Beyond Pringles: 802.11 Antenna From A Floppy Disk

real gumby writes "Shades of E.E. "Doc" Smith! Thomas Gee has made an 802.11 antenna from an old floppy disk and a paper clip. He credits this site for the inspiration (featuring an antenna from an old ice cream spoon). As MacPlus comments: "It's stylish, effective, and doesn't detract from that `everything computing' ambience in your home."" Warning: French. Update: 06/07 18:27 GMT by T : (Not Fremch ;))

Alien language...

[SpikyTux]

... No wonder I can't understand a word. It's in 'Fremch'.

Re:Alien language...

[Wolfrider]

--Five hours after the story was posted, and it's still slashdotted all to hell...

Warning: Fremch

[DJPenguin]

Warning: Fremch !! Beware!!

Reminds me of the RH8.0 install, was doing one today and noticed a package that was apparently to support "Brisish English"...

Re:Warning: Fremch

[glenstar]

Reminds me of the RH8.0 install, was doing one today and noticed a package that was apparently to support "Brisish English"...

Which reminds me of a time when I helped a French guy install RedHat on his laptop. He had a French distro and I do not speak French. So, he's translating along and he suddenly looks confused, looks at me and says "The pit does not have the proper things". What the fuck? Turns out the "kernel did not have the proper options passed to it at boot time".

Re:Warning: Fremch

[Alien54]

As we see another fremch server go up and flames.

A worthy example to keep those pesky europe-ians in line.

Re:Warning: Fremch

[fishbowl]

>I've never head a Chinese man say "Yee Ha".

I have!! When I was growing up, my family had a farm, with horses. My family doctor, who had immigrated to Texas from China in 1954, frequently visited our farm. I've heard him say both "giddyap" and "yee-haw." Just thought I'd provide the exception that supports your rule, that's all.

Re:Could you repeat that in English?

[siskbc]

Maybe it wasn't as clever as you thought? Sounded like an idiot to me. I certainly wouldn't suck my own knob by claiming to have instanced "the most obvious creative use of language in an ironic sense."

Re:Could you repeat that in English?

[Doomrat]

Seems you don't understand that I wasn't complimenting myself either. I hope somebody takes your eyes.

Re:Could you repeat that in English?

[siskbc]

I'd hope someone takes your brain but it seems someone beat me to it. Note to you: writing in broken English and then bitching about "American" English *isn't unique* since it happens about 5000 times a day on slashdot. If you want to go for the clever irony angle it needs to actually be distinguishable from the rest of the rabble on this site.

Re:Could you repeat that in English?

[Doomrat]

You're so confused. Just give up.

Now to find a floppy

[nilepoc]

I had a hard enough time finding one floppy to make into an Enterprise, and now I have to find another one to make an antanae. Where will the madness end?

Re:Now to find a floppy

[ihummel]

Ooh! ooh! I have a brilliant idea for an environmentally sound way to light a charcoal grill. It involves using a quantity of punchcards, something that every self-respecting geek should have in abundance.

I dont understand

[garrulous]

why they dont just get it over with and just use paperclips.

Re:I dont understand

[YU Nicks NE Way]

Clippie: It looks to me like you're trying to turn my in to an 802.11b antenna.

Would you like me:

(a) to find you a different victim to work on?
(b) to turn you in to the BSA?

Re:I dont understand

[brianosaurus]

Boy Scouts of America?

Have they made a badge for this yet?

Unloved Floppies Looking for a Loving Home

[bj8rn]

Each year, thousands and thousands of floppies get thrown away, as their owners switch to CD-R's and memorysticks. Most of them sadly end up in garbage dumps and incenerators, never to be seen again. We at the Floppy Disk Rescue Center care. Every day, we provide a new home and, quite often, a new life as a toy or a scinece project, for tens and hundreds of old floppies. This may be just a tiny drop of water in the sea, but with your help, we can make a difference. For more information about the locations of our Centers, just call 1-800-FLOP.

Re:Unloved Floppies Looking for a Loving Home

[zakezuke]

Actually some floppies I had fell on a wall heater and I noted that they shrank just like shrinky-dinks(sp). Made for some interesting art projects. Problem is I can't remember the make and model. I attempted to heat others and all I got was the smell of cheep molten plastic goo and a dead gerbil :S

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

A Floppy and a Paperclip???

