X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/6598afb6d7e0167074bd52a977e03a6c70bc0b3a..cec140bdf2d777199acb4d7c14066d510ce3ff93:/blog/data/2013-10-21-mesh-network-rpi.txt

diff --git a/blog/data/2013-10-21-mesh-network-rpi.txt b/blog/data/2013-10-21-mesh-network-rpi.txt
index 7abba847f8..2f1426ef10 100644
--- a/blog/data/2013-10-21-mesh-network-rpi.txt
+++ b/blog/data/2013-10-21-mesh-network-rpi.txt
@@ -2,34 +2,45 @@ Title: A Raspberry Pi based batman-adv Mesh network node
 Tags: english, nuug, freedombox, mesh network
 Date: 2013-10-21 11:40
 
-<p>The last few days I have been experimenting with the batman-adv
-mech technology.  I want to gain some experience to see if it will fit
-the Freedombox project, and try to build a mesh network around the
-park where I live together with my neighbors.  Batman-adv is a layer 2
+<p>The last few days I have been experimenting with
+<a href="http://www.open-mesh.org/projects/batman-adv/wiki">the
+batman-adv mesh technology</a>.  I want to gain some experience to see
+if it will fit <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">the
+Freedombox project</a>, and together with my neighbors try to build a
+mesh network around the park where I live.  Batman-adv is a layer 2
 mesh system ("ethernet" in other words), where the mesh network appear
 as if all the mesh clients are connected to the same switch.</p>
 
-<p>My hardware of choice were the Linksys WRT54GL routers I had lying
+<p>My hardware of choice was the Linksys WRT54GL routers I had lying
 around, but I've been unable to get them working with batman-adv.  So
-instead, I started playing with a Raspberry Pi, and tried to get it
-working as a mesh node.  My idea is to use it to create a mesh node
-which function as a switch port, where everything connected to the
-Raspberry Pi ethernet plug is connected to the mesh network.  This
-allow me to hook a wifi base station like the Linksys WRT54GL to the
-mesh by plugging it into a Raspberry Pi, and thus allow non-mesh
-clients to hook up to the mesh.  This in turn is useful for Android
-phones using <ahref="http://servalproject.org/">the Serval Project</a>
-voip client, allowing every one around the playground to phone and
-message each other for free.</p>
+instead, I started playing with a
+<a href="http://www.raspberrypi.org/">Raspberry Pi</a>, and tried to
+get it working as a mesh node.  My idea is to use it to create a mesh
+node which function as a switch port, where everything connected to
+the Raspberry Pi ethernet plug is connected (bridged) to the mesh
+network.  This allow me to hook a wifi base station like the Linksys
+WRT54GL to the mesh by plugging it into a Raspberry Pi, and allow
+non-mesh clients to hook up to the mesh.  This in turn is useful for
+Android phones using <a href="http://servalproject.org/">the Serval
+Project</a> voip client, allowing every one around the playground to
+phone and message each other for free.  The reason is that Android
+phones do not see ad-hoc wifi networks (they are filtered away from
+the GUI view), and can not join the mesh without being rooted.  But if
+they are connected using a normal wifi base station, they can talk to
+every client on the local network.</p>
 
 <p>To get this working, I've created a debian package
-<ahref="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/meshfx-node">meshfx-node</a>
+<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/meshfx-node">meshfx-node</a>
 and a script
-<ahref="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/meshfx-node/blob/master/build-rpi-mesh-node">build-rpi-mesh-node</a>
+<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/meshfx-node/blob/master/build-rpi-mesh-node">build-rpi-mesh-node</a>
 to create the Raspberry Pi boot image.  I'm using Debian Jessie (and
 not Raspbian), to get more control over the packages available.
 Unfortunately a huge binary blob need to be inserted into the boot
-image to get it booting, but I'll ignore that for now.</p>
+image to get it booting, but I'll ignore that for now.  Also, as
+Debian lack support for the CPU features available in the Raspberry
+Pi, the system do not use the hardware floating point unit.  I hope
+the routing performance isn't affected by the lack of hardware FPU
+support.</p>
 
 <p>To create an image, run the following with a sudo enabled user
 after inserting the target SD card into the build machine:</p>
@@ -43,10 +54,10 @@ after inserting the target SD card into the build machine:</p>
 </pre></p>
 
 <p>Booting with the resulting SD card on a Raspberry PI with a USB
-wifi card inserted should give you a mesh node.  The default mesh
-settings are the ones used by the Oslo mesh project at Hackeriet, as I
-mentioned in
-<ahref="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Oslo_community_mesh_network___with_NUUG_and_Hackeriet_at_Hausmania.html">an
+wifi card inserted should give you a mesh node.  At least it does for
+me with a the wifi card I am using. The default mesh settings are the
+ones used by the Oslo mesh project at Hackeriet, as I mentioned in
+<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Oslo_community_mesh_network___with_NUUG_and_Hackeriet_at_Hausmania.html">an
 earlier blog post about this mesh testing</a>.</p>
 
 <p>The mesh node was not horribly expensive either.  I bought
@@ -67,7 +78,7 @@ from the lowest bidder, the price should be significantly lower:</p>
 <p>Now my mesh network at home consist of one laptop in the basement
 connected to my production network, one Raspberry Pi node on the 1th
 floor that can be seen by my neighbor across the park, and one
-play-node I use to develop the image building script.  I look forward
+play-node I use to develop the image building script.  And some times
+I hook up my work horse laptop to the mesh to test it.  I look forward
 to figuring out what kind of latency the batman-adv setup will give,
 and how much packet loss we will experience around the park. :)</p>
-