I now have a Linksys node up an running continuously, and have been playing with HSMM-PI nodes to determine range, etc. The Pi node(s) currently run intermittently, while I look around for potential sites.

I am working on adding services, which will include a GPS-referenced Stratum 0 NTP server in the near future. I am also working on powering a couple of nodes from solar/wind rather than the A/C mains.

Now to drum up some interest among the local Barstow hams and ham club...

Anyone mobile through Barstow on I-15 or US-58 should be able to see my node.

I'm guessing by your statement that once you install OpenWRT (and by extension BBHN too) there's no longer enough memory to do that.
That is partially correct. Once you install OpenWRT Backfire, the webGUI (from personal experience) fails to be navigable due to the memory requirements. I actually found other people talking about this too a couple months ago by googling around too.

The "numerous references to 'damaging hardware' and 'bricking' when reverting OpenWRT back to OEM firmware" claim found elsewhere is wrong. I see that as their method of a CYA should you fail to install the wrong firmware package (54G3G onto a 54G). I have purposely bricked routers only to unbrick them during the flashing of OEM firmware.  No hardware I have done this on have been damaged in the process.  Obtaining the correct firmware from the manufacturer is guaranteed to not brick your router (unless you do what I mentioned in an above post).

Keep in mind that there are a lot of devices for sale that have damaged hardware and won't work correctly on OEM firmware.  Out of the 20-30+ routers I have purposely bricked or fixed only one could not take the factory firmware as the BIOS flash chip only could use half of it's available memory.

So I guess the direct question I have is whether or not I can point to bbhn-1.0.0-brcm.trx from the OpenWRT admin page and that will get me to BBHN 1.0, or if the revert to stock then load BBHN is the only (or best) method.

Yes. You can do that. Reason: OpenWRT generates two files with their compiler *.bin and *.trx. By design, you can flash any *.trx or *.bin file to any device currently running OpenWRT. To clear out settings that might stay between flashes, I'd go the OpenWRT to OEM to BBHN route.

In my opinion, ham radio is great at ad-hoc, in the moment immediate communications.

But it seems in this case and many others ham radio is being sold as a replacement or backup to existing commercial systems, which I believe is wrong and anymore, not even technically viable.  I believe it is negligent that any official entity would write ham radio into any kind of backup plan instead of engineering a proper solution.  Ham radio is indeed "when all else fails", not when just the primary system fails or when there's no budget for the backup, so get the hams to do it for free.

As time goes on I see this issue waning, as ham radio becomes more and more technically irrelevant and it becomes wholly impractical to consider.  But I wince at the idea of a group of hams today showing a hospital, city or other group a pretty powerpoint show on mesh networking and seriously selling them on the idea this is a valid backup plan.  The only reason I'm sure they'd entertain it is because it's "free" or nominal hardware cost.  I see this as a situation where the hams end up quickly over their head, or laughed out of the place if the group/agency does due diligence and sees just what they're getting on a hardware and networking level.

Now, if this was a system intended to be used between hams and not directly by a "served agency", then I would see no problem with it.  But there's a user expectation that when given a TCP/IP connection you can run whatever you want over it, and in the case of BBHN you can't.  Now, to show the flip side of this anyone can take off the shelf wifi gear, create a link or network and run secure and commercial data over it.  Make it a BBHN network, and now you can't.  What value is this adding for any served agency?  They'd be better served to just do it themselves (and they should be).

> I have yet to find information on the forums on using a

> router with OpenWRT already installed.

I did search and find this thread I revived here from before version 1.0, but I wasn't sure if that advice still applied or not.

> Backfire 10.03.1 utilizes a lot of the memory on the chip

> making it impossible to navigate through the web interface

> without it failing.

Sounds like you have some helpful expertise here. That's the kind of info you don't find just googling around. I blithely assumed that OpenWRT would be like the stock linksys admin page and it'd be a simple matter to return to stock or load BBHN by pointing to a .bin file. I'm guessing by your statement that once you install OpenWRT (and by extension BBHN too) there's no longer enough memory to do that.

> I pointed you to the OpenWRT Wiki because this is one

> of the only ways I have found to flash a device back

> to either factory default

I did look around there before but saw numerous references to "damaging hardware" and "bricking" when reverting OpenWRT back to OEM firmware, so hence my aversion to doing that if I can avoid it by just using the bbhn-1.0.0-brcm.trx. Problem with most of the wiki's and forums is there's an expected level of competency that I don't have. Plus there's the time involved. I could spend hours googling and poking at this and may still not get there from here (due to my ignorance).

> I do not want to cause any hard feelings between mesh users.

Yes, sorry about the curt response, I was kind of put off by that reply. Thanks for your offer of help.

I am not a programmer, linux geek or particularly interested in routers beyond their perfunctory level so for me navigating through the OpenWRT info is not intuitive. I know for sure they're not going to have anything about BBHN there, so I figure the expertise is here. The mesh stuff intrigues me and I do pretty well following clear instructions. I've flashed a number of routers so far, have nodes in my shack and up on the tower and have put on a few demo's at hamfests with IRC and streaming video. Part of me says to set the router aside, they're $20 and easy to find. But the ham in me sees a perfectly working router that *should* be able to be turned into another mesh node, so that's why I've gone even this far with it.

