gmgfarrand Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 I posted over at the Toughbook forums without much "love". Let me know what you guys think!!! So the idea of putting a USB hub inside the Optical Bay didn't work out.. I basically didn't know where to get 5v from for powering it. So, what I ended up doing was, since I don't use the REAR USB ports (mainly due to breaking things that I have had plugged into it when I forget they are there). I modded in a 4pin mini USB to connect to my ALFA 1W WiFi Adapter without its shell, and a FEMALE port to plug in my AIRPCAP adapter. Also, since I don't really use PCMCIA or EXPRESSCARDs, I decided that the best/easiest/possible only way to mount antennas was to MOD the optical bay door for the 3 RPSMA adapters I need to use. LOOKING FOR OPINIONS PEOPLE!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Cool project. I like how the adapter is put inside, but you have mountable antennas on the outside that can come off for storage. My only concern is 1, heat from usb wifi cards, as they tend to get pretty hot, or at least my linksys does, and 2, what kind of interference you would get with internal components degrading signal, or the reverse, interfering with internal parts of the laptop itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmgfarrand Posted September 3, 2011 Author Share Posted September 3, 2011 Good points... The Toughbook can take as much heat as any WIFI cards can dish out, after all, its all one big heatsink. Interference should be at a minimum, probably less than mounting them on the back of the LCD lid as usual.. The 3 antennas were pretty much for DEMO purpose, in reality, only one of the cards would be active at a time, and even then if I am in a vehicle, the RPSMA for the ALFA would go to a roof mounted MAG antenna whilst the AIRPCAP would "probbably" go to a 7db Rubber Ducky and a BIQUAD or CANTENNA.. Thanks alot for the input!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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