WiGLE.net

Hello everyone,

I've taken up an interest in war walking (I don't own a vehicle) and in an effort to stay stealthy, I've opted to go the "laptop in a backpack" route.

As an experiment, I warwalked with an Alfa AWUS036H attached to a Macbook Pro operating in a backpack (running snow leopard with linux in wmware fusion) and while the tests were highly successful, my Macbook Pro soon became a casualty of excessive heat despite assigning 1 core to the Linux virtual machine and a forced integrated gpu setting via the gfxCardStatus app. Fortunately, I was provided with a replacement system courtesy of Applecare warranty.

With my fears of excessive heat build-up having been confirmed, I'm now in the market for an expendable netbook that can do the job but without cooking itself while operating inside a backpack (or at least minimize the possibility).

Ideally, it should be very thin (no optical drive), screen size does not matter but the smaller the better, a respectable battery life, and the most important attribute, low heat generation; meaning no quad core/dedicated gpu setup. I'll likely be running Windows 7 (or XP if it proves a better option for extending the battery) and Linux running in WMware.

It's a tall order, I know.

What would you guys recommend that can give me the closest to that ideal?

Thanks in advance.

an atom-based netbook would be where i'd be looking if i were to go back to that setup
from the much easier to handle android
(i used to run my sony vaio in a hacked-together rig to keep it ventilated while in my
backpack while stumbling back in '01)

-uhtu

I got a used ASUS Eee PC to use while wardriving in my car, but it would work in a backpack as well. I use Kali Linux, and battery life is something like 5 or 6 hours; I'm not sure because I've never run the battery down. If you don't want to use the external card the Eee PC's built in networking card is probably adequate. I've left it running in a closed car during the summer without any heat issues, but someone really close to you might hear the fan running.

I've seen netbooks at Wal-Mart for about $220, and thought that if the ASUS died on me I'd be perfectly happy to grab one of those, install linux, and be on my way.

Thanks for the replies.

So it looks like an Atom processor is what I'll need in order to have a laptop operate in my backpack. My only concern is whether or not atom processors will be able to sufficiently run windows 7/XP and linux in wmware with only 2GB of RAM being the maximum amount of memory for most atom netbooks I believe. Additionally, I run VNC from which I log in remotely via my mobile device to control and monitor what's happening in the laptop.

Granted, I won't be relying on it for heavy duty workloads but I'm curious as to how such a configuration would stack up as I'm not at the point where my knowledge of linux allows me to use it exclusively and forsake windows altogether.

Use a pair of Android phones running WiGLE app w an extra pair of batteries. Light, cheap, inconspicuous, redundant, elegant.

Will any of those android devices work with the AWUS036H?

Will any of those android devices work with the AWUS036H?

No - just use the built in WiFi. In my estimation, two phones with crappy WiFi running simultaneously outperforms one laptop with high performance WiFi.

I haven't found anything that beats the AWUS036H yet.