The minimum Laptop Power needed?

09-08-2004

What would the minimum specs be for a war-driving, war-walking setup? And how much would it cost, and where to get it?

wrzwaldo · 09-08-2004

http://stumbler.net/readme/readme_0_4_0.html

kleptophobiac · 09-08-2004

If you're willing to go Linux, here's the lowest I've managed to pull off:

486 DX2 with 12MB of RAM on a monochrome screen. Kismet runs rather slow on it.

vwgn · 09-08-2004

I am wondering (not to step on anyones thread, but) if my old compaq 486 with windows 3.1 would work?it has a pc card slot on it... any thoughts? I dont know anything about linux and dont wish to spend the money to change, It has a 60 meg HD and 4 meg memory , I think its a 66mhz cpu. It would be great to leave this thing in a car while in a resteraunt etc so if someone did snatch it you didn't lose much (paid $10 for it so my daughter could take it to school and use word to write papers at lunch, break etc w/o worrying about a $1500 laptops safety, but she lost intrest in it). The netstumbler readme doesnt say it will work with win 3.1 so I dont want to rush out and buy a card, ant etc only to have these items lay on a shelf until I can pick up a deal on a better used laptop...thanks for any help

wrzwaldo · 09-08-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by vwgn

I am wondering (not to step on anyones thread, but) if my old compaq 486 with windows 3.1 would work?it has a pc card slot on it... any thoughts? I dont know anything about linux and dont wish to spend the money to change, It has a 60 meg HD and 4 meg memory , I think its a 66mhz cpu. It would be great to leave this thing in a car while in a resteraunt etc so if someone did snatch it you didn't lose much (paid $10 for it so my daughter could take it to school and use word to write papers at lunch, break etc w/o worrying about a $1500 laptops safety, but she lost intrest in it). The netstumbler readme doesnt say it will work with win 3.1 so I dont want to rush out and buy a card, ant etc only to have these items lay on a shelf until I can pick up a deal on a better used laptop...thanks for any help

You read the readme and are still asking this question? Have you installed NS on that system to see if it would even run?

Quote:

Requirements
General Requirements
The requirements for NetStumbler are somewhat complex and depend on hardware, firmware versions, driver versions and operating system. The best way to see if it works on your system is to try it.

Some configurations have been extensively tested and are known to work. These are detailed at http://www.stumbler.net/compat. If your configuration works but is not listed, or is listed but does not work, please follow the instructions on the web site.

The following are rules of thumb that you can follow in case you cannot reach the web site for some reason.

This version of NetStumbler requires Windows 2000, Windows XP, or better.
The Proxim models 8410-WD and 8420-WD are known to work. The 8410-WD has also been sold as the Dell TrueMobile 1150, Compaq WL110, Avaya Wireless 802.11b PC Card, and others.
Most cards based on the Intersil Prism/Prism2 chip set also work.
Most 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g wireless LAN adapters should work on Windows XP. Some may work on Windows 2000 too. Many of them report inaccurate Signal strength, and if using the "NDIS 5.1" card access method then Noise level will not be reported. This includes cards based on Atheros, Atmel, Broadcom, Cisco and Centrino chip sets.
I cannot help you figure out what chip set is in any given card.

\

Also see this thread.

vwgn · 09-08-2004

well my question (sometimes I am not too clear, my own fault) is that the general statement about compatibility is "load it and see if it works". I dont have a network card/antenna setup, so even if NS did load and open, I wouldn't really know how well it worked or if it would. I am pretty new to this and I am not a computer whiz, just an above basic understanding. If someone is running it I would be inclined to put further effort into this setup for cost reasons. I have seen many posts about non supported equipment working and supported equip not working. I am just trying to make a hobby as cheap as possible. My ipaq and mini stumbler with a sandisk sd card is working now and that is the extent of gear to date. (The SD card is supposedly not supported but it works). I did read as much as possible, just not clear on everything I read. The above post does help a tremendous amount. Thanks.

beakmyn · 09-08-2004

VWGM

a 486 can't run Windows 2000 let alone XP so no NS will not run. You've got yourself a nice doorstop. I doubt that with 4MB of memory you'll even get linux to work.

For wardriving my personal opinion is the following:

266Mhz
64MB RAM
Win2000
Remove the Explorer shell and run the Blackbox or another variant of it (BBLEAN would be ideal) to save memory
Follow Black Viper's advice on running the bare minimum of services
2 GB Harddrive will get you by
12 TFT LCD display capable of 800x600 resolution is bare minimum 640 is way too small.
These specs will also work for Linux
Don't expect to be doing much else then stumbling. Running a mapping program simultaneously is out of the question as you'll be paging memory to the Harddisk and the laptop will take forever to catch up.

