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Interesting. Are there any pieces of software that can transform ordinary laptops/phones into mesh networks? A quick search shows B.A.T.M.A.N. (http://www.open

Interesting. Are there any pieces of software that can transform ordinary laptops/phones into mesh networks? A quick search shows B.A.T.M.A.N. (http://www.open-mesh.org/ http://www.open-mesh.org/), but it looks a little tricky to setup. Are there any simple ways for non-technical users to run a mesh network node? A "click to install and run" solution would be ideal, but I'd be interested in hearing about other people's experiences with mesh networks.

jacquesm 16y ago
Open wrt support mesh networking iirc. There is also this: http://www.wing-project.org/ http://www.wing-project.org/ And a bunch of others.
- nantes 16y ago
  IIRC, OpenMesh actually sits on top of OpenWRT.
nantes 16y ago
BATMAN, OSLR, and Open-Mesh are pretty slick. But, and a big but, we struggled running a network of ~500 of them in one medium-size Midwest city. It's not targeted at laptops, but at embedded boards somewhat like you would find in a commodity Linksys home router. The best help they can get is, IMO, coders and new hardware to develop for/test on.
Jach 16y ago
I think this is linked from the wiki article, but it's a good read for various general info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Building_a_Rural_Wireless_Mesh_Network_-_A_DIY_Guide_v0.8.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Building_a_Rural_Wireless_... I haven't set one up myself but if the government did kill the internet I'd take it as a good time to start creating a city-by-city mesh, hopefully hooking up with other people with the same idea. If the government leaves the regular lines off for too long, it may actually end up being a good thing. I don't think the kill-switch strategy would work so well in the US, so long as it's not short-term, but it's possible the people who want the ability of a kill-switch haven't thought it through.
nitrogen 16y ago
The OLPC XO laptop has built-in mesh networking and is ruggedized, so it would be a great asset to have after a disaster of some kind. Maybe keep one stored in a Faraday cage to try to protect it against EMP ;).

jacquesm 16y ago

Open wrt support mesh networking iirc. There is also this: http://www.wing-project.org/ http://www.wing-project.org/ And a bunch of others.

nantes 16y ago
IIRC, OpenMesh actually sits on top of OpenWRT.

nantes 16y ago

BATMAN, OSLR, and Open-Mesh are pretty slick. But, and a big but, we struggled running a network of ~500 of them in one medium-size Midwest city. It's not targeted at laptops, but at embedded boards somewhat like you would find in a commodity Linksys home router. The best help they can get is, IMO, coders and new hardware to develop for/test on.

Jach 16y ago

I think this is linked from the wiki article, but it's a good read for various general info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Building_a_Rural_Wireless_Mesh_Network_-_A_DIY_Guide_v0.8.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Building_a_Rural_Wireless_... I haven't set one up myself but if the government did kill the internet I'd take it as a good time to start creating a city-by-city mesh, hopefully hooking up with other people with the same idea. If the government leaves the regular lines off for too long, it may actually end up being a good thing. I don't think the kill-switch strategy would work so well in the US, so long as it's not short-term, but it's possible the people who want the ability of a kill-switch haven't thought it through.

nitrogen 16y ago

The OLPC XO laptop has built-in mesh networking and is ruggedized, so it would be a great asset to have after a disaster of some kind. Maybe keep one stored in a Faraday cage to try to protect it against EMP ;).