Warlock - The Wireless Wizard

Recently there have been some Tiny PC's (3.5" biscuit PC104's) on offer at cheap prices. If anyone managed to pick one of these little beauties up, then I have found a nice wireless use for them. The first box I purchased I have turned into a wireless client router. Before I describe the process lets look at some quick specs and prices.

Wizard Box included the following;

- Cute stainless steele case with transformer - Biscuit PC with 233mHz processor & 32MB RAM - 2 x USB - 2 x serial - 1 x LPT - 1 x video - 1 x KB - 1 x 10/100 LAN - 5GB IBM laptop HDD

This is a ready go box, plug in a monitor and your running. I purchased two boxes for $150 each. Future sales are expected to be more expensive.

Additional Items Purchased

- PCMCIA module from Advantech ($250 inc GST and delivery - this will have to improve if I am to purchase another from Advantech) - Wireless PCMCIA card with external antenna connector (I used a Cabletron Roamabout) - Dremel or similar tool strong enough to cut the stainless steele box.

Images of the Purchased Wizard

The most difficult part of the modification is to remove the printer port and the serial port to make a large pcmcia slot. We also need to relocate the power connector, as the PCMCIA adapter needs to exist in the same space.

A) Inserting the PCMCIA module

Open the box to reveal the workings of the wizard.

Pull out the top serial port and printer port. Remove the biscuit PC from the box. Unsolder the power wires from the connector.

Then insert the PCMCIA module into the pc104 slots.

B) Modify the Case

Carefully place the PCMCIA and module back into the case and draw out where the the PCMCIA slots need to be cut into the case. You will find that you need to extend the leftmost portion of the serial slot to the edge of the screw hole. You will also need an additional 3-5mm in height for the slot through to about 1cm from the rightmost edge of the printer slot. Use a Dremel (or clone) or your favourite tool for cutting 1mm stainless steel .

* Image does not show the hole drilled into the side for new power connection.

C) Put it Together

The old power connector hole is ugly. I just superglued a bit of black plastic in there, but I'm sure you can think of something prettier. There are also many other spots to put the power connector, my positioning was for my own reasons, modify this part to suit your needs.

D) Turn it on !

BANG! (kidding)

If you haven't done so already. You will need to install your operating system of choice on to the hdd. If you want to use an image from the OS that is running on the system pictured then you can get it from *here* (I'll add a link when available) with instructions. (This disk image courtesy of ChrisK). If you use the image I haven't linked to yet then just throw in your wireless card and type in the following;

apt-get install wireless-tools

And you're ready to go. If you are in range of a wireless AP, you will associate (I am using a cabletron card - if using something else you may need to configure/install drivers). Then all that needs to be done is to set your IP's and routes as well as customize other settings like root password and hostname (I used Warlock) as well as add whatever other services you want. You will also need to add a firewall and packet forwarding to your network if being used as a router.

E) Future Direction

The next installment will be to put a second card in the dual PCMCIA slot and run HostAP as well as the wireless client. In this way the Wizrd PC will act as a fully functional Access Point with QoS (frottle), DNS, DHCP, FTP and other services as well as having an uplink into a mesh of Access Points (wafreenet).

-Stygen