I have tried what you suggest using both Ubuntu and Debian. I used one of the AR5212/AR5213 HP pci cards however if your laptop will work in the master mode you should be able to use it. I also have a Mikrotik router as someone else suggested. The hostapd solution is not as good as the Mikrotik even though I both are running high power. In my case it is probably the antenna placement. There are plenty of hostapd howto's on the net. wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg Mode:Master Tx-Power=27 dBm Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Power Management:on

I would recommend Debian and Gnome. Ubuntu has too many bells and whistles and it can be funky to setup using bleeding edge kernels and drivers. Another alternative is Centos 6.2. It's essentially Red Hat. The desktop is quite nice. I expect you would learn more with Debian though.

Nascar should not have tried to suppress the video. If you look at their new website, it is obvious they don't know much about electronic media. The website is awful. Maybe the art of web design is lost? Surely they could have done better.

I have struggled with the same. I have put dd-wrt on a couple of clones and ending up bricking them with updates or modifications. I have two suggestions. Mikrotik has just come out with a high power ap / router for under $100 bucks. Their routeros is linux based and the new ap/router has a usb port also. I have had good luck running hostapd on a linux server. I presently use one of the high power (EPI-3601S) available from Amazon or Newegg and the latest version of Ubuntu server edition. Works great however, this card doesn't have wireless N.

Radio Shack never was a real good parts store. Olson Electronics was better. There were some local parts stores that were much better (Delta Electronics). Most all of them have vanished. Radio Shack did have a big store that was great (can't remember the name) but it was similar to Allied Radio. We had a local store here in the Atlanta Area. They sold everything from cases to test equipment. Like most of their other trial balloons (Incredible Universe, etc), they went bust. I will go to RS for small parts (led's etc) as it is the only local venue left. We are lucky here in Atlanta to have Fry's. They have most anything that RS would stock and much more of it.

I wonder if these are laptops? The recent changes to the imac (hard drive replacement - requires Apple part and special cable) would make the imac very expensive to use in a business.

The last time I had a windows virus it was Alureon. Every time I clean the drive, it was fine until I reinstalled MSRT. Then it appeared. Finally, I replaced the drive and installed Nortons and have not had another problem. I found only one tool that would actually remove it and it was free from Kaspersky Labs (TDSSKiller).

I still expect them to sue God over the name Apple.

Sounds like a good way to make some money!