when last we saw our hero (Sunday, Apr 28, 2002), Andy Warner was madly tapping out: > steve ulrich wrote: > > [...] > > i joined this mailing list a couple of weeks ago and i just recently > > finished catching up on the mailing list archives. from some of the > > discussions that took place a couple of months ago there was some interest > > in creating a real community wireless network but nothing (or so it would > > seem from the archives) was really done about it. > > Ack. > > > [...] > > is there a populace amongst the list that would be interested in meeting > > and coordinating the deployment (albeit i'm sure quite limited at this > > time?) of such a network? i'm in the process of setting up a public > > access point in my neighborhood (NE minneapolis) once my omnis show up. > > Count me in. excellent! > > i've been hacking on the NoCatAuth stuff (http://www.nocat.net) to talk to > > real routers (cisco) for the traffic shaping and such. since this seems > > to be the most promising mode of community authentication i would be quite > > willing to host an authetication server for local authentication and > > integration with other WCNs. > > I've been doing a bunch of work recently with the hostap driver > (http://people.ssh.com/jkm/Prism2/) which now supports PCI/Mini-PCI cards, > so a single linux AP/portal (a la Sputnik(http://www.sputnik.com)) is a very > practial and reliable option. Heck, just grabbing sputnik releases, hacking > the server details and putting up our own auth server might be another > potential option. i just recently download the sputnik stuff. i haven't burned the iso yet and taken a look at it? any thoughts on it? i'm a bit confused as to where they seem to be taking this in the long run. the goals of the nocat folks as well as the seattle wireless folks are quite clear. i don't think the TCs is a good location for the seattle folks goals but an organized co-op type venture is quite appealing to me. > I do believe the very first thing we need to come to terms with > as a group is exactly what kind of network/service do we want to > build. The stated goals of existing WCNs seem to span the gamut > from simply sharing technical knowledge, to coordinating/branding > hot-spots, to supplying a complete local network infrastucture. > > I'll go on record as remaining dubious about our ability to provide > any kind of meaningful alternative infrastucture in the metro area, > given the flat terrain and low population density. However, > providing/promoting public access points, with reliable/predicatable > configuration and services, while utilising wired backhauls (like > Sputnik) sounds both practical and fascinating to me. i think that you're dead on here. i don't hold out much hope for achieving coverage anything like i've been able to observe in the downtown boston or san francisco areas. these areas have sufficient population density and interesting terrain to be able to engage in such activities. quite simply - i'd like to see a forum for doing show and tells, assisting local businesses (restaurants, coffee shops, libraries, etc) to provide reciprocal services and/or access points, group discounts on gear, books, conference fees, etc. i'd also like to be able setup an access point, share a portion of my wirelines b/w with the public, share a higher percentage of b/w with cooperative members and receive the same treatment in another part of town either at a coffee shop or knowing that i might be covered by someones access point in another part of town. i think that using wired backhauls with tunneling for select traffic is the most pragmatic approach to this. there are alot of people within the twin cities that have caught the wireless bug. some anecdotal evidence from people who have been wardriving seems to back this up. i don't know how many of these people would be willing to open up their access points for public access but i surmise that there are a few and possibly a few who would be willing to setup neighborhood access points to cover their local coffee shop, park/playground, whatever. > I think a face-to-face meeting of TCWUG would be a great idea, long > overdue. I'll offer to do some show and tell at a meeting, with a > re-cased, tower mount WAP-11 with POE, as long as the meeting happens > before I bolt it to my chimney :-) If anyone can supply a PCMCIA-capable > Mac (or an Intermec AP), we could do an alchemy BOF too, where Lucent > Silver cards were upgraded to Gold. -- steve ulrich sulrich at botwerks.org PGP: 8D0B 0EE9 E700 A6CF ABA7 AE5F 4FD4 07C9 133B FAFC