Wireless Cards

[Chris Carey]

On 11/5/05, Andrew McNabb <amcnabb at mcnabbs.org> wrote:
> There's that word again. :)
>
> I'm sure the Linksys router is great for lots of people (though I
> haven't had much luck with their products).  I'm sure it's more
> versatile than most routers.  HOWEVER, you can't run whatever software
> you want on it, which in my opinion, instantly makes it less versatile
> than a firewall with PCI card.

I beg to differ. The Linksys is a Linux box. You can compile pretty
much any linux software on it. Whether it has the memory to run it is
another story :) FYI there are Dansguardian packages available for the
Linksys WRT54G:

http://openwrt.alphacore.net/experimental-sources/


> My whole apartment and the apartment next door are transparently proxied
> through Dansguardian (over wireless and wired networking).  I really
> appreciate having it running when I'm browsing the web.  I don't know of
> any of the other single guys who aren't also glad it's there.  Without
> getting too philosophical, I think an important part of avoiding
> undesirable [to yourself] behavior is to do what you can to prevent it.
>
> Anyway, I don't see how any of the great features you mentioned could
> possibly allow for more flexibility in setting up a network than a
> customized Linux firewall does.


You have to compare apples to apples here.

Im comparing the features of a $50 linksys router against the features
of a $50 PCI wireless card (and associated HostAP driver).

You compared the $50 linksys router against the features of a $50 PCI
wireless card attached to a $1000 computer.

If we compare the router to the card I think its clear that the router
gives you more bang for your buck.

You can run Squid+Dansguardian on your desktop server with either
configuration. That is besides the point.

--
Chris