On Sun, 09 Mar 2008 13:58:53 -0700, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
wrote:

>Shadow <sh@dow> hath wroth:
>
>> I have a wireless PCI card based on a ralink RT61 chipset in
>>an old PC. It is connected to an antenna on top of my roof. There are
>>no ralink software or drivers on that PC.
>>
>> So what does the card do ?
>
>That sounds like a frequency hopping spread spectrum chip used by
>Raylink, Symbol, and WebGear cards. It's probably intended to connect
>to a WISP (wireless internet service provider) that uses that
>technology. Is it a PCMCIA card that's shoved into a PCI adapter?
>Something like the tiny photos of the Raylink PCI adapter at:
><http://www.raylink.com/pdf/adapter_manual.pdf>

Here it is:

http://www.edimax.com/en/produce_det...id=1&pl2_id=44

>
>> Does it transmit its MAC address ?
>
>Yes. All wireless bridging does that.
>
>> Try to discover other APs around it ?
>
>Nope.
>
>> Does it try to get an IP assigned to it ?
>
>Yep. From the WISP's central router and DHCP server. Without a
>contract, it's not going to happen.
With drivers it gets an invalid 10.10.10.1 type address from
the ISP. Without drivers I can't see it :P
Using linux.
>
>> Does it transmit at all ?
>
>Yes.
>
>> Wondering about security issues ....
>
>NO internet connection = few security issues.
Like someone might locate the PC by the MAC address, even if I
unload the drivers. Using a directional antenna, and a netstumbler on
a laptop. Something like that.
I deduce the answer is yes ....
[]'s