Going small

[Nikolas Britton]

John Murphy wrote:

>Nikolas Britton <freebsd at nbritton.org> wrote:
>
>  
>
>>m0n0wall will run from a HD aswell as a CD-ROM/Floppy
>>    
>>
>
>Sure, but I'll be happier with the (becoming more) familiar full
>FreeBSD and may even try current :|
>The php/XML speak was foreign to me too.
>
I think your missing the whole point about m0n0wall...

I guess maybe it's one of those things you have to try before you 
understand it. In the period of time I have been using it (1 year) I 
have spent a total of about 1 hour to setup AND maintain this box. The 
box is entirely managed through a web based interface 
(http://www.m0n0.ch/wall/screenshots.php), the only time you use the 
console is to setup the network cards at first boot (the box I have 
m0n0wall on has no monitor, keyboard, mouse, or serial console setup).

Conbine the following:
Consumer based Cable/DSL/Wireless Router (Easy of use, "appliance")
Cisco Gateway/Firewall/VPN/Router/etc (Powerfull/Advanced)
BSD (Rock solid and flexible)
and you get m0n0wall in return.

Invest $20 on a 32MB CF Card 
(http://www.pricewatch.com/1/226/1601-1.htm) (or use that notebook 
harddrive) and give m0n0wall a try, you wont be disappointed.

My m0n0wall setup btw: Box: (P166/48MB Ram/1GB Hdd/4 NICs) Network 
Interfaces: (WLAN/LAN/DMZ/WAN) = (802.11b, Linksys WAP11 w/Parabolic 
Reflectors*/100BaseTX/100BaseTX/900Mhz NLOS Wireless T1)

*Ez-12 Parabolic Reflector template from http://www.freeantennas.com/
Linksys WAP11: 18 dBm TX, -84 dBm RX (1mb), -75 dBm RX (11mb) + Ez-12 
(12dBi Gain) = theoretical Max EIRP: 1400~ milliWatt (30dBm), witch 
translates into about 300m LOS, I used overhead transparency film, heavy 
duty aluminum foil, and toothpicks to build mine (Elmers spray adhesive 
to bond aluminum foil to the transparency film) total cost $3 for the 
toothpicks and aluminum foil, this is one of the only ways you can mod 
your radio hardware (because your not modding the hardware, it's a loop 
hope) and still be legal (EIRP and modding wise) with the FCC. The EIRP 
(Effective Isotopic Radiated Power) max for unlicensed use is 4000~ 
milliWatt (35dBm) btw. Every 3dB of gain you double the power, so lets 
say your that ahole down the street with the 36 dBi Gain modded sat dish 
connected to a normal everyday AP with about 17dBm Gain, add those two 
together and you get 53 dBm, so my gonads are exposed to the EIRP of 260 
Watts of microwave energy every time I walk passed it.

The formula for calculating free space path loss:
L = 20 log(d) + 20 log(f) + 36.6
(where L=loss in db, d=distance in miles, f=freq in Mhz)