Monday, July 14, 2014

Rather Fight Than Switch - OpenWrt Mesh versions

> I am debricking another router so I can have 3 then I will switch.

Don't switch!

You are running OpenWRT...

You have two working nodes.

Add a third - then you'll have a working mesh.

Install NGIRC on one of the  nodes - WRT54GS with 8 MB would be best if you have one.   It's a well documented process on the HSMM site.

The BBHN GUI is clean and easy - it's a good way to start if you're not used to Linux command line routing and firewall operations.   If you dream in firewall commands - then go for the pure OpenWRT.

With 3 working mesh nodes you'll be able to find a fourth box, install the CHANGEME build and learn how to get it working.   It's way easier to add a new setup to a working system then to try doing everything cold from scratch.

Ok - having said all these nice things about the BBHN GUI - it's also time we move beyond it.  With all the recent activities they're trying to bring the same custom GUI to all configurations and essentially not supporting anything that's not using the GUI.   They've jumped the shark with this one.   The future is pure OpenWrt, maybe Luci, maybe a Ham-Mesh-Luci add-on.   Nobody can hope to keep up with a custom interface on top of all the cool new hardware that's coming.  (It's also important to realize that 'mesh' has a small place in the overall scheme of Networking - to put everything on the Mesh is to throw away much power and functionality.)

Personally I'm going to learn the command line and master the beast - but I'll still keep my old GUI-Mesh boxes around for compatibility checking and loaning out to folks getting started.

Onward...

73
Bill, WA7NWP