[Commotion-discuss] Technical User Guide

Andrew Reynolds andrew.reynolds34 at gmail.com
Tue Oct 4 09:03:03 CDT 2011 

That is an excellent suggestion, and one that's been on our minds here
at OTI as well.

We're trying to cover so much ground that even our more advanced users
are likely to get stuck at some point. My goal is to be able to identify
the common sticking points and give some sort of suggestion even if a
full answer is not available.

My focus right now is on overhauling the project site. Some of the
things I plan to add are development task lists, how-to documents (such
as you've suggested below), and a more useful navigation scheme. We're
also splitting the "What is Commotion"-type material off onto a separate
site, which should help us organize the technical and non-technical
documentation a little more easily.

In the mean time, please keep sending questions and suggestions to the
list. I want to be sure all of this material makes it to the project site.

-andrew

On 10/04/2011 07:25 AM, memnoch Dookie wrote:
> 
> Dear Admin,
> 
> I would like to add on to Laurence's request below, besides a
> non-technical user guide, is it possible to also include a technical
> user guide?
> 
> Points to include in the user guide could be 1) what to download and
> where 2) how to reverse engineering your router or mobile with
> commotion 3) what configuration is required 4) how to create a mesh
> network after having a couple of commotion-enabled UE devices and on
> to other more advanced topics, but that could just be a start
> 
> I also like to point out that there are problems with the user login
> feature on the website, or is that not required afterall?
> 
> Hope that this does not come across as a demand but rather a
> suggestion, I love the idea and will work towards creating a mesh
> network for seniors to save on mobility costs.
> 
> Thank you, Vincent
>> 
>> 
>> Today's Topics:
>> 
>> 1. Re: New here & International Development applications (Brian
>> Duggan)
>> 
>> 
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> 
Message: 1
>> Date: Sun, 02 Oct 2011 18:23:05 -0400 From: Brian Duggan
>> <bcdugga at gmail.com> To: laurence bascle <lbascle at gmail.com> Cc:
>> commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net Subject: Re:
>> [Commotion-discuss] New here & International Development 
>> applications Message-ID: <4E88E449.1020104 at gmail.com> Content-Type:
>> text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>> 
>> Hi Laurence,
>> 
>> Great to hear you're interested in the project, and thanks for
>> your thoughtful questions. I'll answer them as best I can for now.
>> Responses inline.
>> 
>> On Thu Sep 29 12:38:25 2011, laurence bascle wrote:
>>> Hi there,
>>> 
>>> better late than never! I also discovered Commotion via Le
>>> Monde's article (so this is almost a french speaker thread! ;),
>>> and currently working in the non-profit/human rights sector, I
>>> was obviously thrilled. I am Technical Project Manager though not
>>> a dev myself, and as such tend to think more of the gap between
>>> developers and users/potential stakeholders. I believe it would
>>> be great to get more plain language documentation (as accessible
>>> say, as the so-successful-LeMonde-article) to promote the concept
>>> and the progress of the project to potential
>>> community/institutional users. Because the people who will use it
>>> are ultimately not devs, but say emergency field workers and
>>> Human Rights Defenders (HRDs)! This in turn might totally
>>> influence your roadmap (and if you have some vague idea to 
>>> service the 'third sector', then better develop something fits
>>> their need).
>>> 
>>> I have seen this wiki entry which is a great start I think 
>>> https://tech.chambana.net/projects/commotion/wiki/Newbie_How_it_Works
>>>
>>> 
but as a non-dev there are still a few things I am struggling to
>>> understand:
>>> 
>>> 1) what are the USPs (Unique Selling Points) of this project
>>> compared to other open source wireless mesh networks initiatives
>>> already used (like OLPC 
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLPC_XO-1#Wireless_mesh_networking.
>>> Oh actually just reading that "Although one goal of the laptop is
>>> that all of its software be open source 
>>> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source>, the source code for
>>> this routing protocol is currently closed source" booh!). I
>>> understand one is the integration with TOR, but any others?
>> 
>> The concept behind Commotion is to make the barrier to entry into
>> a local mesh network as low as possible while leveraging the
>> inherent benefits of mesh networks.
>> 
>> Most existing mesh network platforms require a significant amount
>> of networking knowledge of users and deployers. A mesh device
>> running Commotion will require the minimum amount of configuration
>> from the user. The pre-release of Commotion basically reduces this
>> configuration to selecting the name of a mesh network to start or
>> join.
>> 
>> No mesh platforms include a set of commonly-used services or
>> services that are suited to take advantage of the unique
>> characteristics of mesh networks. Commotion will include
>> anonymization, encryption, and communication services by default.
>> Commotion distributions for end user devices will also include a
>> services browser. This tool will display local services that have
>> been deployed on the mesh network like video, chat, streaming
