mechanisms tied to mesh: "under a tree" collab

[Martin Langhoff]

On Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 12:46 PM, John Gilmore <gnu at toad.com> wrote:
> [I posted bug #8524 re lease activation not working on AP's.]
>
> Another mechanism that only works on Mesh is sharing "under a tree".

Ah, this is a bit of a misunderstanding :-)

 -  The laptops will continue to have mesh antenna, and to be able to
run simple mesh. It's connectivity to the school server / network that
is over a convetnional AP.

 - Even when connected to a conventional AP, the laptops are actually
using avahi (different implementation of the zeroconf protocols you
mention) so they _can_ see eachother. My understanding is that it
works automagically between XOs on the same AP -- but may have
limitations and possibly bugs as it's not something we push (and it's
not something we test much formally - feel free to encourage volunteer
testers to get involved!)

So we have

 - under a tree using mesh+avahi,  and

 - G1G1 users at a cafe with wifi using AP and avahi

btw, the assumption you make that laptops "just can see eachother" via
RF is not quite right when it comes to 802.11a/b/g. It's a
misconception I had too until I sat down and read the o'reilly 802.11
book (Thick But Worthwhile). When using an AP, the laptops only listen
to the AP, and even traffic between nodes is all mediated via the AP.

Odd protocol design, but it has its reasons (well explained in the
book, I can't hope to relay them veritably here).

Simple mesh does work but at a cafe I want to play with my pal *and*
check the facebook profile of the girl I met yesterday so I know the
bands she likes. Don't make me choose. :-p

cheers,



m
-- 
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 martin at laptop.org -- School Server Architect
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