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IBM Thinkpad users have an easy way to protect their pigtails. The removable CD/DVD/Battery/HD Ultrabay has a blank filler plate, that snaps in nicely to replace said device. It is right next to the PCMCIA slots (on my old A21M anyway), and it's easy to drill a few holes in the filler plate and thread surgical tubing through it. I use SMC cards with removable antennae, and this holds the pigtails very securely right up to the cards. You could also use large rubber bands, but the surgical tubing is easy to get in longer lengths. If your internal antenna is not removable, this is still handy to provide strain relief for the connector.

The magic word to search for properly is "Blank Bezel" or "Travel Bezel". They are widely available on Ebay for about USD $5.

While driving, you don't really need a CD (unless you're livebooting a Linux CD), to be burning DVDs, have extra HD or extra battery. It will make your laptop a little lighter, and perhaps run a little cooler.

This is easily adaptable to other laptops. Whatever is next to the PCMCIA slots, see if it's removable, and find a dead one to empty out. On my old Gateway wardriving laptop (may it rest in peace), it had a longdead battery pack. It was right next to the dual PCMCIA slot. i emptied out the batteries, and then threaded surgical tubing in and out through stragetically drilled holes.

Thinkpad users can discover the proper part numbers for your hardware at http://thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki or at IBM.

Here are pics of the Gateway version using a gutted battery box, I will post the Thinkpad pics later.

Interesting post, it does give me ideas on how to improve my wardriving laptop (a Dell latitude C640.

One thing I do disagree with slightly:

While driving, you don't really need a CD (unless you're livebooting a Linux CD), to be burning DVDs, have extra HD or extra battery.

Extra battery is for me the difference between 3.5 hours of wardriving or half of that. Which has enabled (for me) some bike rides to nearby cities (with loads of networks).

I know that you war-bike a lot. This was assuming driving in a vehicle, and having the laptop run on 12VDC. You could probably just wrap your whole laptop with the surgical tubing, and have that be a strain relief of sorts, also. It is quite inexpensive, and easy to tie off at different lengths.

The Thinkpad version pics should be ready tonight.

i did it like this

Here is the Thinkpad version, same basic concept. This is the USD $5 Travel Bezel that snaps into the Ultrabay 2000 in the side of the laptop, right next to the PCMCIA slots. There was a cross-piece inside it, I cut a wide notch in it with a sharp knife to let the surgical tubing go through it OK.



Where the Gateway version was much taller/thicker, I could drill two holes in it one above the other. The Thinkpad one was about half the height. There wasn't room for two holes the diameter of the tubing, so I just drilled one, and ran the rest of the tubing over the top/side.



At first I was afraid that it would not fit back in the laptop easily with the tubing going over the edge, but it fits quite well. Eventually, that will probably wear first, but it was only a few pennies of tubing.

Tell us what laptop you have, and what is right next to the PCMCIA slot(s) that could be emptied out/replaced to do this.

Hmmm. Perhaps you could mount an antenna on it?

My other stumbling machine is a G3 Pismo - it also has a media bay near the PCMCIA slot, if you put the battery in the right bay. However, I keep two batteries in it - 12 hours of battery life is nice!

i did it like this (picture of a senao card with attached antenna leads)

Looks nice. My laptop has its pcmcia slot on the left side and I usually have the laptop in a laptop bag, so if I want a card with external antenna, I'll have to find one where I can guard the antenna leads against breaking. The external keyboard socket already broke from the laptop due to wardriving, so things can really be damaged.

But cards where this is possible do exist. Now to find time to buy one and rig it to the laptop.

i did it like this; picture of senao card

Could you show the other side of the Senao card? I'm trying to see what you did. Did the mmcx jack come out? On mine it does (can be pulled out if I'm not careful). I had read a recommendation once to glue or fasten an mmcx > rp-sma adapter in place and and always connect using the rp-sma. It seems like a good idea to protect the card, but possibly too much unnecessary loss, and too much unnecessary effort to get new pigtails with rp-sma.

Based on the pictures Petzl posted (thanks!) I got myself a secondhand nl2511 ext2 and modified it.

Pcmcia card + antenna cable

Detail of pcmcia card (glad I didn't continue my career in electronics)

Overview of the result hooked up to the laptop, which should explain why the vga connector is tie-wrapped to the antenna cable: that is another strain-relief.

The whole setup is working: I have scored a high number of new networks on routes I visited recently.
Kudos to Petzl and the other people posting here with ideas.