Currently I run
266Mhz
160MB RAM
10GB hardrive
Fedora Linux Core 2
Kismet
GPSDrive
GPSdrive is a little slow but with Kismet I have the luxury of not having to run X if I don't want too, saving gobs of memory.

I've run Win2K on as little as 100Mhz with 80Mb RAM but it's SLOW. This would also run Linux, better too but it wouldn't run X well and GPSdrive doesn't run under SVGALIB as far I know

A comfortable setup would be:
300Mhz
128MB RAM
10GB hardrive

wrzwaldo · 09-08-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by vwgn

well my question (sometimes I am not too clear, my own fault) is that the general statement about compatibility is "load it and see if it works". I dont have a network card/antenna setup, so even if NS did load and open, I wouldn't really know how well it worked or if it would. I am pretty new to this and I am not a computer whiz, just an above basic understanding. If someone is running it I would be inclined to put further effort into this setup for cost reasons. I have seen many posts about non supported equipment working and supported equip not working. I am just trying to make a hobby as cheap as possible. My ipaq and mini stumbler with a sandisk sd card is working now and that is the extent of gear to date. (The SD card is supposedly not supported but it works). I did read as much as possible, just not clear on everything I read. The above post does help a tremendous amount. Thanks.

So then I guess you missed this part?

This version of NetStumbler requires Windows 2000, Windows XP, or better.

09-08-2004	#1 (permalink)
tehonion Posts: n/a	The minimum Laptop Power needed? What would the minimum specs be for a war-driving, war-walking setup? And how much would it cost, and where to get it?

09-08-2004	#4 (permalink)
vwgn Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 4	really low budget..... I am wondering (not to step on anyones thread, but) if my old compaq 486 with windows 3.1 would work?it has a pc card slot on it... any thoughts? I dont know anything about linux and dont wish to spend the money to change, It has a 60 meg HD and 4 meg memory , I think its a 66mhz cpu. It would be great to leave this thing in a car while in a resteraunt etc so if someone did snatch it you didn't lose much (paid $10 for it so my daughter could take it to school and use word to write papers at lunch, break etc w/o worrying about a $1500 laptops safety, but she lost intrest in it). The netstumbler readme doesnt say it will work with win 3.1 so I dont want to rush out and buy a card, ant etc only to have these items lay on a shelf until I can pick up a deal on a better used laptop...thanks for any help

09-08-2004	#7 (permalink)
beakmyn root\.workspace\.garbage. Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 4,796	No VWGM a 486 can't run Windows 2000 let alone XP so no NS will not run. You've got yourself a nice doorstop. I doubt that with 4MB of memory you'll even get linux to work. For wardriving my personal opinion is the following: 266Mhz 64MB RAM Win2000 Remove the Explorer shell and run the Blackbox or another variant of it (BBLEAN would be ideal) to save memory Follow Black Viper's advice on running the bare minimum of services 2 GB Harddrive will get you by 12 TFT LCD display capable of 800x600 resolution is bare minimum 640 is way too small. These specs will also work for Linux Don't expect to be doing much else then stumbling. Running a mapping program simultaneously is out of the question as you'll be paging memory to the Harddisk and the laptop will take forever to catch up. Currently I run 266Mhz 160MB RAM 10GB hardrive Fedora Linux Core 2 Kismet GPSDrive GPSdrive is a little slow but with Kismet I have the luxury of not having to run X if I don't want too, saving gobs of memory. I've run Win2K on as little as 100Mhz with 80Mb RAM but it's SLOW. This would also run Linux, better too but it wouldn't run X well and GPSdrive doesn't run under SVGALIB as far I know A comfortable setup would be: 300Mhz 128MB RAM 10GB hardrive

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09-08-2004	#2 (permalink)
wrzwaldo I amuse you? Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 9,127	http://stumbler.net/readme/readme_0_4_0.html

09-08-2004	#3 (permalink)
kleptophobiac Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 310	If you're willing to go Linux, here's the lowest I've managed to pull off: 486 DX2 with 12MB of RAM on a monochrome screen. Kismet runs rather slow on it.

09-08-2004	#6 (permalink)
vwgn Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 4	well my question (sometimes I am not too clear, my own fault) is that the general statement about compatibility is "load it and see if it works". I dont have a network card/antenna setup, so even if NS did load and open, I wouldn't really know how well it worked or if it would. I am pretty new to this and I am not a computer whiz, just an above basic understanding. If someone is running it I would be inclined to put further effort into this setup for cost reasons. I have seen many posts about non supported equipment working and supported equip not working. I am just trying to make a hobby as cheap as possible. My ipaq and mini stumbler with a sandisk sd card is working now and that is the extent of gear to date. (The SD card is supposedly not supported but it works). I did read as much as possible, just not clear on everything I read. The above post does help a tremendous amount. Thanks.