User's Guide?

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Davo69
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User's Guide?

Post by Davo69 »

Hi
Although I'd reckon my general PC and networking is above average (my full time role is PC/Mac installation, repair & user support) , I'm totally stumped by Vistumbler.

Is there a downloadable User Guide? I'm sure I could work it out from there.

So far, tried installing on MacBookPro running Win 8.1 via Parallels. Opens fine but nothing happens. Worked my way through the likely options in the menus. Still nothing.
I found the reason for this in the Forums, so gave up and installed on my Win 7 64 desktop.

Same result. Absolutely nothing except the standard UI with menus at top and various columns across the page.

Spent 30 mins browsing the forum topics, but I'm none the wiser.

Your program was recommended to me from a reliable source, so I'd like to at least give it a try.

Can you point me in the right direction to get going.

Thanks
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ACalcutt
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Re: User's Guide?

Post by ACalcutt »

There isn't much in the way of user guides. The are a few things about AutoKML and VS1 format on the wiki, but that's about it.


The basics of vistumbler are pretty simple.
1.) if you are using an non en-us version of windows, select a langauge pack that matches your version in Settings --> Set Language
2.) Select your wireless adapter in the Interface menu
3.) Press the Scan button. Access points that your wireless adapter can see will show in the list.

thats all there is to basic vistumbler operation. You can use features like speak signal, and midi at this point. Vistumbler was made with wardriving it mind. So the next step in my opinion would be to set up a gps.
1.) Get a NMEA complaint gps that shows up as a serial port
2.) Set your gps settings in 'Settings --> GPS Settings'
3.) Press the "Use GPS" button. If all is working vistumbler should show your latitude and longitude and start mapping access points based signal strength

At this point with GPS enabled you can use features like AutoKML (Automatic mapping in google earth) . To start AutoKML you would do the following
1.) Set AutoKML Settings at (google earth path is important) at 'Settings --> Auto KML'
2.) Launch google earth with the current access poings with 'Extra --> Open KML NetworkLink'
rono711
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User's Guide?

Post by rono711 »

Hi Andrew,
Why I have so many SSIDs in the same name?
Why signal & high signal are two columns? What does it mean?
How do I read/interpret the Graph?
what does the different colour mean in the graph photo attached?
In Mark Chiampa's CWNA book page 114 it asked to do as below-
"Note the columns Signal and High Signal. Why does the Signal column change?
8. Click View.
9. Click Show Signal dB (Estimated). The columns Signal and High Signal now provide the
estimated db. How does it compare to the percentage values?"
How can I do this? Under View I don't see what was asked.
I am using vistumbler version 10.6 beta.

many thanks in advance.
Kind Regards,
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ACalcutt
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User's Guide?

Post by ACalcutt »

The APs you have are broadcasting on multiple channels, which is why you see multiple entries for some of the APs. Some of them also have a different mac address ( a different AP broadcasting the same ssid). Vistumbler uses mac, ssid, channel, authentication, encryption and radio type to determine if an AP is unique.

The option you are looking for, (View-->Signal dB (Estimated)), is now (View-->Graph-->Use RSSI in graphs)

RSSI (Estimated Db) in older versions (or if you choose netsh mode in current versions) was based on the Signal % value since netsh doesn't offer RSSI. In the current version of vistumbler we no longer use netsh by default and now use the windows wireless api to get data. With the wireless api it provides us both with a signal % value and a Signal RSSI value, so these values are both read from the wireless api.

This it what microsoft says about the rssi and % value in their api description
lRssi (RSSI in Vistumbler)
The received signal strength indicator (RSSI) value, in units of decibels referenced to 1.0 milliwatts (dBm), as detected by the wireless LAN interface driver for the AP or peer station.

uLinkQuality (Signal % in vistumbler)
The link quality reported by the wireless LAN interface driver. The link quality value ranges from 0 through 100. A value of 100 specifies the highest link quality.
So how do these values relate to each other? My understanding is it depends on the wireless driver (its up to the manufacturer what they are reporting back)

In netsh mode these are the formulas I use to to change Signal % to RSSI (and back)

Code: Select all

Dim $dBmMaxSignal = -30
Dim $dBmDissociationSignal = -85

Func _SignalPercentToDb($InSig);Estimated value
	$dBm = ((($dBmMaxSignal - $dBmDissociationSignal) * $InSig) - (20 * $dBmMaxSignal) + (100 * $dBmDissociationSignal)) / 80
	Return (Round($dBm))
EndFunc   ;==>_SignalPercentToDb

Func _DbToSignalPercent($InDB);Estimated value
	$SIG = 100 - 80 * ($dBmMaxSignal - $InDB) / ($dBmMaxSignal - $dBmDissociationSignal)
	If $SIG < 0 Then $SIG = 0
	Return (Round($SIG))
EndFunc
Graph is probably one of the areas of vistumbler that needs more attention. The way it works is it graphs the AP you have selected in the list. Newest data comes into the graph on the right. If you want to see dead time in the graph, make sure to use the (View-->Graph-->Graph Dead Time) option. Graph could use a lot of work (we are more focused on the KML and WifiDB features, since wardriving and wifi mapping is why vistumbler was started)


EDIT: On an unrelated note, it nice to see you have eduroam available. I worked on implementing eduroam at Worcester State University several years ago and its nice to see it is being used elsewhere.
rono711
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User's Guide?

Post by rono711 »

Many Thanks Andrew,
Again please Note the columns Signal and High Signal. Why does the Signal column change? i.e. why do we have signal and high signal column?
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pferland
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User's Guide?

Post by pferland »

The Signal column is the current active signal strength that vistumbler is reporting. The High Signal is the all time highest signal strength that vistumbler has seen.
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