Linux WIFI hotspot/internet cafe software

[Tim]

I am looking for Linux software to run a wifi hotspot / internet cafe with session management and billing built in. Any Ideas? I am pretty flexible, I just need to set up a self contained box that can be left on its own and act as a wifi hotspot.

[manipulate]

It's harder to set up than you might think, you could probably do it with a Cisco (of course) and there are some companies that sell routers with that stuff in-built.

[Tim]

I should probably specify that I don't really want an embedded system for routers, there are plenty of those and they are not hard to setup but I will be running this in a remote place through HSDPA so I want to be able to write scripts to for example restart and reconnect automatically and I would like to be able to remote desktop in to make changes and fix things if need be. There is plenty of Windows software that does this but I really don't want to run a Windows system for reliability and cost.

[manipulate]

I should probably specify that I don't really want an embedded system for routers, there are plenty of those and they are not hard to setup but I will be running this in a remote place through HSDPA so I want to be able to write scripts to for example restart and reconnect automatically and I would like to be able to remote desktop in to make changes and fix things if need be. There is plenty of Windows software that does this but I really don't want to run a Windows system for reliability and cost.

Ahh, there are some firewall-specific distributions out there that might be able to do what you want; I'll do some research.

[Tim]

The big problem I have is with billing, its hard to find software to do that for linux.

[manipulate]

It's really complicated, especially with the whole credit-card thing.

[Tim]

Well I am happy to use paypal, that makes things simpler but not by much.