[ProfessionalCookie]

A floppy and a paperclip? That must mean it has to be a Mac floppy drive.

Re:A Floppy and a Paperclip???

[commodoresloat]

Actually the paperclip gives the floppy help when the floppy needs to write a letter.

Fremch.

[saintlupus]

Warning: Fremch

I'm so sick of these misspellings. It's supposed to be "Freedom" you illiterate git.

* This post brought to you by the 2003 "The Flag Sure Is Purty Act". *

--saint

Re:Fremch.

[mattACK]

Oh great: more Fremch bashing. Will the madness never end?

Re:Fremch.

[saintlupus]

Oh great: more Fremch bashing. Will the madness never end?

That is the first Slashdot post I've seen in months that made me laugh out loud. Thanks.

--saint

Re:Fremch.

[worst_name_ever]

Oh great: more Fremch bashing. Will the madness never end?

Remember, they're not Fremch Fries, they're Freedon Fries!

Re:Fremch.

[salimma]

they're Freedon Fries!

Did I hear someone say Freemod? Woohoo!

:-p - Michel

Re:Fremch.

[flippet]

Oh great: more Fremch bashing. Will the madness never end?

Well they deserve it, the chess-eating suspender donkeys!

Phil

Re:Fremch.

[DeComposer]

My wife is looking at me oddly because I can't stop laughing at this.

Re:Fremch.

[Anonymous Coward]

I still don't understand why the US wants to make the word french synonymous with freedom.

Re:Fremch.

[norweigiantroll]

They helped us gain our freedom. It's only fair to repay the debt.

Re:Fremch.

[ibbey]

Up here in Canada, we thought that referring to French Fries as Freedom Fries was such a stupid idea that we've started referring to american cheese as "Processed Cheese."

Ah, but you're forgetting that the words "American" and "processed" are largely synonymous to begin with.

American Cheese == Processed cheese
American culture == Processed culture

See?

Re:Fremch.

[Saint Stephen]

Here's some more memes I'd like to start:

"Freedom" fries and "freedom" toast is kinda stupid sounding. But how about "free" fries and "free" toast -- it rolls off the tongue easier and isn't so in-your-face. If you like free software, you can dig on this too. That's what I'm calling them -- cheeseburgers and free fries!

The other meme I want to start is let's just call the next few years: 3, 4, 5. Since we can write the 00's but can't pronounce it sensibily, let's just knock off the whole 200x and call it 3. What year is it? It's Three! Next year, it's Four! Kind of like a new "A.D.", we don't need that old point of reference no more.

Three: the year of Free Fries and Free Toast!

Wonder who will be president in Twelve?

-Living in his own world, Saint S.

Re:Fremch.

[GMontag]

Don't worry, I am still preserving in the language french dip, will add fremch dip too. Adding french fried steak.

Re:Fremch.

[GMontag]

The phantom has struck without noting the change!

How long until they change it, again, to read "Warming: french"?

Re:Fremch.

[merlyn]

The other meme I want to start is let's just call the next few years: 3, 4, 5. Since we can write the 00's but can't pronounce it sensibily, let's just knock off the whole 200x and call it 3. What year is it? It's Three! Next year, it's Four! Kind of like a new "A.D.", we don't need that old point of reference no more.

Too late. I started that in "0" (aka 2000 to you).

As proof, I always date my autographed books [stonehenge.com], and if you find someone with an autograph of mine, you'll see that I've been using single

Re:Fremch.

[Zebbers]

ummm, i think oh-three, oh-four is much better than three, four. ok?

Re:Fremch.

[Chester K]

But how about "free" fries and "free" toast -- it rolls off the tongue easier and isn't so in-your-face. If you like free software, you can dig on this too.

Sorry, I prefer "fries libre" and GNU/toast.

Re:Fremch.

[JackJudge]

I noticed this renaming to "Freedom" fries when I was in the states a couple of months ago. Nobody seemed to mind they were still using the word "menu" though...

Re:Fremch.

[aminorex]

Somehow, I can't imagine that I'd get the same
enjoyment out of a freedom kiss, or a freedom
tickler.

Re:Fremch.

[Idarubicin]

e other meme I want to start is let's just call the next few years: 3, 4, 5.

