From: Petter Reinholdtsen Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 09:43:05 +0000 (+0000) Subject: Improve language. X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/commitdiff_plain/973d4778a53cf81ea246b0363d4b61698d44faba?ds=inline Improve language. --- diff --git a/blog/data/2013-10-21-mesh-network-rpi.txt b/blog/data/2013-10-21-mesh-network-rpi.txt index 7abba847f8..2eab75c746 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 -

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 +

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 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.

-

My hardware of choice were the Linksys WRT54GL routers I had lying +

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 the Serval Project -voip client, allowing every one around the playground to phone and -message each other for free.

+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 (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 the Serval +Project 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.

To get this working, I've created a debian package -meshfx-node +meshfx-node and a script -build-rpi-mesh-node +build-rpi-mesh-node 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.

+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.

To create an image, run the following with a sudo enabled user after inserting the target SD card into the build machine:

@@ -43,10 +54,10 @@ after inserting the target SD card into the build machine:

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 -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 +an earlier blog post about this mesh testing.

The mesh node was not horribly expensive either. I bought @@ -70,4 +81,3 @@ 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 to figuring out what kind of latency the batman-adv setup will give, and how much packet loss we will experience around the park. :)

-