Alright, let me tell you about this little project I cooked up recently. I needed a way to check out Wi-Fi stuff around different places, you know, see signal strengths, what networks are visible, that sort of thing. Walking around with a laptop and antennas sticking out felt kinda clumsy. Then I stumbled upon an old wheelchair someone was getting rid of. Solid frame, wheels, seat – perfect base, I thought.
Getting the Base Ready
First thing, the wheelchair needed some work. It was dusty and a bit creaky. Spent an afternoon cleaning it up, tightened some bolts, oiled the wheels. It wasn’t about making it look new, just functional. I needed places to mount my gear securely. The seat area and the bars looked promising. Didn’t want stuff falling off while rolling around.
Adding the Brains and Tools
Okay, so for the tech side, I kept it simple. Grabbed an old laptop I had lying around. Nothing fancy, just needed to run basic Linux. Installed a lightweight version on it. Then came the network tools.
- The Computer: That old laptop, wiped clean and set up.
- Power: This was tricky. Laptops have batteries, but I wanted extra juice for the USB stuff. I found a beefy power bank, one of those meant for charging multiple devices. Seemed like it would do the job for a few hours.
- Wi-Fi Gear: Got a couple of USB Wi-Fi adapters. One standard, one with a bigger antenna for better reach. You know, the kind that looks a bit ridiculous but pulls in signals from further away.
- Mounting Bits: Lots of Velcro straps and zip ties. Seriously, zip ties are lifesavers for these kinds of projects. Also found a small piece of plywood to make a little shelf on the seat.
Putting It All Together
This part was messy. I strapped the laptop onto the plywood shelf on the seat using Velcro. The power bank went into a little bag hanging off the side. Then I plugged in the USB Wi-Fi adapters. Ran the USB cables, trying to keep them tidy so they wouldn’t snag on anything. Used more zip ties for cable management. It definitely didn’t look pretty, more like something cobbled together in a garage. Which, well, it was.
First Test Drive
Booted up the laptop, fired up the software to scan for networks. Pushed the chair out to the driveway. It worked! Sort of. I could see the local Wi-Fi networks popping up. The big antenna definitely picked up more signals than the standard one. But, I quickly ran into issues. The laptop kept sliding around on the board – needed better securing. And one of the USB adapters seemed a bit flaky, maybe a loose connection. The power bank was holding up okay, but I could see battery life would be a concern for longer runs. It was also kinda awkward steering and looking at the laptop screen at the same time.
Making It Less Rubbish
Back to the garage. I added more Velcro to really hold that laptop down. Reseated the USB adapters and secured the cables better. Zip ties everywhere! I also realized I didn’t need the full laptop screen all the time. Set up a simple remote connection so I could see the basics and trigger scans from my phone. That made controlling it while moving much easier. Didn’t solve the battery life completely, but managing it better helped.
The Point Of It All?
So, what did I actually do with this contraption? Mostly rolled it around my local area. Used the tools on the laptop to map out Wi-Fi signals. It was interesting to see how coverage changed block by block. Checked for open networks – found a surprising number. Also tested the security settings on my own home network from different spots, just to see how vulnerable it might look from the outside. It’s all about learning, seeing how this stuff works in the real world. It’s one thing to read about network security, another to actually go out and gather some real-world data.
In the end, the ‘sec network wheelchair’ was a fun experiment. It was clunky, looked weird, and had its share of problems. But it did the job I wanted it to do – gave me a mobile platform to poke around with network scanning tools. Learned a lot just by building and troubleshooting it. Sometimes these rough, hands-on projects teach you more than just reading books.