That's a good idea. Deliberately enshrine a Y2K/Y2.1K bug in our language, rather than just our code.

Re:Fremch.

[Kris_J]

Sorry, the best is Freedom Kissing.

I also enjoyed a pic of French Stewart with a name tag saying "Hi, my name is Gary".

Re:Fremch.

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, its "freemom"

Free??? That's not what she told me last night! Tell her I want my nickel back!

Re:Fremch.

[Anonymous DWord]

Finally! The 'free as in herpes' joke that's on topic!

Awh geeze!

[saskboy]

Just when I throw all my old floppies away and start stocking up on Pringles Spicy Cajun cans I find out I didn't have to eat all those chips or throw away those disks. /. is just too slow at getting the news out ;-)

Re:Awh geeze!

[Strike]

You should sue slashdot for making you fat(ter?) now. I mean, if people can sue McDonald's for that .. why not slashdot?

Re:Awh geeze!

[wo1verin3]

But McDonalds won and the fatties got nothing... except maybe a big mac combo after the trial.

Re:Awh geeze!

[zakezuke]

What? My empty can of curry pringles has a logical application? Cool beans.

Ca ne marchera pas

[crakrjak]

the last thing the article says is that its not going to work...

Re:Ca ne marchera pas

[critter_hunter]

Which article? This one [esiee.fr] says it works. The other one - well, it's slashdotted, so I don't even know if it's in french...

Re:Ca ne marchera pas

[crakrjak]

and its not 802.11.. its 802.11b... big difference...

Re:Ca ne marchera pas

[crakrjak]

i read the article at wifi-montauban.net before it was slashdotted and it said all he had left to do is to solder the pins together and then its not going to work...

Re:Ca ne marchera pas

[snitty]

I actually says it dosen't work badly, but not as well as it sounds like it will work.

Cool

[Anonymous Coward]

Makes me want to build my own 802.11 antenna out of an old phone, a Speak n spell, a record player, a bent fork, and some string.

Re:Cool

[saskboy]

"an old phone, a Speak n spell, a record player, a bent fork, and some string."

How are you going to build anything without the handyman's secret weapon, Ducttape?

Duct Tape!

[Snork Asaurus]

Now yer talkin' about a REAL MAN'S [redgreen.com] way of buildin' it.

Re:Cool

[Anonymous Coward]

"Makes me want to build my own 802.11 antenna out of an old phone, a Speak n spell, a record player, a bent fork, and some string."

Will your phone/speak and spell/record player/bent fork/string antenna run linux? If not you best be getting out of these parts...we dun like yer kind.

Erm...

[Cyno01]

Wouldn't that just attract aliens?

Re:Erm...

[John3]

Wouldn't that just attract aliens?

If you add a circular saw blade then it will. [filmsite.org]

Re:Cool

[aminorex]

Real men build their 802.11b from old microwave
magnetrons and discarded DirectTV dishes.
I figure, if crows don't drop steaming to the ground, it ain't strong enough yet.

It's clear.

[WalterDGeranios]

From reading Slashdot, I've come to understand that there are two kinds of people in this world: those who see everything as it might relate to 802.11 antennae, and those who don't.

Re:It's clear.

[brianosaurus]

I'm still waiting for some hardcore body piercer to turn his penis into an 802.11 antenna.

for better reception

[SweetAndSourJesus]

just add porn.

Re:It's clear.

[Anonymous Coward]

> I'm still waiting for some hardcore body piercer to turn his penis into an 802.11 antenna.

Homer Simpson voice:

Signal goes up, signal goes down, signal goes up...

Re:It's clear.

[abhisarda]

Then you haven't come across goatse.cx with the pringles can.

Pity.

Re:It's clear.

[muzzmac]

Hotdog.

GIVE YOUR PENIS +12dB NOW!!!!

[hprotagonist0]

NEW!!!!
YOUR DICK CAN GET THE RECEPTION OF A PRINGLES CAN!! ...and we have proof!

These are real proven techniques for hightening your gain, and preventing premature packet drops.
You won't believe the results!!
All Natural Penis Enhancement, Add 1-4 dB to your penis now!
Do you have a small antenna? We can help!

Click Here For The Net's #1 Penis Antenna Site.

Steril?

