[MLB-WIRELESS] Commercial: Minitar Replacement - In Stock at Last

[Dan Flett]

Excellent work Rob!

It's good to have the Minitar AP back as a viable option.

What I'd really really love to see is OpenWRT for it.  There would be a bit 
of work involved, but I believe it is a realistic option for two reasons:

1. The buildroot for the current WhiteRussian version of OpenWRT supports 
architectures other than Mipsel.  There is already work going on for an AR7 
version and an i386 version.

2. OpenWRT now uses LZMA compression for it's SquashFS version so you can 
have quite a functional firmware that is only 1.5MB in size.  OpenWRT works 
on the 2MB flash version of the LinkSys WAP54G, and my WL-500g has 2MB flash 
and I'm running OpenWRT on it.  The Minitar has a 2MB flash chip on it.  
Hopefully it isn't filled up too much with the bootloader and other 
necessary stuff.

What would be needed is to make an OpenWRT toolchain environment for the 
RTL8181 - which could be adapted from the RTL8181 sourceforge project.  Also 
the OpenWRT operating system would need to be adapted to work with the 
Minitar chipset.  I'm not sure if the Minitar has an NVRAM partition the 
same as the Broadcom-based routers - if not, perhaps the '/etc/config/' 
method newly developed to allow OpenWRT support for the Netgear WGT634U 
router could be used.

The benefits of using OpenWRT are huge.  OpenWRT has developed into quite a 
powerful yet user-friendly operating system for wireless devices.  Lots of 
packages are available for it - these would need to be re-compiled to work 
on the Minitar - but the OpenWRT Menuconfig tool makes this pretty easy.

Anyway - that's me just speculating idly. :)  Anyone with a real idea as to 
how hard it would be should chime in at this point...

Cheers,

Dan

>From: "Rob Clark" <clark at freenet-antennas.com>
>To: <melbwireless at wireless.org.au>
>Subject: [MLB-WIRELESS] Commercial:   Minitar Replacement - In Stock at 
>Last
>Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 20:19:24 +0800
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>FILETIME=[0DF26740:01C5BD15]
>
>The long wait is over!
>
>Today I took delivery of a new high performance AP - which I am calling
>the UltraWAP.
>
>This AP is a direct replacement for the Minitar MNWAPB (no longer in
>production).
>
>Here is how it compares to the Minitar MNWAPB
>
>Manufacturer:
>  Same as Minitar MNWAPB. (Edimax)
>
>RF Section:
>  Same as Minitar MNWAPB.
>  This is good news as the excellent RF performance was one of the big
>strengths of the MNWAPB.
>
>Operating System:
>  Same as Minitar MNWAPB. Linux based. I have already connected my PC to
>the console port on the PCB and got the bootup messages and login
>prompt.
>
>Size/Shape/Power/Removable antenna:
>  Identical to Minitar MNWAPB
>
>POE Compatible:
>  Same as Minitar MNWAPB.
>
>Speeds:
>  802.11b Mode: Same as MNWAPB (11 Mbps max.)
>  802.11g Mode: **NEW**. Up to 54 Mbps
>
>Modes:
>  AP: Same as MNWAPB
>  Client: Same as MNWAPB
>  Bridge: Same as MNWAPB
>  WDS: Same as MNWAPB
>  Universal Repeater: **NEW**.
>
>Security
>  MAC Address filter: Same as MNWAPB
>  WEP: Same as MNWAPB
>  WPA/WPA2: **NEW**.
>  RADIUS: **NEW**. (Authentication)
>  802.11x: **NEW**. (Authentication)
>
>Performance:
>  In a nutshell - great!
>  See this link for real world tests.
>
>http://nuke.freenet-antennas.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pi
>d=3#SS4
>
>
>Price:
>  $99 incl GST (discounts for quantity and resellers)
>
>More Details:
>  See this link for details.
>http://store.freenet-antennas.com/product_info.php?products_id=218
>
>
>If you have any questions, please email sales at freenet-antennas.com.
>
>I have a pair of tester units I can make available to Melb-Wireless on
>loan. Few conditions:
>
>1) You have a specific point-to-point link that is running today with
>rpSMA APs (so you can simply swap over and compare). Ideally - if you
>have a Minitar-Minitar PtP link that you would like to run faster.
>2) They are loaner units (I need them back)
>3) One person in Melb-Wireless responsible for the units (ie so I have a
>single point of contact)
>
>If Melb-Wireless wants these test loaner units - please contact me
>direct.
>
>
>Regards
>
>Rob Clark
>www.freenet-antennas.com
>
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