Hacking my Network

Not much of a hack really, but it did involve tracking down a source of parts and opening four boxes to add wiring for external antennas. 

Working with the AppleTV which is hacked to play ripped DVDs, I wanted very badly to be able stream the ripped DVDs from the machine where they are ripped rather than uploading them. The AppleTV has Wireless-N capability and I have two Airport Extremes, also with Wireless-N. I also added a Wireless-N card to the Mac Mini using a card and external antenna from Quickernet. 

I thought about adding external antennas to the ATV and Extremes also. Quickernet sells the antenna and connectors alone, but $129.95 apiece seemed really steep. I asked about volume discounts and was offered 5%.

So I checked around:

Identical antenna $12.95 at Oxfordtec.

Connectors $.39 from Gridconnect.

So now I have four boxes on the network with Wireless-N and external three pole antenna. Depending on where I'm using the Mini, it either has a wireless connection or a Gigabit ethernet connection to an extreme.  Using an AFP mount from the ATV to the Mini hard drive, I'm able to stream ripped DVDs reliably. Using Filezilla, I've seen transfer speeds up to 4 MB/s transferring a file from the Mini to the ATV. Before/After tests showed a 10% speed improvement due to the antennas alone. I didn't attempt to compare stability of the connection.

Here's an overview of the network:

AppleTV with external antenna. The antenna is usually behind the TV. Only two poles of the antenna are connected.

Airport Extreme running Wireless-N over external antenna in office. The Mini is usually connected to this network via Gigabit ethernet. There's also an external drive and two printers connected to the Extreme. The 2Wire DSL modem/router provides Wireless-G service to all clients that don't have wireless-N capability. Reserving the N-network for N-capable clients keeps the speed high.

Another Airport extreme in the living room is connected to a hacked Series 2 DirecTivo machine. There is also a server PC in the basement underneath with an ethernet connection to this Extreme. I have all the wires in place including an extra power brick to plug the Mini into the entertainment system to drive the TV. There is also a Series 1 DirecTivo machine with a coax connection to the bedroom TV. The Series 1 is my wife's, the Series 2 is for my hacking purposes. Between them we have four satellite tuners.

Hacking My Subaru

The stereo on my 2005 Subaru Legacy Wagon doesn't have an auxiliary input. I've been using an FM transmitter made by Monster for my iPod, but now that I have a Tom Tom 920 I'm finding that the FM transmission feature is weak. Time to hack a better solution.

- I've installed the Aux-in Pro iPod kit from Jazzy Engineering. This hack piggy-backs an iPod and mini-plug input onto the CDROM audio input. It comes with a blank CDROM that needs to be played to activate that input. So far it's working well.

I'm using a ProCLip Mounting System for both the Tom Tom 920 and the iPod. Power and connectors are all routed through the storage box in the dashboard for a very clean installation.