[kismac] Re: KisMAC is way buggy


On 6-Mar-04, at 11:07 AM, Jeff Schwartz wrote:

Mick:

Here's a list of bugs which prevent me from using KisMAC.

Problem:
KisMAC only records GPS coordinates for about 20% of the sites stumbled. This is based on over 3000 access points detected.
Notes:
This only occurs with my Cisco Aironet 350 card. With a borrowed Prism 2.5 card, KisMAC works great -- records all GPS coordinates perfectly.
I reported this on the bugtracker months ago, but it was closed with a note "not reproducible".

try turning off trace mode, and use gpsd/gpsdrive?

Problem:
KisMAC drivers don't seem to unload.
Notes: If I run KisMAC and scan and quit it, then I cannot get a connection through my Airport Extreme, Senao, or Cisco Aironet card. In fact, if I scan with KisMAC, quit KisMAC, relaunch KisMAC, it says that it can't load the driver. So basically if I scan with KisMAC, I have to reboot my machine afterwards.

USB prism2 card, doesn't happen to me

Problem:
KisMAC crashes or locks up moderately frequently.
Notes:
KisMAC is more stable than it used to be (used to crash when I looked at it wrong). I can't exactly reproduce the crashes, but I can give you instances that increase the probability of a crash:.
(1) When resizing the KisMAC window, especially repeatedly.
(2) When resorting KisMAC lists (in previous versions, this would inevitably cause a crash).
(3) When the list gets over about 400 access points (very easy to do within 30 minutes in San Francisco).
(4) Switching between the list window and map window repeatedly or too quickly (this causes a freeze).

3) I've picked up 350+ AP's in a night, and not had kismac crash on me (it scares the crap outta me when i go to save though)
1) I've never has kismac crash once, and I use it exclusively to wardrive.
2+4) I guess i just don't do those things when i'm driving.


Due to these bugs, perhaps 90% of the nodes I scan are unusable. I no longer wardrive with KisMAC. I can't imagine that anyone else does either.

PS: I'd be happy to pay a $15 shareware fee if the above bugs are fixed, as the features it offers are not matched by any other Mac OS X software.

Kismac is BETA software, notice the version number, 0.08a. Thats not even CLOSE to a "stable" 1.0 release number. The software is written by a guy going to university in his spare time (read the archives)

--
Theodore                                 www.wpgwifi.com

BOFH excuse #42: spaghetti cable cause packet failure

Other related posts: