WarDriving + Web Browsing Laptop

Creizai

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 20, 2004
Messages
218
I'm Currently Looking for the cheapest, but yet most effective laptop. The uses i'm using it for are

1. Aim Msging
2. Web Browsing
3. Starcraft
4. Wardriving
I'm currently Looking at IBM Thinkpad T20 on ebay (since there are alot of them and in 2-3 months when i have enough money to afford one they will still be there).
Only questions I have are the upgrades i can get for it, and if i can get a wireless wi-fi card and have no problems with it.
 
I don't know what war driving is, but after a quick search on ebay for the T20. Yeah, the specs should be fine. (I used to play starcraft on my pentium 200mhz :p ).

I would add a 256 or 128 mb stick of ram on ur own.
 
I believe wardriving is literally driving around in a car looking for unprotected wifi hotspots...I don't see what the appeal of that is though...
 
TheCzar said:
I believe wardriving is literally driving around in a car looking for unprotected wifi hotspots...I don't see what the appeal of that is though...

Dude, it's teh l33t. C'mon.
 
I believe some senator ruled WarDriving is the equivalent of B&E and is infact illegal.
Just because someone's door is unlocked doesn't mean you have the right to open it and go inside.
 
The legality of wardriving is kind of vague. The way I see it is, so as long as you're not actually connecting to the wireless networks (that is, you're only looking), it's fine. People don't wardrive just to pretend that they're l33t, either. I've done it around my neighborhood, and then gone and told people to protect their wireless networks in case someone malicous might try to use it without their knowledge. And besides, it's fun.
 
Wardriving ...sounds a little dodgy unless its on official business
 
Minishark said:
And besides, it's fun.

If you find driving around looking for open networks fun, you seriously need to rethink your entire life.
 
Incog said:
If you find driving around looking for open networks fun, you seriously need to rethink your entire life.
who the hell are you to come along and say what is right or wrong for someone else? Let people do what they want, you dont need to judge.

Ive wardriven a few times and to me it was never that entertaining. But someones got to do it.
 
cyr0n_k0r said:
who the hell are you to come along and say what is right or wrong for someone else? Let people do what they want, you dont need to judge.

Once again, it was ruled to be considered B&E, which happens to be illegal.
 
Hmm nobody seems to know .. if the laptop has enough cpu power to handle the problems i'm going to be working with. :rolleyes:

and Incog we all know your the l33t one ;)
 
The T20 will have plenty of power to do those things. As for the war driving, make sure you get a good card with an external antenna jack, but im sure you already knew that. If not, check out www.netstumbler.org
 
I have a feeling this thread will be locked in 5....4.....3....
 
Incog said:
Once again, it was ruled to be considered B&E, which happens to be illegal.
regardless. It's not your place to say what is or isn't fun for some one else. How people spend their time is their own business.

By the way, who RULED that it was breaking and entering? Did I miss some federal law or something that says its illegal? Id like some links to where your getting your information. Sounds to me like your talking out of your ass.

Now then, back to the topic at hand. Thinkpads all around are great machines. You will be very happy with whatever model you deicde on. Here in a couple of months I start work with an upstart wireless ISP here in Phoenix and I will prob be looking to get a cheap T20 or similar to lug around with me for the day to day.
 
Incog said:
I believe some senator ruled WarDriving is the equivalent of B&E and is infact illegal.
Just because someone's door is unlocked doesn't mean you have the right to open it and go inside.

a senator ruled? WT flying F

a single senator can't 'rule' on anything, he can offer his/her opinion, they can write a bill, but they can't declair law

plus it is fun, especially if you have gps hooked up and map it out. if you don't use their network it is perfectly fine(imo).
 
wardriving is completely legal.

routers send packets outs for everyone to see, SSID names..

all wardriving is is seeing where wireless networks are and doing research.. you dont wardrive to get some private time to yourself outside some dude's window. :rolleyes:
 
Incog said:
Once again, it was ruled to be considered B&E, which happens to be illegal.

Nope, It is only illegal if they have it secured and you crack their WEP or something like that. I mean even MSN had an article recently about the best way to use other peoples unsecured networks. link Currently there are really no state and federal laws that make this illegal. No matter what a senator says. If I remember correctly doesn't the senate, house, and president have to pass something to make it a law?? :rolleyes:
 
Incog said:
I believe some senator ruled WarDriving is the equivalent of B&E and is infact illegal.
Just because someone's door is unlocked doesn't mean you have the right to open it and go inside.
Its a good thing our laws are run on the word of some senator...:rolleyes: Wait for that high school government class.

