hpcfactor 1st ! Router in my car

It's no big deal I'm sure, but I was impressed. My brother-in-law works for Sears, and he has some type of satellite transmitter/receiver on his service van. It is continually linked to some mainframe in Chicago no matter where he drives in his 3-state service area.

What was cool is when he goes into a customer's house, he carries his laptop or pda (he has several) and they are all instantly linked to the internet through his van. We played around with it some and discovered that he can connect to the internet up to several hundred yards from the van.

We took the van one day down to the lake for a picnic and I was able to surf the internet from a lawn chair...now that was cool.

Rich

I tried a 3 way ad-hoc awhile back with no luck.

I don't really want to remember to change whatever devices I take on the road to ad-hoc so I can communicate. And then remember to change them back in the house.

edit. If I lived in a more temperate climate I'd mount a 200gb or so wifi enabled hdd in my car to hold everything of interest.

Edited by wallythacker 2006-04-03 10:03 PM

UPS has this, too, I believe. One day while waiting in line at a fast-food drive-thru, I whipped out my J720 and noticed I had a link. There was a bunch of gibberish in the website name that came up, and it never fully loaded. When I got to the office it was a UPS portal to Ameritech/SBC/AT&T/whatever they call themselves now, called "Wayport". The reason I'm not certain it was tied to a vehicle is that there was a "UPS Store" (formerly Mailboxes, Etc. or MBE) across the street from the restaurant. It may have been beaming from that. McDonald's (which incidentally is not where I was at the time) also provides WiFi access using Wayport. Like Sears, both of these are connected through Chicago, from what I understand.

wally is it not to same switching between your home router and car router? ad-hoc or infrastructure is just another setting in the profile.

Rich I always wanted to have that, a high bandwidth connection in the car Now that'd be a legit reason for a car router. Though I don't think a lot of people can afford/justify the cost of that for personal use. For business it makes sense

I'm likely to forget to switch profiles. The car router uses the same SSID and wep as the house, so nothing to switch.

That's a really bad practice, unless you use different channels on the APs, and different IPs for the routers, and disable DHCP on one of them - which won't work for you...

As it is now, if both routers are within range of each other, there's no telling what will happen. Basically the APs will both respond to the same inquiries - so the WiFi clients will be getting duplicated and possibly conflicting responses. If by some fluke the WiFi connection works, then both routers (gateways) will try to take control of the subnet...

OK I better stop right there before I say something really stupid. But I think you get the idea.

On another note. This brings back the question about the recent popularity of "home networks", especially the wireless kind. I think it's a bit irresponsible for the manufacturers and (more so) retailers to market these AP+routers as if they are simple appliances.

I don't really plan on sitting in my driveway doing wifi

edit: I'm wiring the car router to the ignition. Car is off=AP is off

Edited by wallythacker 2006-04-04 7:20 AM

How are your devices mounted in the car? On some type of tray/platform/holder? The reason I ask is that I have a couple sitting on a desk that I used to transfer files between using IR. One is a Palm unit, the other a pocketpc. I got tired of having to move them around and work on one upside down and such to transfer files.

Then I got smart (marginally). I put a little mirror behind them and they both send and receive fine reflecting the IR signal off the mirror...so that now I can work on both of them simultaneously from the proper viewing perspective.

How about a simple fiber optic cable that you could point/clamp at each IR transmitter...hey, I might be onto something here...or just need another cup of coffee...

Rich

My main device (Amity) is dash mounted with a bracket I rigged up. The Amity is pretty small and light and doesn't obscure much other than the heater controls.

My other devices for the road are my Tungsten W and either a 6651 or a 720, sometimes both and they lay (velcroed) on the passenger seat.

Your mirror idea is great and highlights the alignment problem with IR transfers. I won't be fumbling anymore establishing partnerships with my Amity.

I wondered about a fiber optic cable in another thread but consenus was forget it. I still think it's a good idea if a 1/2" optic cable could be scrounged up.

If/when data rates in canada become reasonable I'll get the card for my Amity and share the connection so my passenger can do simple low bandwidth internet things while travelling.

I put together one using a Via mini itx system( fanless). I have it set up with an external antena. 100 gig drive, lan, bluetooth usb dongle all powered by a 15 amp 12v to 110vac converter with a surge filter. The filter is needed when you start the engine.

Currently running xp pro, playing with puppy linux on a usb flash drive. Use vnc-server and client as needed, usually just a local ad-hoc group. I tried pan, not bad, ad hoc is ok. I can use it in most of the buildings I enter.

I got everything off ebay for about $225.00.

Stupid question from the ignorant gallery...

I may be an engineer, but I'm neither an electrical nor computer engineer. Here's proof: I'm thinking about stftclmshell's setup and I'm wondering why one would need a 110vac converter. All of the computer subsystems run off of either a 12vdc or a 5vdc rail, right? The automobile runs on 12vdc, so why transform the current twice? I'm assuming it has something to do with power (and subsequently current) draw--or does the MOBO need other (i.e. higher) voltages? This kind of thinking gets me into trouble. Someone stop me! :+D

EDIT: I realize that standard power supplies are 110vac in and 12c/5vdc out. I mean, in theory, couldn't you use a 12vdc PS?

Edited by KBoyKool 2006-04-04 1:32 PM

I'm guessing that the a/c adapter might regulate the voltage/current to a standard (spelled: safe) value. Most altenators used to vary between 12 and 3.5 V dc while charging the battery. I actually had a b&w portable tv one time that got brighter when I revved the engine up and got dimmer when it was idling, and while it might have been a weak car battery, I had to run up and down the interstate to watch tv on it. Cars these days are pretty much solid state and don't vary as much as the older mechanical regulators.

Using 12vdc in an auto is doable. The problem is with the massive disruptions caused by starting the engine. I use the 120vac converter since I already had it to charge my laptops/h/pc's, as well as several of my testing units etc.

I'm powering the Via from a 12 v motorcycle battery, that is charged by the 120 vac unit. The unit hibernates after 20 mins and is set to "wake on lan". I can leave the truck off all weekend and the battery is fine on Monday.

I use a special DC to DC power supply made by a company called Opus Solutions. It has an integrated ATX startup/shutdown controller that you can link to your ignition, and can run on anywhere from 7-19 volts DC. It handles the continually variating voltages from the alternator, as well as the extreme voltage swing that occurs when you first turn-over your engine.