GettingStartedEN
[Bearbeiten] Introduction
Freifunk firmware is a very cool version of Open WRT that allows you to create a mesh network of routers. You can simply connect additional routers to extend the network, and it pretty much takes care of itself. It is for example used in Afghanistan to make Mesh networks for schools as part of the "One Laptop Per Child"-project. It can avoid the need to cable the school and making deployment simpler.
Unfortunately documentation, at least in English, is somewhat lacking...
This tutorial has been tested on a Ubuntu 8.10 Machine with a D-Link DIR 300 Router. This was the one we had recommended to use (it's price to hardware specs ratio is pretty good). However it should in theory work with anything that supports Openwrt. If you are not using a DIR 300 then obviously the DIR 300 flash script and the referenced files do not apply - it should be flashed the normal tftp way the same as open wrt.
[Bearbeiten] Getting Started
1. Install a tftp server on your machine - from the command line run:
$sudo apt-get install tftpd-hpa
2. Download the Dir 300 Flash script (http://x-alina.freifunk-potsdam.de/downloads/dir300-flash/) to any directory on your machine:
$wget http://x-alina.freifunk-potsdam.de/downloads/dir300-flash/dir300-flash-1.0.0.tar.gz $tar xzvf dir300-flash-0.9.9.tar.gz $cd dir300-flash $make install
3. Download into the newly extracted dir300-flash folder the firmware files:
$cd dir300-flash $wget http://firmware.leipzig.freifunk.net/kamikaze/atheros/openwrt-atheros-root.squashfs $wget http://firmware.leipzig.freifunk.net/kamikaze/atheros/openwrt-atheros-vmlinux.lzma
(or the one corresponding to the hardware you intend to run).
4. Flash the router:
- "cd" into the dir300-flash directory that was created.
- Plug in the ethernet cable to the WAN socket on the back of the router to your computer's first ethernet interface (eth0)
- Execute the script "/dir300-flash.sh"
- Wait for the script to complete. Make sure that the router will not get unplugged during this time!
5. Configuration:
For this let's assume that we are creating a Mesh under a private IP range (e.g. 192.168.25.x) .
- Take the Ethernet cable from the WAN socket into the LAN socket
- Open your browser and go to 192.168.1.1
- Username is "root", password at this stage is blank
- Select Freifunk → Freifunkassistent
- The IP-address comes from putting Freifunknetz + Subnetz (Projekt) + Knoten together. For the moment I am using
Freifunknetz = 192.168 Subnetz (Projekt) = 25 Knoten = 18
6. If this is the router that will be connected to the Internet or wider network then check the box 'Eigenen Internetzugang freigeben'
7. Click submit, then save and apply. This will take some time and there might be some errors in your browser. Don't worry...
8. Under essid enter the normal essid that you want – this should be the same amongst all routers.
9. Under Netzprefix enter the same as per Freifunknetz – 192.168 for example
10. Click save and apply
11. Click Network → Wifi → Wifi0 then choose a channel. Of course make sure to use the same channel with the different routers.
12. Click Network → Interfaces → Wifi0 and change the netmask to 255.255.255.0
13. Put a sticker on this router and then put it somewhere to the side. Repeat the procedure with another router giving it a different Knoten (node) number.
14. Make sure that both routers are powered on and within range of each other. Wait a few minutes...
15. Click status → OLSR → Routen. You should see the other router's IP listed here
16. From your client computer try to ping the IP of the other router that is now connected through the mesh – e.g. ping 192.168.25.18
[Bearbeiten] Troubleshooting / Additional Notes
We are using Freifunk to create a wireless backbone – one can use one router as an access point then connect it to other routers running Freifunk that form the backbone – this is still under testing but seems to be co-operating as of right now.
