mesh documentation
This commit is contained in:
Bob Mottram
parent
5f03afbd6d
commit
61dfa15919
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@ -22,31 +22,41 @@ Mesh networks are useful as a quick way to make a fully decentralised communicat
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* Ready made images
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** Client images
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"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 and used with a laptop/netbook/desktop machine.
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"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.
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[[file:downloads/mesh-client.img.xz][mesh-client.img.xz]]
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GPG signature:
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[[file:downloads/mesh-client.img.xz.sig][mesh-client.img.xz.sig]]
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sha256 hash
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#+begin_src bash
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wget https://freedombone.net/downloads/mesh-client-i386.img.xz
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wget https://freedombone.net/downloads/mesh-client-i386.img.xz.sig
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gpg --verify mesh-client-i386.img.xz.sig
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sha256sum mesh-client-i386.img.xz
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eaf87dcbb17b7d8328fde56005d396d423e51390e4163385c0ee8cfa0844d6f3
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unxz mesh-client-i386.img.xz
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dd bs=1M if=mesh-client-i386.img of=/dev/sdX conv=fdatasync
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#+end_src
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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 *are not recommended* 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.
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#+begin_src bash
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wget https://freedombone.net/downloads/mesh-client-i386-insecure.img.xz
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wget https://freedombone.net/downloads/mesh-client-i386-insecure.img.xz.sig
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gpg --verify mesh-client-i386-insecure.img.xz.sig
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sha256sum mesh-client-i386-insecure.img.xz
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unxz mesh-client-i386-insecure.img.xz
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dd bs=1M if=mesh-client-i386-insecure.img of=/dev/sdX conv=fdatasync
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#+end_src
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** Router images
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Mesh router image for the Beaglebone Black:
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[[file:downloads/mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz][mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz]]
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GPG signature:
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[[file:downloads/mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz.sig][mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz.sig]]
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sha256 hash
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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 move 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.
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*** Beaglebone Black
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#+begin_src bash
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wget https://freedombone.net/downloads/mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz
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wget https://freedombone.net/downloads/mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz.sig
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gpg --verify mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz.sig
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sha256sum mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz
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7e90e0489eff70d7211b2b9b891ba6da20670bedbbe6db3edbb41bc54f7c8679
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unxz mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz
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dd bs=1M if=mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img of=/dev/sdX conv=fdatasync
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#+end_src
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* To build the disk image yourself
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@ -109,3 +119,12 @@ The resulting image can be copied to a microSD card, inserted into a Beaglebone
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#+BEGIN_CENTER
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This site can also be accessed via a Tor browser at [[http://4fvfozz6g3zmvf76.onion][4fvfozz6g3zmvf76.onion]]
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#+END_CENTER
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* How to use it
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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.
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Ensure that you're within wifi range of at least one other mesh peer (could be a router or client) and then you should see that the Tox chat and users icons appear. Select the users icon and you should see a list of users on the mesh. Select the Tox chat icon and once you are connected you should see the status light turn green. If after a few minutes you don't get the green status light then try closing and re-opening the Tox chat application. Select the plus button to add a friend and then copy and paste in a Tox ID from the users list. The other user can then accept or decline your friend request.
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One important point is that by default sound and microphone is turned off. In the top right corner of the screen you can increase the sound volume and enable the microphone if you're doing voice chat.
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At present video doesn't work reliably, but text and voice chat do work well. In future IPFS or Tahoe-LAFS may be added to create a distributed filesystem for the mesh.
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@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
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"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
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<head>
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<!-- 2016-08-29 Mon 23:23 -->
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<!-- 2016-08-30 Tue 11:52 -->
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
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<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
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<title></title>
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@ -255,72 +255,75 @@ for the JavaScript code in this tag.
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Mesh networks are useful as a quick way to make a fully decentralised communications system which is not connected to 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.
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</p>
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<div id="outline-container-orgad9257c" class="outline-2">
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<h2 id="orgad9257c">Ready made images</h2>
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<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-orgad9257c">
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</div><div id="outline-container-org58a10c8" class="outline-3">
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<h3 id="org58a10c8">Client images</h3>
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<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-org58a10c8">
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<div id="outline-container-orgd772d02" class="outline-2">
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<h2 id="orgd772d02">Ready made images</h2>
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<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-orgd772d02">
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</div><div id="outline-container-org3270ae2" class="outline-3">
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<h3 id="org3270ae2">Client images</h3>
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<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-org3270ae2">
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<p>
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"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 and used with a laptop/netbook/desktop machine.
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"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.
