Thus far, this wireless LAN stuff isn't as hairy as it's been cranked up to be. In the previous chapters we've built some really simple 802.11b hardware and we've taken an extraordinarily "in depth" look at the electronics inside a typical 802.11b CompactFlash NIC. We've even taken some swipes at coding the AirDrop 802.11b driver.

In this chapter, we'll set up a BSS on Channel 1. Our little BSS will consist of a standard desktop personal computer equipped with a Netgear 802.11b PCI NIC, a laptop equipped with built-in 802.11b capability and an AirDrop-P. I'll use a Netgear MR814v2 as the AP for our BSS. Once we get all of the wireless LAN hardware up, we'll use a wireless LAN network Sniffer to follow the 802.11b action as if unfolds. A family portrait of all of the AirDrop BSS hardware is shown in Photo 8.1.

Photo 8.1: The desktop personal computer, TEST, is contained within the rackmount case that the laptops are perched on. The laptop loaded with the sniffer application, SNOOP, has a built-in wireless LAN interface but the Netasyst W Sniffer driver requires an approved PCMCIA 802.11b NIC, in this case a Symbol LA4121, which you see shoved into the laptop's PCMCIA slot. The second laptop, SNOOPER, is 802.11b capable and is another wireless station I can use to communicate with the AirDrop module.