I have been reading a lot about HSMM-Mesh and have two nodes flashed so far. We have a group of us starting to work on MESH. One thing I have been wondering is about using Access Points for WiFi. I know that you have to set one router as an AP and connect it to the MESH router. I have a few questions though.

1. Does the AP have to be a HSMM-Mesh Flashed Router or can any router be used if connected to the MESH Node?

2.  I have read that if the AP has unsecured WiFi it leaves the entire MESH vulnerable to outsiders. If this was set up it would have security on the AP side using WEP or higher. What exactly can be accessed by a device connected to the AP and not the MESH directly?

3. If say a Laptop or Cell phone was connected via WiFi to the AP, and the AP is connected to a MESH Node could you access Mail, IRC, Web, and other services?

Below is a link to a picture of what I am thinking could be set up. The reasoning is that using a laptop, or cellphone via wifi in the field would be much easier then a PC. I would also want to have access to the Applications over these devices.

Please add any comments or question

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa299/Utah4RonPaul/HSMMMeshHybrid.png

OK. SO look at it this way. The MESH Nodes are just bridging everything across them. SO all the mesh nodes are one subnet and anything plugged in to them traverses the "mesh" to get to where it's going. So, ONE of the mesh nodes will need an internet connection through it's wan port, and the AP's (can be any kind, no need for HSMM-MESH flashed) can be plugged into the lan port on any mesh node. Any device that connects through the AP will traverse the mesh transparently. Any service that runs on TCP/IP should work as far as I know, so email, web, VOIP should all work.

I would make sure the AP's are on a distant non adjacent channel so they don't interfere with the meshnodes obviously.

The SSID for the APs will have to be different than HSMM-MESH as well.

IRC meaning Internet Relay Chat? I believe you would have to have your own IRC server somewhere one the mesh if you're not connected to the Internet.

See THIS post!  THey are using IRC!

http://hsmm-mesh.org/hsmm-mesh-forums/view-postlist/forum-4-applications/topic-125-irc-file-transfer.html

Yes, if you look on the site under one of the Documentation links, Rusty has found and instructed how to install NGIRCD onto a node (doesnt even have to be one of the phat nodes with big ram/flash).

Then you just connect to it with mIRC or whatever IRC client you want (the mozilla plugin is flaky though--use a real stand-alone client for best results).

If the op setup the service advertising, you can just click the link and it opens and connect the IRC client automagically.

A neighbor of mine and I were playing around in IRC one night and he sent me a test PDF of 6.39MB in 56 seconds via the IRC setup. Pictures (50-100KB) were in less than a second. KTF

http://myweb.cableone.net/rhaddock/Radio/ngircd_18_mipsel.ipk