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mesh documentation

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Bob Mottram 2016-08-30 13:04:05 +01:00
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website/EN/mesh.html
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"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
<head>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
<title></title>
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Mesh networks are useful as a quick way to make a fully decentralised communications system which is not connected to or reliant upon the internet. Think festivals, hacker conferences, onboard ships at sea, disaster/war zones, small business internal office communications, protests, remote areas of the world, scientific expeditions and off-world space colonies. All the cool stuff. The down side is that you can't access any internet content. The upside is that you can securely communicate with anyone on the local mesh. No ISPs. No payments or subscriptions beyond the cost of obtaining the hardware. Systems need to be within wifi range of each other for the mesh to be created. It can be an ultra-convenient way to do purely local communications.
</p>
<div id="outline-container-orge45c964" class="outline-2">
<h2 id="orge45c964">Ready made images</h2>
<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-orge45c964">
</div><div id="outline-container-org3985b84" class="outline-3">
<h3 id="org3985b84">Client images</h3>
<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-org3985b84">
<div id="outline-container-org6c42146" class="outline-2">
<h2 id="org6c42146">Ready made images</h2>
<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-org6c42146">
</div><div id="outline-container-org23d3e1e" class="outline-3">
<h3 id="org23d3e1e">Client images</h3>
<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-org23d3e1e">
<p>
"Client" isn't exactly the right term, but it's a mesh peer with a user interface. These images can be copied to a USB drive, then you can plug it into a laptop/netbook/desktop machine and boot from it. You will probably also need an Atheros USB wifi dongle, because most built-in wifi usually requires proprietary firmware. In the commands below substitute /dev/sdX with the USB drive device, excluding any trailing numbers (eg. /dev/sdb).
</p>
@ -278,6 +278,10 @@ sudo dd <span class="org-variable-name">bs</span>=1M <span class="org-variable-n
</pre>
</div>
<p>
To get a number of systems onto the mesh repeat the <i>dd</i> command to create however many bootable USB drives you need.
</p>
<p>
If you're in an emergency and don't have Atheros wifi dongles then there is also an "insecure" image which contains some proprietary wifi drivers which may work with a wider range of laptops. Proprietary drivers <b>are not recommended</b> because they're unsupportable and may be exploitable or contain malicious antifeatures which fundamentally compromise the security of the network. However, the trade-off between security/maintainability and simply having the ability to communicate at all may be a valid one in some situations.
</p>
@ -297,16 +301,16 @@ sudo dd <span class="org-variable-name">bs</span>=1M <span class="org-variable-n
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-orgd78876a" class="outline-3">
<h3 id="orgd78876a">Router images</h3>
<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-orgd78876a">
<div id="outline-container-orgcb6db0b" class="outline-3">
<h3 id="orgcb6db0b">Router images</h3>
<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-orgcb6db0b">
<p>
Routers are intended to build network coverage for an area using small and low cost hardware. You can bolt them to walls or leave them on window ledges. They don't have any user interface and their only job is to haul network traffic across the mesh. Copy the image to a microSD card and insert it into the router, plug in an Atheros wifi dongle and power on. That should be all you need to do.
</p>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org24036e7" class="outline-4">
<h4 id="org24036e7">Beaglebone Black</h4>
<div class="outline-text-4" id="text-org24036e7">
<div id="outline-container-org19a77dc" class="outline-4">
<h4 id="org19a77dc">Beaglebone Black</h4>
<div class="outline-text-4" id="text-org19a77dc">
<div class="org-src-container">
<pre class="src src-bash">sudo apt-get install xz-utils wget
@ -319,14 +323,18 @@ unxz mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz
sudo dd <span class="org-variable-name">bs</span>=1M <span class="org-variable-name">if</span>=mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img <span class="org-variable-name">of</span>=/dev/sdX <span class="org-variable-name">conv</span>=fdatasync
</pre>
</div>
<p>
If you have a few Beaglebone Blacks to use as routers then repeat the <i>dd</i> command to create however many microSD cards you need.
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-orgae92e8f" class="outline-2">
<h2 id="orgae92e8f">To build the disk image yourself</h2>
<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-orgae92e8f">
<div id="outline-container-org6aac01f" class="outline-2">
<h2 id="org6aac01f">To build the disk image yourself</h2>
<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-org6aac01f">
<p>
It's better not to trust images downloaded from random places on the interwebs. Chances are that unless you are in the web of trust of the above GPG signatures then they don't mean very much to you. If you actually want something trustworthy then build the images from scratch. It will take some time. Here's how to do it.
</p>
@ -421,9 +429,9 @@ The resulting image can be copied to a microSD card, inserted into a Beaglebone
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-orge48cc64" class="outline-2">
<h2 id="orge48cc64">How to use it</h2>
<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-orge48cc64">
<div id="outline-container-org151877c" class="outline-2">
<h2 id="org151877c">How to use it</h2>
<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-org151877c">
<p>
When you first boot from the USB drive the system will create some encryption keys, assign a unique network address to the system and then reboot itself. When that's done you should see a prompt asking for a username. This username just makes it easy for others to initially find you on the mesh and will appear in the list of users.
</p>