[RndTbl] Summer project

[Mike Pfaiffer]

	Sorry if this is a little disjointed. I'm half asleep (which is usually 
when I get ideas - always a dangerous thing especially when I'm half 
asleep). ;-)

	Every summer the CLL at the Aboriginal Centre shuts down for the month 
of August. Normally I ask the owners of the parent company (a recycler) 
if I can borrow some equipment for both July and August so I can learn 
more about specific computer related things. Normally they are topics 
discussed here or at the MUUG meetings. I know it is only almost April 
but why wait until the last second... The owners (Alvin and Karen) 
usually like me to have some clear goals in mind when I propose a 
project. As a result I thought I'd bounce a few ideas off the pros and 
semi-pros here...

	Thanks to Rob D. I think I finally have my head wrapped around the 
concept of port forwarding. A couple of months ago he asked me to set up 
a Minecraft server for development purposes and so far things seem to work.

	My current physical assets are a D-Link 655 wireless router, and a 
(Debian) LAMP server running on a G4 server (which I should update 
soon), a USB "N" dongle which may or may not work, a Mac Mini which can 
connect to the router via the "G" protocol, and an external antenna for 
the router. Oh and I have those two Check Point wired routers.

	Chris H. says when the router is running the "N" protocol in the house 
the range is the edge of the property in the front and can not be picked 
up from the back. Inside the house was no problem. The router was 
located on the ground floor near the front of the house. The guys from 
the seniors radio club think it might be because of the stucco on the 
house. I could re-position the antenna to be in front of the front window.

	Anyhow the ideas I had were to try a bit more on the port forwarding 
thing by having second machine connected to the router and use the 
router as the main method of connecting to the services I am running. As 
before this would not be connected to the internet. The method I used 
last time was to connect to the IP of the LAMP server (eg. 192.168.X.Y 
instead of the router at 192.168.X.1 port 80).

	Then I'd try to extend the range to the back yard by using a second 
router at the back of the house. The second router would get the 
wireless signal from the first and repeat it.

	I'd like to know if there are any routers, custom built or out of the 
box, which will say transmit with the "G" AND "N" protocols as opposed 
to the "G" OR "N" protocols. The D-Link router will allow the first 
connection to determine subsequent connections. For example of the first 
connection is a "G" connection those wishing to connect with the "N" 
protocol only will not be able to do so. My temporary solution is to 
limit the router to "N" only. This means my Mac Mini can't connect since 
it doesn't support "N". With some fancy wiring I suppose I could use a 
couple of wireless routers together and have each do a different protocol.

	Since the Lab is switching the classroom to Windows 7 and half the 
machines are running cards which don't have new drivers (and don't work) 
I may be able to snag some "G" cards for testing under Linux. Are there 
any G/N cards people here would recommend to the parent company? I'm 
thinking if they are going to order a bunch they may as well order some 
spares (and I can use one for testing).

	So far I'm looking to request a PC (to run Ubuntu Server and Minecraft) 
and an "N" router. Maybe a couple of PCI NICs and another external 
antenna. Do folks here think my ideas are clear enough to bring to the 
owners?

	I had half a dozen more ideas when I started but forgot most of them 
when I turned on the computer. ;-) Is there anything more which would be 
worth checking out given I am a slow learner with a high level of 
frustration at the moment?

				Later
				Mike