[NLRS] Midwinter madness - NLRS Table ?

[John P. Toscano]

"S. Earl Jarosh" wrote:

> I would be happy to bring my laptop computer that still has all the
> website files on it.  If Don can again bring his LCD monitor, we can
> have a screen on each end of the table.  Since it is at the college,
> I might also find an open wireless AP so we can have the website up
> and running in realtime.

The website has been changed significantly since you got a copy on
CD-ROM from me.  Although I'd be happy to burn another CD, there are
now some files on the site that a stand-alone web browser can't
display.  One would need to have a copy of the PHP Web Server running
on the machine doing the demo, which in turn would need a copy of
Apache Web Server running.  And eventually, some of the files will
also require MySQL, though we're not there yet.

If I'm not mistaken, one can obtain free copies of both Apache Web
Server and PHP Web Server for Windows, but MySQL for Windows is not
free, only MySQL for Linux.  So there would be some extra investment
of effort required this time around to do a full demo of the web site
on a standalone laptop or PC.

On the other hand, I could just burn a copy of the latest version
once we get closer to the date, and live with the fact that some
parts will display and some won't.

I'm not quite sure about any legal issues involved in "tapping into"
an 802.11b WAP, even if it is not done to "hack" the owner's network
but is used simply to obtain access to the Internet.  I did notice
that when I installed mine to extend my home network throughout the
house without running more CAT5, I was able to detect not only my
own network but 3 other neighbors' wireless networks, and one of them
had not even changed the default network name from "linksys" to
something else.  Needless to say, that highly motivated me to turn
on the maximum level of wireless encryption on my wireless-enabled
laptops and WAP.  And the WAP is separated from the rest of my network
by a hardware firewall.  It may not be foolproof, but it should at
least keep out the majority of uninvited guests.

Another option would be to bring my laptop and my Sprint PCS phone.
It yields a horribly slow (14.4Kbps or so) connection, but does work,
and I have plenty of available minutes on my monthly plan that it
would not cost me an extra cent.

John