[MLB-WIRELESS] laptop/usb/wireless-router

[Jonathan Gray]

On Tue, Jan 16, 2007 at 07:58:15PM +1100, Daryl Knight wrote:
> 
> Has anyone tried using a laptop with multiple wireless usb dongles as a
> wireless router?
> 
> Anon, Daryl

There is no reason why this wouldn't work, the main problem is probably
locating hardware that can take external antennas or doing the relatively
minor soldering after opening up cases.

You'll want to stick to Ralink or Zydas based adapters
ideally as they have the best support among the open operating systems
you'd want to do routing on.

Atheros have their own USB chip which has the advantage of being available
in some higher power configuations, but it is the standard Atheros story.
They won't tell anyone how it actually works, so the only system that
has an attempt at an open driver is OpenBSD.  Sadly Atheros aquired
Zydas last year, but you can still buy products that incorporate
their chips.

Other chips are becoming less common, these are most likely what
you will find outside of a few exceptions and old stock.

Jonathan