>> radio, and any other services that communities choose to deploy on
>> their networks.
>> 
>> Existing mesh platforms target a very narrow set of hardware,
>> severely limiting deployment. Commotion already targets the most
>> common wifi hardware, but will also be available for as many
>> consumer wifi devices as possible. Commotion will target consumer-
>> and professional-grade wireless routers, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux,
>> and mobile phones. The goal is to increase the quality of the
>> infrastructure by encouraging users to deploy Commotion on as many
>> devices as possible.
>> 
>>> 
>>> 2) how is the access to the internet addressed, and bandwidth in 
>>> particular (access to a wider network for HRDs for example is 
>>> strategically crucial). It would be good to have a non-tech
>>> version of why/how 100s can access the internet through the one
>>> point/computer and what kind of speed they can expect.
>>> 
>> 
>> A mesh network does not include Internet access by default. At
>> least one mesh node must be connected to the Internet to provide
>> Internet access to other nodes within the mesh. The quality of that
>> Internet access would then, of course, be dependent on the quality
>> of the link of that single node, or "backhaul". But since wireless
>> links between nodes are inherently lossy, the quality of the
>> Internet connection for any node within the network would also
>> depend on the number of links, or "hops", between it and the
>> backhaul node. It would also depend on the quality of those hops.
>> 
>> But a mesh network can also utilize multiple backhauls. The more 
>> backhauls that users can incorporate into the mesh, the more
>> robust Internet access will be. More backhauls - even low-quality
>> backhauls - will at the very least decrease the number of hops for
>> some nodes in a mesh.
>> 
>> That said, developing a very basic non-techy table of number of 
>> backhauls vs backhaul quality vs number of hops would certainly be 
>> helpful, and we will attempt to incorporate this into our
>> non-technical documents as we go forward.
>> 
>>> 3) Commotion routers and their role, and access from say deep
>>> Rural Northern Uganda.
>>> 
>> 
>> One of the primary benefits of a mesh network is its unique
>> capacity to distribute local services to mesh participants without
>> Internet backhauls. For example, in my hometown we have a low-power
>> FM radio station whose range has been severely limited by the
>> geography of the area. Once my community deploys mesh nodes, we can
>> start a very simple network service at the station that will stream
>> the audio from the soundboard out to any user on the mesh,
>> effectively extending the range of the radio station without any
>> Internet access.
>> 
>> Rural areas are egregiously underserved by commercial Internet
>> service providers, but a mesh network reduces the need for Internet
>> service in the first place. By encouraging hyper-local services and
>> communication, communities can reduce their dependence on
>> commercial Internet service providers.
>> 
>> Further, mesh networks can be connected to other mesh networks
>> very easily. Mesh node radios within a village may be low-power or
>> only use low-gain antennas. But a high-power, directional radio
>> could connect a village mesh with any other village mesh within
>> range. This would connect multiple rural villages to each other the
>> same way that villagers are connected to each other by their local
>> mesh. Local services in one village could be extended to other
>> villages.
>> 
>> Then, if one village acquired a sufficiently high-data-rate
>> Internet backhaul, that backhaul could be shared with other
>> villages.
>> 
>>> Ok, that's a lot to address, but hopefully there will be a few
>>> people out there who are able to answer! I'd suggest best done
>>> via the wiki, and then send us a link, thanks!
>>> 
>> 
>> Great idea. I think these answers should go on our upcoming 
>> non-technical site. Meanwhile, feel free to respond with your
>> thoughts.
>> 
>>> PS: wasn't chambana down yesterday?
>>> 
>> 
>> Yes, it was. Our apologies. We're working to upgrade access to the 
>> Commotion source code. It's up now, and all public-facing
>> functionality has been restored.
>> 
>> Thanks! Brian
>> 
>>> Laurence
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Fri, Sep 2, 2011 at 6:00 PM, 
>>> <commotion-discuss-request at lists.chambana.net 
>>> <mailto:commotion-discuss-request at lists.chambana.net>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Send Commotion-discuss mailing list submissions to 
>>> commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net 
>>> <mailto:commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>>> 
>>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit 
>>> http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/commotion-discuss or,
>>> via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to 
>>> commotion-discuss-request at lists.chambana.net 
>>> <mailto:commotion-discuss-request at lists.chambana.net>
>>> 
>>> You can reach the person managing the list at 
>>> commotion-discuss-owner at lists.chambana.net 
>>> <mailto:commotion-discuss-owner at lists.chambana.net>
>>> 
>>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more
>>> specific than "Re: Contents of Commotion-discuss digest..."
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Today's Topics:
>>> 