[XJoshX]

"I'm still waiting for some hardcore body piercer to turn his penis into an 802.11 antenna."

Slash birth control?

Re:It's clear.

[davidstrauss]

there are two kinds of people in this world

I think you mean "10 kinds of people".

Re:It's clear.

[Telecommando]

I always figured there were two kinds of people:
those who got to read the linked article before it was Slashdotted and those who didn't.

Re:It's clear.

[hkon]

It's sort of like when you hang around with pot smokers a lot. There's always someone who judge everything on how well it would function as a bong :-)

(on a personal note, I've found 802.11 to be way more addictive than pot...)

Re:It's clear.

[mattACK]

From reading Slashdot, I've also come to an understanding. There are 3 types of people: those who can do math, and those who cannot.

Translation for "this site"

[saskboy]

Babelfish [altavista.com]

Hope the link works for you. Read English, right?

OMG

[Malfourmed]

MacGyver is alive and well and living in Paris.

Mac Torrents

[rbeattie]

MacGyver torrents [mymacgyver.tk]

-Russ

Re:OMG

[panda]

Do you know just how telling that statement is? When I lived if France 11 years ago, MacGyver was all the rage among French teens.

Re:OMG

[mesach]

MacGuyver was all the rage everywhere 11 years ago

Obligatory bandwidth gag...

[henele]

With it already /.ed, it looks like he was serving the site with that thing...

I can smell the smolding plastic and paperclips etc... :)

Re:Obligatory bandwidth gag...

[Soko]

I can smell the smolding plastic and paperclips etc... :)

Yeah. They've been Fremch Fried by "L' Effect de Slashdot".

Soko

But I used up all my floppies...

[gspr]

This thread [slashdot.org] made me use up all my floppies, sadly.

A little help over here?

[Capt'n Hector]

I'm having trouble unfolding my trombones, can anybody help me?

MOD PARENT UP

[usr122122121]

I don't usually do "mod parent up" posts, but this one deserves it.

(For those who missed out, "trombone" is french for "paper-clip")

Funstuff with 802.11 - maybe off topic...

[techturtle]

This whole 802.11 home brew stuff is pretty interesting. I live less than a mile away from a buddy of mine and have been kicking around the idea of setting up our own little wireless lan using something like this (doubt I'll be building the antenna out of floppies though).
Ran across this: Reach Out and Touch Someone [pbs.org]. Warning: Engmish!

One of the funniest things about the aricle is him going door to door offering to pay for DSL service to get help with the expirement. Most people turned him down! Show's how paranoid and distrustfull we've become (not surprising)... And man if he'd been caught peeping around at houses with his binoculars or telescopes! The big problem I have is that it took him $1400 to get it going. Seems like it could be done way cheaper to me.

Linux and 802.11g

[Styx]

A very easy to build antenna for 802.11b/g is the cantenna [nodomainname.co.uk].
It's much simpler than the Pringles can yagi, and to top that off, it delivers a much higher gain.

A bit more OT. Did you know that the Linksys [linksys.com] WAP54G [linksys.com] access point is based on Linux? [livejournal.com]. Somewhat strange, that there are no linux drivers [zork.net] for Broadcom 802.11g wireless NICs.

Re:Linux and 802.11g

[Svartalf]

Your referenced article from kernel-traffic addressed the why. Broadcom's design allows for anyone to set the frequency, etc. and transmit outside of the 802.11g bands. It's that and the typical "got to keep our IP protected all the way" mentality that seems to think that an SDK will weaken their IP claims on a chip. It's rather stupid, really- on all counts in this case.

Re:Funstuff with 802.11 - maybe off topic...

[brianosaurus]

He did that almost 2 years ago. Prices have dropped dramatically since then, so it can definitely be done cheaper.

Basestations are available for around $100 instead of the $300 he payed. The antenna may not be any cheaper for off-the-shelf, as I have yet to see a Yagi antenna on a shelf anywhere. Rolling your own is definitely cheaper, though it takes more effort.

Takes me back...

[panurge]

I built an aerial just like the French one in college, though somewhat larger ( 1GHz band) It was for a transmitter that used a tunnel diode (Esaki diode) as the frequency generator, and the objective was to be able to transmit audio from the tape deck in my room to the Leak amp and Quad speaker array two doors down, at a frequency which would be undetectable on any normal radio equipment. Which I guess proves that technologies come and go, but geeks just go on trying to download music.

