iStumbler is a small application with a built-in plugin for finding, monitoring and joining wireless networks. It has three main views, the Main Window, Inspector Panel and the Preferences Window
iStumbler's main window displays the list of loaded plugins and
the main view of the currently selected plugin. If the selected plugin
has a toolbar it is attached to this window.
The default AirPort plugins has a toolbar which displays information about the currently selected node and allows you to change the scan speed and join a network. It also displays a list of the access points seen by iStumbler, their wep status, SSID, MAC address, Signal, Noise and Channel values along with coordinates and a user editable info string.
Installing Plugins
Install plugins by dragging the plugin bundle into the Plugins panel
of the main window.
This panel displays an inspector for the selected plugin.
The built-in AirPort plugin inspector shows the complete information about a node and its encounters and allows you to edit its location and info values. Select a node in either the Scan Window or Log Window to view and edit its info.
iStumbler provides several options to be configured in its
Preferences window.
- Auto Select Networks iStumbler will automatically select and display the signal strength graph of the best network available.
- Auto Join Networks iStumbler will automatically attempt to join the best network available.
- Prefer .public makes networks with an SSID ending in .public the best network to monitor or join.
- Remember tells iStumbler how long to remember encounters in RAM, "Ten Minutes" uses in roughly 90M total and "One Hour" about 130M when recording every five seconds.
Abbreviations Used in the Interface
- s = signal level 1-128
- n = noise level 1-128
- ch = ism channel number
- range = range to station (you're getting warner or cooler)
- wep = (Wired Equivalent Protection) is the network encrypted
- ssid = (Select System IDentifier) or network name
- type = ibss (ad-hoc) or bss (base-station)
- mac = (Media Access Controller) unique hardware address