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Title: Building Wireless Community Networks by Rob Flickenger ISBN: 0-596-00204-1 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: 15 December, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.27 (11 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Wireless Networks LITE
Comment: This thin (124 page) book is a reasonable quick introduction to the topic of Wireless Community Networks. But don't expect the usual in-depth O'Reilly detail of many of their 600 page Unix or even Windows tomes.
A better title for this book might be either:
a) Here's What You Could Find on the Internet in an Afternoon,
b) A Preliminary Introduction to the Topic,
c) I've Played Around A Bit with Wireless Networks, or
d) My Grassroots Experience in Learning About Wireless Networks
...
The author admits to learning a bunch of stuff attending Seattle Wireless meetings, BAWUG (San Fran Bay Area Wireless Users Group), and the 2000 Open Source Conference.
He appears to be a nice, tech-savvy guy, but it's a bit unsettling to read that at these other meetings he met "a bunch of very sharp sysadmins, programmers and net monkeys who were gearing up to build a redundant, fully routed public network" suggesting that the author might not see himself in the same expert category.
The opening sentence of "About this Book" is itself a telling caveat: "The ultimate goal of this book is to get you excited about this technology...". It does not claim to be, nor is it a comprehensive review of all issues, topics, hardware or software related to Wireless [Community] Networks.
On the plus side, the book is a quick 2 hour read, sort of an in-depth New York Times feature on the early stages of community wireless.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not bad, but lacking in several areas.
Comment: The Good:
Well written, clear, reasonably humorous, refreshing informal style.
Some good hacks that wouldn't normally get written up in a technical book
Can be read in an hour or two.
The Bad:
Too short (especially for price). Cursory coverage of many topics
Most of the information is readily available on the web -- i.e. linked from any wireless community webpage.
First few chapters are just fillers (Describes Community networks, explains what is NAT, DHCP, Firewalling -- but very basic).
If one removes the preface, appendix and other fillers, we're left with around 80 pages of content.
Overall, I did learn a few things from the book, but it is thoroughly lacking substance.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good reference for those new to wireless networking
Comment: I'm reviewing this book from the perspective of a professional. Technically, I think it's sound information and I'm always interested in what's going on outside the commercial sphere. Community networks preceded the commercial "unwirings" and coffee house networks so I expect there will be more cutting edge developments in the future. I understand the 2nd edition of this book is already available. Good technical reference for amateurs and possibly the new edition will provide a preview of up and coming developments for pros.
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Title: 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly Networking) by Matthew S. Gast ISBN: 0596001835 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $44.95 |
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Title: 802.11 Security by Bruce Potter, Bob Fleck ISBN: 0596002904 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Deploying License-Free Wireless Wide-Area Networks by Jack Unger ISBN: 1587050692 Publisher: Cisco Press Pub. Date: 26 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $60.00 |
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Title: Wireless Hacks by Rob Flickenger ISBN: 0596005598 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Jeff Duntemann's Drive-By Wi-Fi Guide by Jeff Duntemann ISBN: 1932111743 Publisher: Paraglyph Publishing Pub. Date: February, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.99 |
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