Mesh Networking Interoperability (Dan Williams)

[Dan Williams]

On Thu, 2007-03-15 at 08:22 -0300, Flavio Coelho wrote:
> Hi, 
> 
> I am no expert in wireless networking, so forgive me if I say
> something stupid. ;-)
> 
> Regarding the network interoperability, Dan mentions (see below) that
> 802.11b/g routers could participate in the mesh after a firmware
> upgrade. 

Somebody would have to do the work to implement the quasi-802.11s
support for OpenWRT/ddwrt/etc, but if that got done the technically they
could be used to extend the mesh.

Dan

> Unless this is considered a security issue, it would be nice to
> provide more information on this topic since if we could stimulate
> volunteers to patch their wireless routers to help extend the OLPC
> mesh. This way  we could easily achieve city wide coverage due to the
> ubiquity of home wireless routers in a city like Rio de Janeiro,for
> instance, who will soon have a buch of XOs roaming around. 
> 
> People could even be stimulated to donate internet bandwith in
> exchange  being able to use the mesh, away from home, for their own
> internet conectivity. (Rio doesn't have muni wifi)
> 
> If this Idea doesn't sound too crazy (or naive) to you, I suggest
> starting a how-to in the wiki. 
>         
>         ------------------------------
>         
>         Message: 8
>         Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 01:25:47 -0400 
>         From: Dan Williams <dcbw at redhat.com>
>         Subject: Re: Mesh Networking Interoperability
>         To: Stephen Thorne <stephen.thorne at gmail.com>
>         Cc: OLPC Developer's List <devel at laptop.org>
>         Message-ID: <1173936347.28468.15.camel at localhost.localdomain>
>         Content-Type: text/plain
>         
>         On Thu, 2007-03-15 at 12:59 +1000, Stephen Thorne wrote:
>         > There's something that I'm curious about with regard to the
>         mesh
>         > networking that the laptops use, which i understand is a
>         pre-802.11s
>         > implementation.
>         >
>         > My query is: is it possible for devices that are not 802.11s
>         aware to
>         > communicate over this mesh? For instance a laptop or pda
>         that has
>         > 802.11b or 802.11g support.
>         
>         No, they use fundamentally different frame types over the
>         air.  The
>         device must support 802.11s to be able to talk to other mesh
>         nodes.
>         Your 802.11a/b/g device just won't work without driver and/or
>         firmware 
>         updates from the vendor.
>         
>         Dan
>         
>         
>         
>         
>         ------------------------------
>         
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>         End of Devel Digest, Vol 13, Issue 46
>         *************************************
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Flávio Codeço Coelho
> registered Linux user # 386432
> get counted at http://counter.li.org
> ---------------------------
> "software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster" 
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