And he didn't ask whether this was legal or illegal (its not for those of you a little short in cognitive functions - bypassing any encryption is), he asked for a good laptop to engage in something that is currently very legal. So leave the legality comments for another forum.

To the OP, the T20 should be able to support a PCMCIA wireless card that will work just fine.
 
Incog said:
I believe some senator ruled WarDriving is the equivalent of B&E and is infact illegal.
Just because someone's door is unlocked doesn't mean you have the right to open it and go inside.


no :tard: we are looking for the open doors, not opening them :rolleyes:
 
I think addressing the original question would be the best thing to pursue at this point.

Note:
**Wardriving is not illegal, (barring local laws) but using the information that is found or stealing the bandwidth is considered illegal. We have had many threads on wardriving and they remain open as long as the subject stays on topic and doesn't stray into the illegal use, much like the discussions of warez.**
 
If I found someone WarDriving my house I'd give them a piece of my mind.

(By mind I mean my fist)
 
Incog said:
If I found someone WarDriving my house I'd give them a piece of my mind.

(By mind I mean my fist)


real tough there huh??

haha, good luck with that. You wouldn't do crap.
 
Incog said:
If I found someone WarDriving my house I'd give them a piece of my mind.

(By mind I mean my fist)
Instead of trying to act like an internet tough guy, it would probably be wiser to secure your network. Because, you know, that is your responsibility.
 
I always find the legality of wardriving funny. People take the word out of context then flames start.

The T30 should be fine for what your looking for. Be sure to get a Oronico Gold card and an external 5dbi omni-directonal antenna.


I wardrive locally just to see how many of my internet customers actually leave they're wireless networks open. Its insane, I drive 5blocks from one location to the other and hit over 10 wide open wi-fi networks. Of course i'm using a 5.5dbi omni-directonal roof monunted antenna also :)
 
Thanks alot guys on the info on the T20 .. Thats all i wanted to know was some feedback .. I cant believe this went all crazy on legal issues, makes me laugh really. I've seen one up close and personal finally (at my local microcenter). Really solid laptops .. i can find them on ebay for like 350-400$

Anyone seen the video on them though (for watchign dvds). Like does it chop on full screen?
Also thanks for the info on what else to pick up parts wise. Also what OS would you recomend putting on it? The one with the restore cd or put on XP? also for wardriving should i just a cd boot disk, i've seen some around but haven't really done any research.
 
Creizai said:
Anyone seen the video on them though (for watchign dvds). Like does it chop on full screen?
Also thanks for the info on what else to pick up parts wise. Also what OS would you recomend putting on it? The one with the restore cd or put on XP? also for wardriving should i just a cd boot disk, i've seen some around but haven't really done any research.

I would install Knoppix STD.
 
inc said:
Instead of trying to act like an internet tough guy, it would probably be wiser to secure your network. Because, you know, that is your responsibility.


no doubt. turn off/change SSID broadcast, encrypt traffic, and enable key-based WEP, and accept only listed MAC addresses. More secure than your average wirebased network.
 
my grandparents have a beachhouse,and no high speed internet. i spend quite a bit of time down there in the summer and one time i decided to fire up my laptop to work on a school project. when i started it up it immedietly connected to an unsecure network with a wicked fast connection (i was downloading at about 500kb/s from fileplanet)

i dont know whos connection it was, maybe the school that is pretty close, or one of the surrounding house, but i figure that if someone does not know how to set up a secure wireless network they wont know how to find out that i am using it.

anyways, any laptop with linux or winxp and a decent wifi card should be fine.
 
Minishark said:
The legality of wardriving is kind of vague. The way I see it is, so as long as you're not actually connecting to the wireless networks (that is, you're only looking), it's fine. People don't wardrive just to pretend that they're l33t, either. I've done it around my neighborhood, and then gone and told people to protect their wireless networks in case someone malicous might try to use it without their knowledge. And besides, it's fun.
Ive made so much money doing just that. In Eugene its crazy. When traveling on the train I can pick up like 150 hotspots, some wep and some not.. And some even peer.. which is not a good idea for some companies because the signal goes so far.
moralpanic said:
Oooo, wardriving! You are SOOOOO L33T!
lol.. In my mind its a way of making money. Its so easy.
 
