Try looking in the forums!
The step by step guides on specific hardware and specific releases of software may make it difficult to keep the book current but has infinitely more value to me than any attempt at a generic explanation. To illustrate this point, it is a long road to install Cacti as a network monitoring tool. You have to install Apache, PHP, Perl, RRD and Mysql before you can even start. I would never have made it, but Michael Mee's step by step guide made it a snap. Some of the software had been upgraded since the book was written but you could choose the same release as in the book. However, I found that the methodology in the book made it sufficiently clear that I could use the latest release in each case.
The fact that the book has many contributors means that each chapter is written by an expert in that particular field. These people have done it and are sharing it to the best of their ability.
There are many photographs and screen shots to make comprehension easier.
If you are interested in WiFi you should have this book on you bookshelf or closer. The word hacking in the title gives me that same feeling as when I am being followed by a State Cop! However, I suppose that others will feel different.
I hope the contributors and editor will endeavor to keep the book up to date as hardware and software evolves.
3 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Left wantingJan 12, 2006
By David Nay
Lee Barkens book was a major dissappointment. The overall content lacks the descriptiveness one would expect from a book of its title. The reader is lead down an overly linear path of chaotic instruction, devoid of any explanation as to why the chosen method is presented. Wireless Hacking is lacking of any alternative solutions which might highlight or better suit the readers specific needs.
Left with no wiggle room, the reader is lead to believe that the methods presented are the best and only available, which is frequently false and completely misrepresented.
My advice is, spend your money elsewhere. There are far better resources available than what Lee Barken provides.
| | |
* Estimated shipping rate for US 48 states. Final rate calculated at checkout. |
