[Commotion-discuss] Recent use of a Commotion v1.1 node at hacker space fundraiser

Wed Jan 21 18:53:17 EST 2015

Aha, yes, I did try to add an additional wireless interface via on
Quickstart on my first attempt.  However, I found that the resulting
virtual interface declaration in /etc/config/wireless included an erroneous
'channel' option, and it didn't specify device 'radio0'.  So the 2nd AP
didn't appear at all, and I reflashed the node and started over.

I assumed the existing ability for adding an additional wireless interface
via Quickstart for v1.1 for intended for a node with multiple radios, i.e.
where you could specify device radio1, and not for virtual interfaces on a
single-radio node.

On Wed, Jan 21, 2015 at 5:09 PM, Georgia Bullen <
georgia at opentechinstitute.org> wrote:

> I thought it was possible to have a 2nd AP in the current version.... or
> am I confused?
>
> -Georgia
>
> On Wed, Jan 21, 2015 at 3:55 PM, Ben West <ben at gowasabi.net> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for the response.  I do understand problems with nodogsplash have
>> been ongoing (as observed via github chatter), so I hope the switch (back?)
>> to luci-splash serves to resolve issues.  Also, yeah, I had guessed adding
>> quickstart fields supporting an additional private AP would be
>> straightforward.  I can at least confirm Commotion v1.1 appears to tolerate
>> manual edits to support a 2nd AP, although I didn't exhaustively exercise
>> the web UI after making config edits in this case. Also can confirm
>> popularity of  request for 2nd AP in many situations.
>>
>> Wonderful progress from v1.0! Keep up the excellent work!
>> On Jan 21, 2015 2:36 PM, "Josh King" <jking at opentechinstitute.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hey Ben,
>>>
>>> I'm glad to hear it worked well! With regards to the splash screen
>>> issue, we're planning on switching back to an upgraded version of
>>> luci_splash from nodogsplash for a variety of reasons, including general
>>> stability and resource usage. That work should make it into a v1.2
>>> release.
>>>
>>> That's interesting about the private SSID, I'm sure it would be possible
>>> to add functionality for easily adding an additional one into the web
>>> interface.
>>>
>>> On 01/21/2015 02:37 PM, Ben West wrote:
>>> > I ended up being out of town on the day of, but I lent a Nanostation M2
>>> > flashed with the pre-compiled image for Commotion Grumpy Cat v1.1 for
>>> > use this weekend at a local hacker space's fundraiser
>>> > (http://archreactor.org).  I originally set up 2 Nanos, not knowing if
>>> > the wired uplink would be a close enough to the venue location for one
>>> > or two nodes, but they ended up only needing one.
>>> >
>>> > Per request, I manually edited
>>> > /etc/config/{dhcp,firewall,network,wireless} to include an additional
>>> > "lanb" network and WPA2 SSID, w/o captive portal, for use by the
>>> > festival organizers.  Specifically, so they could use Square dongles on
>>> > some tablets to collect ticket sales and whatnot.  I also edited
>>> > /etc/config/qos to set 10M/1M down/up limits on the wan interface, per
>>> > request from the venue providing the uplink.
>>> >
>>> > The single Nanostation worked very well for this purpose, and updating
>>> > minor details like nodogsplash portal welcome blurb via the web UI
>>> > didn't appear to clobber the manual edits I had made to config files.
>>> >
>>> > Positive feedback:
>>> > - The Quickstart setup for both Nanos went just fune, i.e. connecting
>>> to
>>> > the eth0 port via DHCP lease after flashing and then browsing to
>>> > https://thisnode.
>>> > - The additional lanb network/SSID I added to each node maintained its
>>> > NAT/routing just fine, even when the nodes toggled their
>>> > repeater/gateway roles based on which was connected to the wired
>>> uplink.
>>> > - Updating the captive portal welcome blurb via https://thisnode was
>>> > very straightforward for the festival organizer.
>>> >
>>> > Issue observed:
>>> > - The nodogsplash captive portal would timeout occasionally on initial
>>> > capture of the client's port 80 session (i.e. no portal page would
>>> > appear), or clicking on the Internet icon wouldn't reliably follow
>>> > through.  In my own testing, the couple times I observed the portal
>>> page
>>> > display, but click-thru stick, actual Internet access appeared to be
>>> > working thereafter (i.e. I could open another browser tab to wherever).
>>> > On the times when I observed the initial portal page not disaply, I did
>>> > have to open additional browser tabs to get the portal page to
>>> > download.  I think this is a known issue.
>>> >
>>> > Also, I can confirm from this particular festival, and other similar
>>> > community events where a customizable portal is desired, the request
>>> for
>>> > a 2nd private SSID is common.
>>> >
>>> > Finally, the hacker space folks were very happy with how the node
>>> worked
>>> > for them!  No comments from event-goers about any problems using the
>>> > public SSID / portal.
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > Ben West
>>> > http://gowasabi.net
>>> > ben at gowasabi.net <mailto:ben at gowasabi.net>
>>> > 314-246-9434
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > Commotion-discuss mailing list
>>> > Commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>>> > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/commotion-discuss
>>> >
>>>
>>> --
>>> Josh King
>>> Lead Technologist
>>> The Open Technology Institute
>>> http://opentechinstitute.org
>>> PGP Fingerprint: 8269 ED6F EA3B 7D78 F074 1E99 2FDA 4DA1 69AE 4999
>>>
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/commotion-discuss
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Georgia Bullen
> Senior Data Analyst
> Open Technology Institute <http://newamerica.org/oti/> @ New America
> <http://newamerica.org>
> @georgiamoon <http://twitter.com/georgiamoon>
>

-- 
Ben West
http://gowasabi.net
ben at gowasabi.net
314-246-9434
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