Wireless Hacks - Tips & Tools for Building, Extending, and Security Your Network

The popularity of wireless networking has grown exponentially over the past few years, despite a general downward trend in the telecommunications industry. More and more computers and users worldwide communicate via radio waves every day, cutting the tethers of the cabled network both at home and at work.Wireless technology changes not only the way we talk to our devices, but also what we ask them to do. With greater flexibility, broader range, and increased mobility, wireless networks let us live, work, and think differently. Wireless networks also open up a vast range of tasty new hack possibilities, from fine-tuning network frequencies to hot-rodding handhelds.The second edition of Wireless Hacks, co-authored by Rob Flickenger and Roger Weeks, brings readers more of the practical tips and tricks that made the first edition a runaway hit, selling nearly 30,000 copies. Completely revised and updated, this version includes over 30 brand new hacks, major overhauls of over 30 more, and timely adjustments and touchups to dozens of other hacks introduced in the first edition. From passive network scanning to aligning long-distance antennas, beefing up wireless network security, and beyond, Wireless Hacks answers real-life networking needs with direct solutions.Flickenger and Weeks both have extensive experience in systems and network administration, and share a passion for making wireless more broadly available. The authors include detailed coverage for important new changes in specifications and in hardware and software, and they delve deep into cellular and Bluetooth technologies.Whether you need your wireless network to extend to the edge of your desk, fit into your backpack, or cross county lines, the proven techniques in Wireless Hacks will show you how to get the coverage and functionality you're looking for.

List of contents

Foreword
Credits
Preface
Chapter 1. Bluetooth, Mobile Phones, and GPS
1. Set Up Bluetooth on Linux
2. Set Up Bluetooth on Windows XP
3. Connect Mac OS X with a Bluetooth Phone
4. Connect Linux with a Bluetooth Phone
5. Connect Windows XP with a Bluetooth Phone
6. Use Your Treo as a Modem
7. Send SMS from a PowerBook
8. Remote Control Mac OS X with Bluetooth Phones and PDAs
9. Remote Control Linux with a Bluetooth Phone
10. Control XMMS with Bluetooth
11. Liven Up Parties with a Participatory Slideshow
12. Send SMS from Linux
13. Remote Control Windows with Bluetooth Phones and PDAs
14. Control Your Bluetooth Phone with FMA
15. Control Your Computer from YourPalm
16. Control Your Home Theater from Your Palm
17. Choose a Cellular Data Plan
18. Blog from Your Mobile Phone
19. Get Google Maps on Your Mobile Phone
20. Share Your GPS
21. Broadcast Your GPS Position
22. Map Wi-Fi Networks with Kismet and GPSd

Chapter 2. Network Discovery and Monitoring
23. Find All Available Wireless Networks
24. Discover Networks with NetStumbler
25. Detect Networks with Handheld PCs
26. Find and Join Wireless Networks with AP Radar
27. Detect Networks on Mac OS X
28. Scan Passively with KisMAC
29. Detect Networks with Kismet
30. Monitor Wireless Links in Linux with Wavemon
31. Analyze Traffic with Ethereal
32. Track 802.11 Frames in Ethereal
33. Watch Network Traffic
34. grep Your Network
35. Check Wi-Fi Network Performance with Qcheck
36. Estimate Network Performance
37. Get Real-Time Network Stats

About the author

Rob Flickenger has been a professional systems administrator for more than 10 years, and all around hacker for as long as he can remember. Rob enjoys spreading the good word of open networks, open standards, and ubiquitous wireless networking. His current professional project is Metrix Communication LLC, which provides wireless hardware and software that embodies the same open source principles he rants about in his books. Rob also works with the U.N. and various international organizations to bring these ideas to places where communications infrastructure is badly needed. He hopes that all of this effort is contributing toward the ultimate goal of infinite bandwidth everywhere for free. He is the author of two other O'Reilly books: Linux Server Hacks and Building Wireless Community Networks (which is in its second edition).
Roger Weeks is a coauthor of Linux Unwired. He has nearly a decade of experience in systems and network administration and has been building Linux systems at home and in the enterprise since 1998. His first computer was an Atari 800, which was promptly taken apart so he could add more memory before he attached the 300bps modem.He is currently the senior network administrator for Mendocino Community Network, a small ISP in coastal northern California. MCN is owned by the local school district, and puts their profits back into the local schools. Prior to that position, he was involved with community wireless (http: //www.nocat.net) and an Internet co-op (http: //www.wscicc.org) in Sonoma County, CA.

Summary

From passive network scanning to aligning long-distance antennas, beefing up wireless network security, and beyond, this book answers real-life networking needs with direct solutions. It includes coverage for important changes in specifications, hardware and software, and delve into cellular and Bluetooth technologies.

Product details

• Authors: Rob Flickenger, Flickenger Rob, Roger Weeks
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2005
• EAN: 9780596101442
• ISBN: 978-0-596-10144-2
• No. of pages: 400
• Weight: 620 g
• Illustrations: w. figs.
• Series: Hacks; Hacks
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > IT, data processing > Data communication, networks; hacks, Wireless, Computer networking and communications