WiFiFoFum: WiFi Scanner For Pocket PC

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.wififofum.org/' target='_blank'>http://www.wififofum.org/</a><br /><br /></div>WiFiFoFum is a neat-looking WiFi scanner for a fairly broad variety of WM2003 devices.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20040513-WiFiFoFum.gif" /><br /><br />It doesn't list every device out there, but it does list quite a few and is free (the author does ask for donations if you find it useful). Has anyone played with it?

[jvcrabb]

Yes,

It works very well, but he is still working out the bugs. Everyonce in a while I have to delete the settings files in the WIFIFOFUM directory and soft reset. I have been using it with my Haicom BT GPS and it is working great. I definitely recommend it! Best part is that it keeps getting better!

[Abba Zabba]

I had a run with it last saturday around my neighborhood...Let's just say many people have WEP off 8O . Nice pierce of software and the radar screen makes you feel like your hunting for the enemy 0X

[Howard2k]

I've played with it quite a bit... Nice piece of software and you can't beat the price! :)

The radar is potentially misleading. Don't be fooled into thinking that it is actaully showing the position of the AP. It's just showing the proximity (range) not direction.

Great tool though.

[clanggedin]

I have been using this on my A716 and It's works great!. I tried everything I could think of to get Ministumbler to work on my PDA, but after I found this I stopped playing with ministumbler.

Great Product!

[that_kid]

It is a nice program and i'm happy that it works with my 5555 and 4350's internal wifi.

[rugerx]

Wicked cool software, I drove a 10 mile stretch of freeway here in my area with it on, and picked up hundreds of AP's, just too funny!

[Scott R]

The radar is potentially misleading. Don't be fooled into thinking that it is actaully showing the position of the AP. It's just showing the proximity (range) not direction.I was just about to post asking about this. I had a very hard time believing that such a thing was possible, though it would be very cool if it was, huh?

Scott

[David Prahl]

The radar is potentially misleading. Don't be fooled into thinking that it is actaully showing the position of the AP. It's just showing the proximity (range) not direction.I was just about to post asking about this. I had a very hard time believing that such a thing was possible, though it would be very cool if it was, huh?

Scott

I think you'd need multiple devices or a "move ten meters to your right, then ten meters forward" scheme to triangulate the AP location.

[hoffm11]

Anyone try this on a Ambicom CF wireless card?

[ctmagnus]

This is quite cool. I had a blast with it in Calgary last week. And the best part is, I don't need the expaaaaansion pack to use it!

[sponge]

I think you'd need multiple devices or a "move ten meters to your right, then ten meters forward" scheme to triangulate the AP location.

Combine it with a GPS, and the more you move, the more accurate the location would be, I would assume. Think of it as triangulating every GPS update, THAT would be cool.

[Ryan Joseph]

Arrrggg...I have to see this program while I'm at work! :evil: I can't wat to get home and try it! Does anyone know how it works with multiple APs on the same network, like in an office or school? Does it show each one? That'd be cool, too!

That radar interface gives new meaning to the term War Walking. :devilboy:

[David Prahl]

The whole 'radar' concept gets much more complicated when you start putting walls, floors, and radio interference in the equation. I really don't see how it could work (even with GPS data).

[ctmagnus]

I think it's designed to be a non-tabular view of how many APs are in range at any given time. With MiniStumbler, you have the color-coded circles to indicate whether the AP is in range and its signal strength. iirc there's no way to tell this from the list view in WiFiFoFum.

[Techtoys]

The software is pretty cool. I walked through Heathrow Airport today and found lots of access points.

[menssana]

I'm lucky enough to have tried WiFiFoFum 0.3 with my h4100 and an Emtac Bluetooth GPS receiver :D. It works a charm, logging the coordinates of all APs along your journey. Not sure that the radar works with the GPS though, I don't see how it ever could unless the AP positions are known in advance.

What's worrying is that most of the networks picked up seem to have WEP disabled and the most common SSID of... "default"!

[malcolmsharp]

The radar is potentially misleading. Don't be fooled into thinking that it is actaully showing the position of the AP. It's just showing the proximity (range) not direction.I was just about to post asking about this. I had a very hard time believing that such a thing was possible, though it would be very cool if it was, huh?

Scott

You know, it could work... but it would take more than one PDA. If you added the functionality, and you had two or more handhelds running it, they could communicate with each other and triangleate the positions. At least well enough to give you a rough idea.

That would not be very practical, but it would be fun!

[joelw135]

I have been using it for two weeks, and find it not only useful but nicely done. Easy interface and seems to find those elusive connections.

[dlrbox]

I downloaded this and put the dll's and exe files into a folder. I have an Ipaq 2215 with a DLink CF WiFi card and also a CF GPS. When using either, I can't see any access points. I ave 2 AP's in my house, both are working and my CF wireless card is working.

Any suggestions or help appreciated.

[Ryan Joseph]

Okay, well, I've had a chance to try it now. Very cool software! It just looks like I'm infiltrating an enemy base with that interface!

I took a walk around the block and found over 10 APs...which is interesting because my neighborhood is mostly older people. It's good to see that so many of them are using high tech gadgets. :mrgreen:

[k_kirk]

ryaninc wrote :
Does anyone know how it works with multiple APs on the same network, like in an office or school? Does it show each one?

