5 ms·

So, it is a mesh un-network? it is just a open wifi LAN with a single AP node? what am i missing here? this seems utter pointless if i understood that correct

by gcb0 12y ago

So, it is a mesh un-network? it is just a open wifi LAN with a single AP node? what am i missing here? this seems utter pointless if i understood that correctly.

jacquesm 12y ago
It's more like a sharepoint with wifi access and a bunch of applications installed.
- ChuckMcM 12y ago
  Which would be an excellent way to pitch it. I get the whole anarchist thing but calling it "PirateBox" is going to incite antibodies in nearly any IT dept. Its like naming the Wifi at your house "FBI Surveillance Van 2". That said, with a unique 'box' identifier and a simple store and forward protocol you could have them link together into a simple network, where you could pass messages or files with addresses like box1!box2!box3!userhandle :-)
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    > FBI Surveillance Van 2 I've heard of people doing this to scare the crap out of their low-key criminal neighbours.
  - lgierth 12y ago
    > box1!box2!box3!userhandle That's called Source Routing, and is what cjdns [1] does, although in a more federated and private manner. There's an OpenWRT firmware called meshbox [2] that works on the same devices as PirateBox (and more). There's no apps shipped with it, but instead you get a secure, adhoc, near-zeroconf mesh network. [1] https://github.com/cjdelisle/cjdns https://github.com/cjdelisle/cjdns [2] https://github.com/SeattleMeshnet/meshbox https://github.com/SeattleMeshnet/meshbox
    - lmz 12y ago
      The bang path and "store and forward protocol" bit probably refers to mail routing in the UUCP days: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UUCP#Mail_routing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UUCP#Mail_routing
- gcb0 12y ago
  ah ok. but why the downvotes? its exactly what i thought it was (minus the bunch of application, which i agree makes a one node mesh network a little bit less useless)
niels_olson 12y ago
Imagine you're me. I work in a hospital with no wi-fi or cell network near my office. With this, I could take pictures with my iphone from my magnifi adapter and share them with my colleagues in other offices. Maybe we could even facetime a consult. And I could do it all without dealing with the hospital's IT department. Crazy? Actually, I have it on good report that the chairman of pathology at the Mayo Clinic just bought all the pathologists Magnifi adapters to do exactly that (the exact words were "Hey, Mayo's chairman just bought all the pathologists adapters, just like yours, to facetime consults to each other). Presumably, the chairman at Mayo has more clout than a resident at a military hospital though. If I want to introduce innovation, it's going to have to be on my own, provably separate from the institution. So this is perfect for my use case.
- wangman 12y ago
  Can't you just switch on the Wifi-hotspot on your iPhone and connect together that way?
  - niels_olson 12y ago
    Power dissipates with r squared and interference is always an issue. So if I set one of these on top of a refrigerator in the middle of the lab, I could probably hit most of the resident offices and some of the staff. But most of the residents couldn't get to each other with just their iphones.
    - gcb0 12y ago
      you just moved things around. if my phone is then closer to other people while this device is on another floor, they would have better acces on my phone wifi. unless this evolves to a mesh it is just a hyped AP
      - niels_olson 12y ago
        > while this device is on another floor Where did another floor come in?

by gcb0 12y ago

So, it is a mesh un-network? it is just a open wifi LAN with a single AP node? what am i missing here? this seems utter pointless if i understood that correctly.

jacquesm 12y ago

It's more like a sharepoint with wifi access and a bunch of applications installed.

ChuckMcM 12y ago
Which would be an excellent way to pitch it. I get the whole anarchist thing but calling it "PirateBox" is going to incite antibodies in nearly any IT dept. Its like naming the Wifi at your house "FBI Surveillance Van 2". That said, with a unique 'box' identifier and a simple store and forward protocol you could have them link together into a simple network, where you could pass messages or files with addresses like box1!box2!box3!userhandle :-)
- jacquesm 12y ago
  > FBI Surveillance Van 2 I've heard of people doing this to scare the crap out of their low-key criminal neighbours.
- lgierth 12y ago
  > box1!box2!box3!userhandle That's called Source Routing, and is what cjdns [1] does, although in a more federated and private manner. There's an OpenWRT firmware called meshbox [2] that works on the same devices as PirateBox (and more). There's no apps shipped with it, but instead you get a secure, adhoc, near-zeroconf mesh network. [1] https://github.com/cjdelisle/cjdns https://github.com/cjdelisle/cjdns [2] https://github.com/SeattleMeshnet/meshbox https://github.com/SeattleMeshnet/meshbox
  - lmz 12y ago
    The bang path and "store and forward protocol" bit probably refers to mail routing in the UUCP days: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UUCP#Mail_routing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UUCP#Mail_routing
gcb0 12y ago
ah ok. but why the downvotes? its exactly what i thought it was (minus the bunch of application, which i agree makes a one node mesh network a little bit less useless)

niels_olson 12y ago

Imagine you're me. I work in a hospital with no wi-fi or cell network near my office. With this, I could take pictures with my iphone from my magnifi adapter and share them with my colleagues in other offices. Maybe we could even facetime a consult. And I could do it all without dealing with the hospital's IT department. Crazy? Actually, I have it on good report that the chairman of pathology at the Mayo Clinic just bought all the pathologists Magnifi adapters to do exactly that (the exact words were "Hey, Mayo's chairman just bought all the pathologists adapters, just like yours, to facetime consults to each other). Presumably, the chairman at Mayo has more clout than a resident at a military hospital though. If I want to introduce innovation, it's going to have to be on my own, provably separate from the institution. So this is perfect for my use case.

wangman 12y ago
Can't you just switch on the Wifi-hotspot on your iPhone and connect together that way?
- niels_olson 12y ago
  Power dissipates with r squared and interference is always an issue. So if I set one of these on top of a refrigerator in the middle of the lab, I could probably hit most of the resident offices and some of the staff. But most of the residents couldn't get to each other with just their iphones.
  - gcb0 12y ago
    you just moved things around. if my phone is then closer to other people while this device is on another floor, they would have better acces on my phone wifi. unless this evolves to a mesh it is just a hyped AP
    - niels_olson 12y ago
      > while this device is on another floor Where did another floor come in?