OK, if access by IP works, but the names do not, then that means that SOMETHING is not letting the DNS work properly.

If it ALSO will not respond to NODENAME.austin.tx.us.mesh, then DNS is really not working.

Go into your PC's network settings, the Local Area Connection properties, IPv4 properties, and make the FIRST DNS SERVER entry 172.27.0.1 (or node's LAN IP), and move any regular internet DNS servers to secondary/tertiary (may have to click the ADVANCED tab to add more).

If you are both on the mesh AND on the internet, this will NOT affect internet access. It just forces the PC to check the node DNS first, which for regular stuff will fail and fallover to the secondary/tertiary and continue on.

Try that and let me know what happens.

KTF

I have my first node up and running. However, it's a one node mesh at this point as there are no others in Colorado Springs.

I'll have a few mode modded up and ready to pass out to HAMs in the area in a week or so :) 

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 HSMM-Mesh-Node1.jpg [209 KB] ::

Yep. That's the same with the WRT54G3G-ST (Sprint Version):
http://hsmm-mesh.org/hsmm-mesh-forums/view-postlist/forum-2-hardware/topic-257-wrt54g3g-st.html

What is the 4 byte header for the AT&T version?

I can not say what kind of manual configuration is needed in that case, but the primary goal of HSMM-MESH unlike a herd of other projects is to create a plug-and-play solution to lower the entry level of computer knowledge required, so that more hams would be able to join the mesh.In that case extra configuration vs extra protection is definitely to be solved in favor of an easier solution.

Also is showing the amateur face on commercial devices really such a bad idea? I have seen a lot of people willing to impose technical protection against non-ham use, but look at the older tech - there is nothing to stop a non-licensed person from buying a VHF radio and start using your repeater. Nor buying an HF radio and start transmitting all over the world. There are legal ways to stop them, but not technical. And if the person needs this kind of communication so badly he might as well turn into a new ham, that's simple. Same here. If the person is not only tech savvy, but also a little bit smart, he will first google the name and come to this website. And no matter how you protect, he will flash his router and be a part of the mesh.

The only thing that is really so different between now and then is the Internet access through the mesh. But this is a grey area anyway, and a wise ham would not open the whole Internet to the mesh, but rather allow access to specific services like DX cluster, maybe QRZ.com, etc. Don't forget that any banners you carry is "radiocommunications in support of business activities", and if you give access to a news website, this is "commercially recorded material", so be wise. And if a script-kiddie is still interested in your network after all these limitations, you are probably looking at a future ham.

The FCC mandated callsign ID occurs with OLSR node name advertisements, not with ad-hoc beacon packets.

"Hiding" the SSID will absolutely break the ad-hoc network, which has an SSID of HSMM-MESH. These beacons advertise to other nearby nodes, and are part of how the thing works, including self-healing and mobile nodes joining new neighbors.

Hiding SSIDs is a bad idea anyway. It doesn't actually secure anything, and clients that connect to (and store for later) a hidden network will frequently send a beacon request. Is KD0NRC-HOME there? Is KD0NRC-OFFICE there? etc. This opens up the possibility for automated evil twin attacks using what's known as KARMA. Read up on Jasager and how it works. The stuff is evil. I gave a pretty interesting presentation to a security conference a few years ago, wherein I roped in dozens of unwitting network devices and captured many session cookies for websites, all because these people had one or more "hidden" SSIDs saved.

Finally: Addresses aren't handed out via DHCP. Address negotiation, routing information and all of that is handled by OLSR. Your average joe, or even your fairly-savvy, internet-addicted freak next door probably won't figure out how to route to other nodes by setting their card to ad-hoc mode on SSID HSMM-MESH. Even if they use a sniffer and find the addresses, it'll be tedious. The best way for someone to access HSMM unauthorized would require them to install and configure OLSR on a linux laptop.

Although HSMM basically relies on security through obscurity, the barrier to entry is reasonably high. I'll be frank with you: if someone is that knowledgable, hiding the SSID isn't going to do you a darn bit of good anyway. They'll see 802.11 and be able to get the SSID from the ethernet frames with any sniffer and a decent monitor-mode WiFi card.

This may be just the thing for providing DC power to your router through the Ethernet cable ($2 sounds cheap to me). 

http://underdesign.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/make-your-own-power-over-ethernet-injector/

Hey,

I have converted a WRT54G3G-AT (the ATT version) to HSMM-MESH yesterday. The firmware from the HSMM website did not upload on it because the header is for a generic WRT54G3G. The trick was to edit the header at the beginning of the file with an Hex editor. Contact me if you run in the same problem. The principle of the fix should work for all the versions (-AT, -ST, -VN in the US and -EU,-EM in Europe).

The node ( W5-F6CNB-160 ) is setup  and running inside the house in Frelsburg, Texas. The next step will be to find the coax of my 60ft high wifi omni antenna on the tower. It may take a little bit as I'll probably have to climb the tower and I have no plan to do it by 100F (40C) temperature.

73s Remi W5/F6CNB

Hi!
I've not been here in a couple of years.
I still have 4 nodes with very old firmware and need to get updated and see what's new.
Please forgive me if this has already been discussed, but I'd like to suggest maybe a small focus on
HMMS-MESH on some more generic or even radioless equipment (OLSRD) preconfigured or published with template config files designed to run on  inexpensive radioless boxes that run Linux.
As well on small PCs retired laptops & the like.
One of my HMMS-MESS nodes was always a windows XP laptop with it's card in ad-hoc mode, and it worked great. It required *some* manual setup to make it play with the rest of the WRTs but it worked well.

It's a bit disturbing to see that the latest & greatest version is still oinly really available for the same old hardware (and one type of hardware) from a few years ago

Maybe an effort for a secondary or generic non radio specific realease targeted for small box hardware
might worthwhile?
it's really easy to grab anything that will run DD-WRT put the wireless interface in AD-HOC mode, set the SSID and channel and set it to bridge to the ethernet on a device running olsrd.
Or running OLSRD all setup for HSMM-MESH right on DD-WRT or OPenWRT might be a possibility as well.. on many other hardware devices.

-Steve N8LBV  

You didn't lose a router, you gained two spare antennas. 

I've converted a few routers into spare parts sources myself.

I gave an impromptu presentation on HSMM tonight at the Pikes Peak radio club meeting. The response was far above what I anticipated. I expect that Colorado Springs may have a mesh very soon. 

A couple of additional hints:

1) Sometimes, windows is batstuff crazy in the way it handles network interfaces, especially once it's connected and the IP address changes.  Sometimes you have to power off of the PC, or at least a reboot is needed.  What's particularly infuriating is that it may work right 10 times in a row, and then completely fail the 11th time you try the same thing. 

2) Sometimes the WRT-54s get screwy when flashing and you need to unplug the power overnight. 

I dug out my old v1 but could not find the power supply. A little research pointed me to a 12v 1a requirement. I found one and plugged it in. Pop sound, silicone sweet out of the SoC and a putrid smell. It's dead.

The really sad part was that I saw on this site, not 5 minutes later that it needed 5v 2a. More sad is that I HAD that power supply the whole time but wrote it off as a mystery because the internet said it needed 12v.

The lesson... I don't know but I'm sad. I was trying to work up a quick demo for a HAM club meet tonight.