WesM63 said:
I always find the legality of wardriving funny. People take the word out of context then flames start.

The T30 should be fine for what your looking for. Be sure to get a Oronico Gold card and an external 5dbi omni-directonal antenna.


I wardrive locally just to see how many of my internet customers actually leave they're wireless networks open. Its insane, I drive 5blocks from one location to the other and hit over 10 wide open wi-fi networks. Of course i'm using a 5.5dbi omni-directonal roof monunted antenna also :)


i sit in my apt with my laptop and internal Intell 2200BG wireless card, and pick up over 15 wireless networks
 
first, some of you are very confused and rather ignorant about war driving. point your browser to: http://www.wardriving.com/about.php

So basically what you want to do is steal someone's bandwidth from an unsecure WAP? ok fine.. whatever...

some internal wireless cards are a POS, while others in an IBM are pretty decent.

I've done some pretty serious war driving.. but I actaully do it for research.. and for fun.

My gear: http://www.section8lv.com/alex/projects/laptop/index.html

I have an orinoco gold card, and a 9dBi Panel Antenna that I used when I'm just messing around. For the serious gear I get out the VAGI with my 1watt amp and then start pointing that shit around and get some WAPs MILES away with a LOS.

If ya have questions feel free to PM me.

ok, i'm done.. tired.
 
How do you know the people didn't leave it purposely unsecured so they could share their connection freely? :p
 
binary digit said:
How do you know the people didn't leave it purposely unsecured so they could share their connection freely? :p

or its a honey point, and they will ha4xor j00?

In Soviet Russia, open wireless networks own YOU!!!
 
Steel Chicken said:
or its a honey point, and they will ha4xor j00?

In Soviet Russia, open wireless networks own YOU!!!

you mean honeypot. and they're used for gathering information about the attacking computer
 
LOL i have no problem with people wardriving, it's people that are proclaiming they are, are the problem. These are the same type of kids who find a script or two, and does a DOS attack on a website, and call themselves hackers or hacking.
 
Incog said:
If I found someone WarDriving my house I'd give them a piece of my mind.

(By mind I mean my fist)

yes because you can tell what i am doing in my 1989 mercedes 200e (minor mods under hood (turbo, switch to diesel, 6sp vs 5sp trans 18inch tires vs 17) basicaly big black and fast, when i roll down your street at ~25 mph (or what ever the posted limite is (here it is normaly 30KmPH), or the fact that i picked up ~1500 nodes (mostly secured in Germany (think is because of the Germans read the instructions)) on A6 (think vere big free way) while my speed never droped below 170KmPH (or ~105MPH).

since most of the 'wardrivers' i know do it with a small antenna on the roof (5-25db omni) or a pair of directonal 'can-tennas' in the back window that you can not see for the most part. Hell my antenna looks just like the old cell antenna on my roof (both ~6 inches and both black). and most of us drive with the laptop/carputer monitor either down or in powersave mode, so that you map and get the sounds, but no light to attract the Polizei like these gus in my area http://www.polizei.rlp.de/index2.htm . and they have no problem with passive mapping of access points, but you better not connect to any of thepoints, because that is B&E and a bad thing. although i have noticed a few towns/parks/hotels that offer free wireless access, and t-online is not charging too much for ocasonal use at good speeds in some areas.
 
Sniper|3d-R| said:
first, some of you are very confused and rather ignorant about war driving. point your browser to: http://www.wardriving.com/about.php

So basically what you want to do is steal someone's bandwidth from an unsecure WAP? ok fine.. whatever...

some internal wireless cards are a POS, while others in an IBM are pretty decent.

I've done some pretty serious war driving.. but I actaully do it for research.. and for fun.

My gear: http://www.section8lv.com/alex/projects/laptop/index.html

I have an orinoco gold card, and a 9dBi Panel Antenna that I used when I'm just messing around. For the serious gear I get out the VAGI with my 1watt amp and then start pointing that shit around and get some WAPs MILES away with a LOS.

If ya have questions feel free to PM me.

ok, i'm done.. tired.

Your setup is on of my fav's which i've had your pics saved on my comp over 4 months now.
:D

Do you think i should go ahead and grab the T20, or save a few more hundred up and get something with more power/ram/hdd space.
 
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