Yes, The Meraki is proprietary and not the solution if you want to experiment and write custom code for a variety of other uses but it does what is does well and stable plus they understand the RF side of it. It is not the solution for everything just one many options. It depends on what you want to accomplish and how much fiddling you want to do. I am not promoting them rather stating experience. The open source system is www.open-mesh.com S. Earl Jarosh V.P. of Information Technology Cell: 612.868.1313 Off: 763.545.3275 Fax: 763.546.0027 Money Centers of America, Inc. - I.T. Dept 5955 Golden Valley Rd., Suite 206 Golden Valley, MN 55422 6128681313 at cingularme.com earl at moneycenters.com www.moneycenters.com -----Original Message----- From: tcwug-list-bounces at tcwug.org [mailto:tcwug-list-bounces at tcwug.org] On Behalf Of Peter Fleck Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 6:26 PM To: TCWUG-List Subject: Re: [tcwug-list] maps.tcwug.org down? I'm not deep on the technology end but Meraki systems are proprietary and I think there are open source solutions. You can start with the Meraki (or FON or linksys hardware) and reflash). I've got links laying around somewhere. Peter On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 2:55 PM, S. Earl Jarosh<earl at jarosh.org> wrote: > That 100 mile antenna spec is based on a megawatt TV channel. White > space spec is 100mw EIRP Omni and 4 watt fixed point to point. You > are not going to get 100 miles at that power level with that antenna, > you need to build a really long yagi. I think home built planned hot > spot WIFI as we were discussing it years ago is a dead issue other > than experimentation. The poorly engineered St Louis Pk fiasco proved > that and with the 3g and 4g improvements to Cellular systems the Minneapolis deal can't be far behind. > What's the financial ROI? The reality is the system has to pay for > itself through revenue or taxes. The only viable easy to setup > solution for defined boundaries is Meraki. I manage 2 of those that > cover 80 acre areas and not without their own challenges. The Cisco system is a nightmare. > > Now there is plenty of fodder to get list hopping for a little while. > > > S. Earl Jarosh, N0HZ > V.P. of Information Technology > Cell: 612.868.1313 > Off: 763.545.3275 > Fax: 763.546.0027 > Money Centers of America, Inc. - I.T. Dept > 5955 Golden Valley Rd., Suite 206 > Golden Valley, MN 55422 > 6128681313 at cingularme.com > earl at moneycenters.com > www.moneycenters.com > > "White spaces" frequencies have opened up. Gray-Hoverman antenna is > patent-free, DIY for under $10. The antennas pull signals up to 100 miles. > What does that mean for wireless networks? I think it will impact on > the MSP network dramatically in both terms of speed and reach. But, I > am waiting for those who understand computers better than I do to > explain it all. > > Every kid should be 24x7 with their school networks, not just school > computer lab token access. > > There's lots to discuss. I'm far away, but would enjoy making the > trip to get together and work on stuff. > Tom > > _______________________________________________ > Twin Cities Wireless Users Group Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, > Minnesota tcwug-list at tcwug.org > http://mailman.tcwug.org/mailman/listinfo/tcwug-list > > > > _______________________________________________ > Twin Cities Wireless Users Group Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, > Minnesota tcwug-list at tcwug.org > http://mailman.tcwug.org/mailman/listinfo/tcwug-list > -- Peter Fleck Blog: http://www.pfhyper.com/blog Twitter: http://twitter.com/pfhyper pfhyper at gmail.com _______________________________________________ Twin Cities Wireless Users Group Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota tcwug-list at tcwug.org http://mailman.tcwug.org/mailman/listinfo/tcwug-list