So I guess the direct question I have is whether or not I can point to bbhn-1.0.0-brcm.trx from the OpenWRT admin page and that will get me to BBHN 1.0, or if the revert to stock then load BBHN is the only (or best) method.

You most certainly can find help with installing BBHN on the forums. But I have yet to find information on the forums on using a router with OpenWRT already installed. That's why I redirected you elsewhere. In my experience, Backfire 10.03.1 utilizes a lot of the memory on the chip making it impossible to navigate through the web interface without it failing. I pointed you to the OpenWRT Wiki because this is one of the only ways I have found to flash a device back to either factory default and then to BBHN (the way I would do it) or directly to BBHN (using one of the bin files).

It's all good, and I do not want to cause any hard feelings between mesh users. If you run into problems, send me an e-mail and I'll be happy to help you out.

> setting something up between the Stafford County EOC and Stafford Hospital Center.

Saw this post on the list and can't help but think what a terrible idea this is.

I know that one of the primary selling points of mesh is emcomm but it's a bad idea on several levels.  It's not secure, and for the most part uses off the shelf consumer gear at Part 15 power levels in an ISM band. That's fine for Field Day, not fine as a critical link.

I can't believe anyone in an official capacity (hospital and EOC staff) trying to establish a link for a hospital would even entertain the idea of hams showing up with modified consumer routers as a solution.  And, consider the ramifications if for whatever reason it doesn't work when they need it most.

My opinion, if this was a plausible idea they could do it themselves with commercial gear running a secure link and not have the inherent limitations this ham system has.

Mark K5LXP

Albuquerque, NM

This is not a BBHN question, but rather an OpenWRT question that would be better suited for OpenWRT's wiki and forum.

In short, do a google search for "openwrt restore linksys firmware" and click on the first link (titled, Back to original firmware - OpenWrt Wiki).

Do not have fear about bricking the device. The only two ways you can brick the device is either by purposely pulling the plug in the middle of the flash or loading firmware that is not compatible with the router.

Reviving an old thread.

I found a 54WRTG V2 that should work with BBHN 1.0.  It currently has OpenWRT Backfire 10.03.1 on it.

What would be the install path, to go with restoring to original linksys configuration then load bbhn-1.0.0-wrt54g.bin, or would the bbhn-1.0.0-brcm.trx update work?  I don't want to brick this thing.

Mark K5LXP

Albuquerque, NM

If you read the reviews over at http://www.amazon.com/ACN-IRIS-3000-US-3000-Videophone/dp/B003GMAEZ0 you'll see that this is not the phone you want.  It's basically a locked down phone with no way for you to change its settings.

The GRANDSTREAM phones are relatively affordable and work well.  I'd look into those for a VOIP phone solution.

73

Mike KK4WGD

How to get back to a normal working router. Then you can start over with the flashing to Mesh software. This did work for me..

To reflash your router to DDWRT software -

Find your Linksys WRT54G model version of the mini_generic.bin

http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database

I used this one for my v3.1 - *Note the link in the procedure section is old and no longer valid.

wget http://www.dd-wrt.com/routerdb/de/download/Linksys/WRT54G/v3.1/dd-
wrt.v24_mini_generic.bin/2123

Procedure -> This is directly from:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Upgrade_from_openwrt
---------------------------------------------------------------
Upgrade from openwrt

I had a linksys WRT54GS version 2 router that I wanted to upgrade from openwrt to dd-wrt.

I could not find any documentation on how to do this. So I created this page just in case
anyone else needed to do this.

Replace your firware image referenced below with the correct image for you router.

secure shell or telnet into the router running openwrt

cd /tmp

wget http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/downloads/v24-sp1/Consumer/Linksys/WRT54GS_v2/dd-
wrt.v24_mini_generic.bin

mtd -r write dd-wrt.v24_mini_generic.bin linux

If all goes well your router will reboot, and when it comes up it will be running dd-wrt

I did a factory defaults after the reboot, I am not sure if it is needed or not.
Digid
-----------------------------------------------------------------
BIG WARNING - if this is not successful you my 'brick' your router.
There is a TFTP process or JTAG to fix but personal experience - even that sometimes
don't work.

Andy Johnson  KK6JVY

I believe a Ubiquiti node is better suited: higher power, much better suited for outside deployment, much cheaper, supports both those bands and 5.7GHz to boot, and you can cross-band them with an Ethernet switch. Andre, K6AH

The XR3 operates in the 3.4-3.5ghz ham band. the XR9 operates 902-928MHZ as a part 15 device. I would propose using these as linking radio's between clusters of BBHN. There are several SBC options for installing these radio cards, most of which will run Openwrt and dd-wrt.

anyway, just an idea.

73

Marc