>>> 1. Re: New here (Yann Forget) 2. Re: New here (L. Aaron Kaplan) 
>>> 3. Introducing myself. (Merouan Mekouar)
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>
>>> 
Message: 1
>>> Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2011 00:19:58 +0530 From: Yann Forget
>>> <yannfo at gmail.com <mailto:yannfo at gmail.com>> To: F L
>>> <legendre at tik.ee.ethz.ch <mailto:legendre at tik.ee.ethz.ch>>, 
>>> commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net 
>>> <mailto:commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net> Subject: Re:
>>> [Commotion-discuss] New here Message-ID:
>>> 
>>> <CAKcJoPk0eSJwuBCU2N-_cX0fUPBFCMajnrB7YqBP-pC=jxtY5Q at mail.gmail.com
>>>
>>> 
<mailto:jxtY5Q at mail.gmail.com>>
>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>>> 
>>> 2011/9/1 F L <legendre at tik.ee.ethz.ch 
>>> <mailto:legendre at tik.ee.ethz.ch>>:
>>>> Hi Yann, Since you're in India, are you aware
>>>> of?http://drupal.airjaldi.com/
>>> 
>>> Yes, I wrote to them.
>>> 
>>>> Cheers, -- Franck
>>> 
>>> Regards,
>>> 
>>> Yann
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------
>>> 
>>> Message: 2 Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2011 20:59:31 +0200 From: "L. Aaron
>>> Kaplan" <aaron at lo-res.org <mailto:aaron at lo-res.org>> To: Yann
>>> Forget <yannfo at gmail.com <mailto:yannfo at gmail.com>> Cc:
>>> commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net 
>>> <mailto:commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net>, F L 
>>> <legendre at tik.ee.ethz.ch <mailto:legendre at tik.ee.ethz.ch>> 
>>> Subject: Re: [Commotion-discuss] New here Message-ID:
>>> <DF7F2CE4-1C42-4B9D-B062-6AFF77EA2B8D at lo-res.org 
>>> <mailto:DF7F2CE4-1C42-4B9D-B062-6AFF77EA2B8D at lo-res.org>> 
>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Sep 1, 2011, at 8:49 PM, Yann Forget wrote:
>>> 
>>>> 2011/9/1 F L <legendre at tik.ee.ethz.ch
>>> <mailto:legendre at tik.ee.ethz.ch>>:
>>>>> Hi Yann, Since you're in India, are you aware of
>>>>> http://drupal.airjaldi.com/
>>>> 
>>>> Yes, I wrote to them.
>>> 
>>> Hehe, I proposed the same :)
>>> 
>>> 
>>> a.
>>> 
>>> 
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>>> 
------------------------------
>>> 
>>> Message: 3 Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2011 12:10:42 -0400 From: Merouan
>>> Mekouar <merouanm at gmail.com <mailto:merouanm at gmail.com>> To:
>>> commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net 
>>> <mailto:commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net> Subject:
>>> [Commotion-discuss] Introducing myself. Message-ID:
>>> 
>>> <CAK1MRQf8wwGUwKo1Vm0zvwxfiGPbfG4WVU5FJD7zs6Aon_PUvQ at mail.gmail.com
>>>
>>> 
<mailto:CAK1MRQf8wwGUwKo1Vm0zvwxfiGPbfG4WVU5FJD7zs6Aon_PUvQ at mail.gmail.com>>
>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>> 
>>> Hi everyone,
>>> 
>>> My name is Merouan, I am a PhD student in Political Science at
>>> McGill University - Montr?al. I also heard about commotion
>>> through the french website lemonde.fr <http://lemonde.fr> and I
>>> immediately fell in love with the project!!
>>> 
>>> I am currently doing my research on the concept of
>>> "informational cascades" or why random instances of street
>>> protest spiral in some cases and not others (for instance, I am
>>> trying to understand why would the self-immolation of a street
>>> vendor trigger massive protests in Tunisia and not elsewhere in
>>> the Arab world). Nothing tech related as you can see but I do
>>> speak/write Arabic and French fluently and would be very very 
>>> happy to help with translations or anything else if need be.
>>> 
>>> Again, I would like to congratulate all those working on the 
>>> project. Coming from the Arab world, I can only testify on the
>>> importance of a free (and secure) access to the internet for the
>>> defence of individual freedoms.
>>> 
>>> Cheers!
>>> 
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>>>
>>> 
------------------------------
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________ Commotion-discuss
>>> mailing list Commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net 
>>> <mailto:Commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net> 
>>> http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/commotion-discuss
>>> 
>>> 
>>> End of Commotion-discuss Digest, Vol 2, Issue 2 
>>> ***********************************************
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -- Laurence Bascle Technical Project Manager mob: +44 7739 189
>>> 035 skype: lbascle
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________ Commotion-discuss
>>> mailing list Commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net 
>>> http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/commotion-discuss
>> 
>> --
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ------------------------------
>> 
>> _______________________________________________ Commotion-discuss
>> mailing list Commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net 
>> http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/commotion-discuss
>> 
>> 
>> End of Commotion-discuss Digest, Vol 3, Issue 2 
>> ***********************************************
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________ Commotion-discuss
> mailing list Commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net 
> http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/commotion-discuss

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