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</p>
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<p>
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<a href="downloads/mesh-client.img.xz">mesh-client.img.xz</a>
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</p>
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<p>
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GPG signature:
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</p>
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<p>
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<a href="downloads/mesh-client.img.xz.sig">mesh-client.img.xz.sig</a>
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</p>
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<p>
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sha256 hash
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</p>
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<div class="org-src-container">
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<pre class="src src-bash"></pre>
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</div>
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</div>
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<pre class="src src-bash">wget https://freedombone.net/downloads/mesh-client-i386.img.xz
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wget https://freedombone.net/downloads/mesh-client-i386.img.xz.sig
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gpg --verify mesh-client-i386.img.xz.sig
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sha256sum mesh-client-i386.img.xz
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eaf87dcbb17b7d8328fde56005d396d423e51390e4163385c0ee8cfa0844d6f3
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unxz mesh-client-i386.img.xz
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dd <span class="org-variable-name">bs</span>=1M <span class="org-variable-name">if</span>=mesh-client-i386.img <span class="org-variable-name">of</span>=/dev/sdX <span class="org-variable-name">conv</span>=fdatasync
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</pre>
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</div>
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<div id="outline-container-org9127982" class="outline-3">
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<h3 id="org9127982">Router images</h3>
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<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-org9127982">
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<p>
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Mesh router image for the Beaglebone Black:
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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.
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</p>
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<p>
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<a href="downloads/mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz">mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz</a>
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</p>
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<p>
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GPG signature:
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</p>
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<p>
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<a href="downloads/mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz.sig">mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz.sig</a>
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</p>
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<p>
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sha256 hash
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</p>
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<div class="org-src-container">
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<pre class="src src-bash">7e90e0489eff70d7211b2b9b891ba6da20670bedbbe6db3edbb41bc54f7c8679
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<pre class="src src-bash">wget https://freedombone.net/downloads/mesh-client-i386-insecure.img.xz
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wget https://freedombone.net/downloads/mesh-client-i386-insecure.img.xz.sig
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gpg --verify mesh-client-i386-insecure.img.xz.sig
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sha256sum mesh-client-i386-insecure.img.xz
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unxz mesh-client-i386-insecure.img.xz
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dd <span class="org-variable-name">bs</span>=1M <span class="org-variable-name">if</span>=mesh-client-i386-insecure.img <span class="org-variable-name">of</span>=/dev/sdX <span class="org-variable-name">conv</span>=fdatasync
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</pre>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div id="outline-container-orgec62337" class="outline-3">
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<h3 id="orgec62337">Router images</h3>
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<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-orgec62337">
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<p>
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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 move 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.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div id="outline-container-org1fddd6f" class="outline-4">
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<h4 id="org1fddd6f">Beaglebone Black</h4>
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<div class="outline-text-4" id="text-org1fddd6f">
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<div class="org-src-container">
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<pre class="src src-bash">wget https://freedombone.net/downloads/mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz
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wget https://freedombone.net/downloads/mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz.sig
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gpg --verify mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz.sig
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sha256sum mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz
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7e90e0489eff70d7211b2b9b891ba6da20670bedbbe6db3edbb41bc54f7c8679
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unxz mesh-router-beaglebone-black.img.xz
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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
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</pre>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div id="outline-container-org6b10959" class="outline-2">
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<h2 id="org6b10959">To build the disk image yourself</h2>
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<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-org6b10959">
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<div id="outline-container-orgfb30373" class="outline-2">
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<h2 id="orgfb30373">To build the disk image yourself</h2>
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<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-orgfb30373">
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<p>
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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.
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</p>
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@ -420,6 +423,27 @@ This site can also be accessed via a Tor browser at <a href="http://4fvfozz6g3zm
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div id="outline-container-org4311dfe" class="outline-2">
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<h2 id="org4311dfe">How to use it</h2>
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<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-org4311dfe">
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<p>
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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.
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</p>
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<p>
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Ensure that you're within wifi range of at least one other mesh peer (could be a router or client) and then you should see that the Tox chat and users icons appear. Select the users icon and you should see a list of users on the mesh. Select the Tox chat icon and once you are connected you should see the status light turn green. If after a few minutes you don't get the green status light then try closing and re-opening the Tox chat application. Select the plus button to add a friend and then copy and paste in a Tox ID from the users list. The other user can then accept or decline your friend request.
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</p>
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<p>
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One important point is that by default sound and microphone is turned off. In the top right corner of the screen you can increase the sound volume and enable the microphone if you're doing voice chat.
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</p>
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<p>
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At present video doesn't work reliably, but text and voice chat do work well. In future IPFS or Tahoe-LAFS may be added to create a distributed filesystem for the mesh.
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</p>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div id="postamble" class="status">
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