With the recent crowd funding campaign and router purchase we're moving
rapidly from "group of people interest in mesh" towards becoming a sizable
physical mesh.
There is much work ahead of us. I suggest that we have a two-hour meeting,
with at least the following agenda items (feel free to add more):
*Choosing a name
:Are we 510pen or sudo mesh or sudo net or something else? We don't need to
decide today, but I want to hear people's thoughts.
*Formalize organization
:Begin writing articles of association. Choice of 501c3 or other group.
Getting umbrellaed until we can get 501c3 status.
*"Business model" brainstorm
:Let's throw some ideas on the table. I'm assuming we'll soon need two
full-time people working on this project. How do we make that happen, how
do we get internet bandwidth and how do we keep the mesh going indefinitely?
*Metaplanning for node deployment
:Researching deployment strategies. Mapping suitable locations. Mounting
strategies for rooftops, walls and windows. Mapping out available spectrum
and channel usage.
*Final decision on initial mesh protocol
:Maybe the best way to decide is to choose one and see how well it works in
the initial 100-node mesh and then switch to something else if it sucks?
*Firmware plan
:What do we need the firmware to do? Let's delegate the different aspects
(splash page? IP allocation? IPv6? ZeroConf? gateway selection? http proxy?)
*Plan for testing received hardware and inventory management
:The 100 routers should arrive Monday. How do we test, tag and log? Does it
make sense to use barcode or rfid tags (barcodes can fade in the sun and
maybe rfid tags are slightly activated by the wifi signal and cause
interference)
*Plan for getting the local community involved and finding people willing
to adopt a node
:Longer term, maybe we can reach out to local highschools and colleges for
a node deployment workforce. Could look good on their college applications
if we pitch it right!
*Marketing
:Fliers? Website? Splash page design?
For people who have time but can't come in person, we'll try to set up a
google hangout. For people who don't have time, please chime in over email
with your ideas / suggestions. As always the meeting minutes will be
available online after the meeting.
Mesh the planet!
--
Marc
Hey friends!
Our WePay campaign is live, and it would be awesome if those of you who
said you'd loan or donate to the cause could contribute there:
https://www.wepay.com/donations/oakland-community-mesh-network
I will probably raise it to $3000 and articulate exactly what the budget is
allocated to. Let me know if you think of copy/design tweaks, and please
share widely on your networks.
Praveen awesomely promoted a Facebook post about the campaign, which is
getting some good attention now <3
Oh, and y'all are welcome to attend this event Open Garden is hosting at
Orange this Thursday (after which I'm heading to sudo to meet with y'all!):
http://we-are-the-network.eventbrite.com - Please RSVP if you want to come
:)
~!~!~!~!~ Mesh the Planet! ~!~!~!~!~
Love,
Jenny
http://jennyryan.nethttp://thepyre.orghttp://thevirtualcampfire.orghttp://technomadic.tumblr.com
`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
"Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories."
-Laurie Anderson
"Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it."
-Hannah Arendt
"To define is to kill. To suggest is to create."
-Stéphane Mallarmé
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
So, as some of you know, Jenny and myself have invested in the following
hardware:
5 ghz 802.11n hardware:
4x Bullet M5 HP - 150 mbps - needs external antenna
1x Nanostation M5 - 300 mbps - semi-directional panel antenna
1x Nanobridge M5 high-gain - 300 mbps - directional parabolic antenna
2.4 ghz 802.11n hardware:
1x Freestation 2 - 300 mbps - semi-directional panel atenna
Here are my experiences with the gear so far.
The Freestation OpenWRT image has a bug in it that makes it unusable after
flashing. It should be easy to recover from using the serial console
though.
I've successfully put OpenWRT on one of the Bullet M5s. It's easy to flash
the Ubiquiti gear with tftp. Easier than the flashing the Asus routers.
When testing the Bullet M5s I noticed that the original firmware has a
really cool feature. It's a frequency analyzer for the 5 ghz spectrum that
will allow us to find out which parts of the spectrum are most free of
noise and other signals in different areas. We could mount one of these
Bullets on a pole on a bike with a battery and then bike around Oakland to
create a map of how much interference we'll be dealing with in different
areas! I put some info on it on the wiki:
https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Mesh/Software_tools
I haven't done anything with the nanostation or nanobridge yet.
As a side note, it seems like the Freestation routers might be going out of
production. Some sellers stopped selling them and the price has dropped to
$60 for the 2.4 ghz models and $70 for the 5 ghz models. That's a bit sad,
as they seem like a pretty good deal, but maybe that means we'll be able to
get them for cheap.
I created a wish list with gear for all price ranges, so you can point
people here if they'd rather donate a thing than cash :-)
https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Mesh/Wishlist
--
Marc Juul
Dear Sudoers,
Give us your old, your broken,
your wireless routers yearning to be free...
We will take them, and make them
great once more (access points too!)
–part of the mesh, the metamycelia
of our dreams.
In the stack of crates
that creates our cubbies,
there is a place...
For your lost ones, potential nodes
in a network more aptly befitting
of the revolution.
Contribute them, anonymously if you wish,
or sudonoymously, be you a phish!
Love,
the Seriously Silly Sudo Society
(https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Mesh)
--------
Jenny
http://jennyryan.nethttp://thepyre.orghttp://thevirtualcampfire.orghttp://technomadic.tumblr.com
`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
"Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories."
-Laurie Anderson
"Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it."
-Hannah Arendt
"To define is to kill. To suggest is to create."
-Stéphane Mallarmé
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
