Linux Firewall as Wireless Access Point

[gboyce at badbelly.com (Gregory Boyce)]

On Sun, 6 Feb 2005 trlists at clayst.com wrote:

> I have been contemplating adding wireless to the network.  I was
> looking at wireless access points the other day -- they seem to be more
> expensive than the wireless broadband routers!  Then I realized maybe I
> could just use the firewall as the WAP, by adding a third (wireless)
> NIC on the firewall and constructing the iptables rules properly.

I believe it's a bit more complicated than that.  If you want to run your 
wireless network in infrastructure mode (with an access point) rather 
than doing an ad-hoc network I believe you'll need to look into the HOSTAP 
drivers.  I'm not sure if all linux supported wireless adaptors support 
acting as an access point.

I personally found it easier just to buy and hook up an access point.

You can get an 802.11g wireless access point for $35.99 from 
overstock.com.