My experience is that multiple APs on the same network are identified and reported as individual entities. Given you have the MAC address you can determine separate APs even when the SSID is the same accross few entries.

[SeanH]

My experience is that multiple APs on the same network are identified and reported as individual entities. Given you have the MAC address you can determine separate APs even when the SSID is the same accross few entries.
That has been my experiance also. NetStumbler shows each SSID and all the MAC address of AP's that are in range using that SSID.

Sean

[gohtor]

The radar is potentially misleading. Don't be fooled into thinking that it is actaully showing the position of the AP. It's just showing the proximity (range) not direction.I was just about to post asking about this. I had a very hard time believing that such a thing was possible, though it would be very cool if it was, huh?

Scott

It's potentially possible to have it triangulate positions but it'll require the ability to bounce off other AP's or with an existence of another wireless adapter.

It is nice to see the radar like effect though =)

[hoffm11]

I tried this on my Ambicom CF card and it WORKS! Finally!

[Ripper014]

dlrbox...

I am using the Hp2210 with the D-Link 660w CF Wifi card.. if you have the same setup you will need to upgrade to the beta WM2003 drivers on the D-Link site...

[foebea]

ipaq 2215, linksys wcf12 nic, Pharos GPS through the sync port.

Everything works perfectly. I can't wait till he gets the packet sniffing functionality added :D

This is better than the others, I purchased PocketWinC a while ago and have been using that, and i use the new mini stumbler, but the interface on this one is better, more configurable, and flashy to boot! you can have it scan on a range from 100ms to 5000ms, so if your actually walking around with this, it only probes once every 5 seconds, save much battery this way.

Thanks for the GREAT software!
If you manage to get the sniffer working I will gladly pay hard earned dollars for that version :mrgreen:

[ppc4me]

I have the program and find it useful. I just got the GPS version and need to test it out with my BT Navman.

My question is, what can be done with the log file of the AP info and the Lat/Lon? Does anyone know of a program that can import this and display as points of interest - or is this data just to send to one of those websites that collects WiFi locations?

Thanks,
Tony

[foebea]

check out http://netstumbler.com/cgi-bin/mappoint.php for an example. this is just a place to start really, but i think it formats it the same as netstumbler.

Basically you get a csv file which can be imported into a number of programs, the link above is something which converts netstumbler data files to be readable by mappoint.

on linux you have gpsdrive which is the lat/long collector, and so there are programs for it too which can convert that to maps with circles on it to show where the signal reached, kind of a range map, real pretty too.

the ranges are calculated from the gps data based on the hits and level of signal, but it does not seem this threads program collects that level of detail, but may in the future.

so basically you can turn the file into a map which shows circles based on one gps mark, unfortunately your gps's location though, not the antenna.
you can use it to find the hotspots again.

if wififofum ever includes more detailed information the location of the antenna is more and more accurate because it records lat/long, signal strength, and gps location about twice a second, depending on settings.

a really good place for information about this was the Church of WiFi, but they have disappeared from the net. if you google "gps" "wifi" "triangulation" you will find tons of resources available and hundreds of free scripts and programs for use in this enertainnig passtime. :)


when i get off work i will do some checking and give you specifics as far as what can be done with this specific programs output, and how easy or difficult it is to do.

[foebea]

Check out his forums for details on how to use it with other programs.
The first post I found relates to this specifically and includes links to some scripts for use with it.

[dlrbox]

Ripper014 - do you think those beta drivers will work with the 650 model?

[Ripper014]

dlrbox...

I was afraid of that... I figured that you might be using the DCF 650w card... I don't know if the driver will work... but my guess would be that it probably doesn't... or else they would have also posted the driver under your card as well...

But you can always try it... the other driver that seems to have a lot of success is the one that is use with the Senao Wifi Cards... you can find information on it here...

http://www.pc-counselor.com/How_to/senao.htm

But please if anyone is going to try it... it is at your own risk... as I have no idea what the out come might be...

Just found this...

http://handhelds.org/hypermail/opie/48/4836.html

http://www.pocketpcmag.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7208

This might be the driver you need to find. WiFiFoFum does support prism...

[buckyg]

Cool, now I can try to find out which neighbor has an AP that randomly pops up when I try to use my wifi. I've got a lot of older neighbors too, who don't seem hi-tech.

At first, I was concerned about how this program starts up, now I found out something cool for me. With wifi turned on, it takes somewhere between 20-30 seconds on my iPAQ 5555 for Wififofum to startup. However, if I leave wifi off, it takes 5-6 seconds for Wififofum to start. Then I can turn on my wifi from within the program. That's a quick way for me to get up & going.

[dlrbox]

Ripper014 ----

Thx so much for those links. Using the prism drivers with my DCF650 and my ipaq 2215 works like a champ.

The WiFiFo radar app works great.

thx again

[jd_02am]

Anyone try this on a Ambicom CF wireless card?

Certainly does, works fine on my Acer n10 with the Ambicom CF WL1100C running PPC 2003.

Works far better than ministumbler which refused to 'see' any WIFI hotspots. Just driving around my village I found 6 AP's 4 w/o security on. Need I say more...