So thats it....

[Nick Fury]

So thats how Macgyver gets his Centrino lappy to work anywhere in the world.

Kinda like the Pringles can.....

[Phantom_24]

That I used to make a Bong with back in High school.....back in my whacky weed days :-D

Just wondering

[Cinematique]

Wouldn't this make all sorts of chaotic noise (read: dropped packets) in a WiFi setup?

Kudos

[Distinguished Hero]

Almost as interesting as the article itself is the fact that timothy has finally attained a 1:1 mispelled to correctly spelled word ratio. This is clearly a monumental achievement as it indicates that he is well on his way to reaching the golden ratio [everything2.com] (1.618): the ratio at which we will find all of timothy's posts extremely attractive.

Everyone's rooting for you timothy. Don't give up.

cardboard & aluminum foil horns

[TheSync]

The easiest and highest-gain 802.11 antennas to build are of the waveguide + horn variety. Horns can easilly get you as much as 12-16 dB additional gain over just a waveguide (e.g. Pringles can).

For example, check out this horn [seattlewireless.net] build from cardboard and aluminum foil.

Yagis and other antenna element arrays are just too tough to build right, especially without a SWR meter. At 802.11 frequencies, just go horn. Save the Yagi's for lower frequencies, like 10MHz, where a horn would be nuts.

Re:Horn 16dB gain over waveguide?!

[TheSync]

The gain of a horn antenna [qsl.net] is dependent on the size of the final aperature in wavelengths.

OK, I think I was overestimating a bit. It looks like for 2.4 GHz, a pyramidal horn with a 30cm x 30cm opening is about 14 dBi. That's probably going to be your typical "cardboard box" horn size.

It would take a pyramidal horn with an opening of 1m x 1m to be 25 dBi for 802.11b. That certainly is not impossible to build (use wood, not cardboard), but a lot easier than building the equivalent parabolic dish. It is

Next up on /.

[MoreDruid]

How to make your floppy drive into a WiFi Access Point. First, put in a linux floppy distro and load... oh wait, the antenna is stuck in there...
Nevermind...

Re:Fremch?

[ihummel]

Perhaps the Slashdot crew have fallen for that, "Since France opposed the Iraq war, the word 'French' is obscene" stupidity. I suppose "Warning: Fremch" is better than the solution others would have used: "Warning: Freedom."

Re:Fremch?

[techturtle]

Fremch is what you learn AFTER French, but you can only take it during Period 6 & 9... [penfield.edu]

Re:YOU = FREMCH-HATING BUSH FANBOY

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually everyone hates the French, it's just the smart ones that also hate bush. :)

Re:Where is the mirror?

[LittleLebowskiUrbanA]

I could show you but you'll have to meet me there.

Re:Mirrors?

[Kalak]

How about the users step in where the editors won't. If you post a article, mirror the text of it in your journal, then post a link to it in the article. Instant /. mirror. No one gets to karma whore just by posting a mirror either.

Re:stupid americans

[Idarubicin]

It was the French who were doing business with Iraq during the embargo.

It was the French who were doing business with Iraq during the embargo.

Glass houses...stones. Pots, kettles, blackness...

We can point fingers all we want. The French were involved in the oil-for-food program during the embargo--duly approved, and permitted under the UN sanctions. The United States during its invasion chose to protect from looters not hospitals or museums but the Iraqi oil ministry buildings. Thousands of irrepl

Re:stupid americans

[sapone]

> It was the French who were doing business with Iraq during the embargo. It was the French who gave Iraqi leaders passage out of Iraq during the war.

Would you mind substantiating your opinion with facts? Real facts, not plausible, but absolutely unfounded might-be-might-nots, like the invisible weapons of mass destruction.

> The USA is a country founded on freedom

No longer.

> The USA is a world leader

> and we will continue to be a world leader

The United States' militant insistence on that i

Re:stupid americans

[Xtraneous]

The creators of slashdot live in Ann Arbor, MI (about 45 minutes from where I am)

The slashdot servers are run by the OSDN, an company based in the United States.

Just because a server is in the US does not mean it has to have a .us TLD.