the linksys wrt54g has been the target of many hacks taking it far beyond its original intended mode of operation; now going so far as becoming a personal telephone company. David DeLauro has set up an asterisk pbx system on top of the the openwrt firmware package. asterisk is a fully featured pbx system. in theory this set up could allow you to wire your whole house through one voip connection. you can even script the dialing sequence so that certain prefixes are handled by different carriers. the router has limited storage space, but you could probably use the voicemail features by mounting network storage. with enough ingenuity you should be able to pipe all of your communications and entertainment over ethernet.
Wireless Hacks1047 Articles
EVDO Stompbox Project
A stompbox? What’s that, a guitar pedal? No silly, it’s a WWAN (Wireless Wide Area Network) box that picks up data from cellular towers then redistributes it so that you can use it in whichever way you please. A good example is if you had one in a car, you could trace the car and whether it’s moving and track where it’s headed. Making one requires a few parts and some manual labor working and testing, but it pays off. You can now use Google Maps’ Satellite Viewing to track things. It’s got so much potential to be used in good and bad ways.
Qwest Linux Dsl Routers
after having problems with my old dsl router, i finally ordered and received the actiontec gt701-wg from qwest. i believe this is what they are starting to distribute by default in my area, and i wouldn’t be surprised if these were to be found elsewhere as well.
the interesting thing about these new actiontec routers is that they run linux. seatllewireless has a nice page describing the system, and people have already figured out how to build and install custom firmware on the device.
most people have a single static ip, so it would be sort of neat to have your dsl router run a small static web site. you could always port forward, but it’s one less machine to worry about. better yet, install ssh and use it as a tunneling server. then you can open up your wireless network for your neighbors, but not broadcast your email in the clear.
have you done anything neat with your 701 or a different embedded linux router? do you have any great ideas for what could be done with this system? tell us about it in the comments area.
Telerobotic Tank
the ‘mars rover‘ is a telepresence robot made by robo-hobbiest kerwin lumpkins. he created it as a mock up of the real mars rover, but on a more down-to-earth scale.
controlling the tank is a general purpose robotics development board, also designed by kerwin. the darc board takes input from infrared and sonar sensors, controls locomotion and camera aim, and has basic ability to make decisions based on a combination of its immediate environment and operator commands which are sent to the robot over a rf modem connection.
here’s what makes this cool. if the robot detects that a given command would place in in jeopardy (such as running into a kitchen cabinet) it will abort and send back a warning to the control station.
to better simulate a real mars rover system, kerwin uses some tivo-like time shift software to delay the incoming video signal 5 seconds. this makes controling the rover more difficult and is why onboard decision making is a must for your own martian explorer project.
A Better Wifi Antenna
here’s a guide for making an antenna for your access point that beats the pringles can on a number of fronts. it’s easier to assemble, requires no pigtail and no modification to your ap, and it is claimed to have better perfrmance characteristics.
the reflector design was originally intended to increase privacy, but the nice side effect is that it dramatically increases gain in the direction it is facing:
power normally transmitted in that direction is “bounced” forward. Therefore you have more control of where your signal is going when using this reflector. That feature of this antenna can be used to enhance the privacy of your wireless network and that was my reason for designing it in the first place, the rest is just gravy but it is very real and rather tasty gravy. :) Please also note that antenna gain is preferable to amplifier gain because it adds to both transmitted and received power.
the best part is that you can make one basically for free. grab some aluminum foil, cardboard, and a scissors and get to work.
High Altitude Linux Weather Balloon
“i found it in my cow pasture, buried in the snow. i was riding my 4 wheeler.” that’s what the postcard said when it returned to me after i sent it up with a helium balloon a couple weeks ago. it traveled roughly 100 miles.
but i digress.
james meehan’s story began quite similarly, but he decided to take his balloon fascination to a much more fascinating and hackerly level. follow the link to read about how he designed and constructed his linux powered weather balloon, complete with gps, packet radio uplink, and video camera. he says it’s the coolest thing he’s ever done. i can’t really vouch for what else he’s done, but this project is pretty darn cool.
when you’ve finished marvelling at this hack, make sure to also check out the home brew, high altitude glider we wrote about a while back. i love this high altitude mischief. if you know of similar projects, send ’em in!
Homebrew, Autonomous, High Altitude Glider
there are incredible hacks and then there are projects so unreal that the term hack just doesn’t seem appropriate.
this one fits squarely into the latter category and i’m posting it anyway.
art vanden berg details 4 years of designing a balloon launched glider that flies itself to a safe landing point using custom software running on a pc104 setup with a gps receiver, quickcam, 35mm camera, and packet radio. mission control is equally impressive with more custom software that tracks telemetry data, downloads real-time quickcam stills, and provides manual override of normal flight operation if necessary.
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