[Commotion-discuss] CW Firmware on a Ubiquiti Picostation M2HP

Ben West ben at gowasabi.net
Sun Apr 24 18:55:27 EDT 2016 

Hi Nicolas,

Apologies for the delay in response, and likewise for the sadly unhelpful
response.

I'm afraid I'm not an active developer of CW, so I wouldn't have an answer
for why the auto-configure routine in Commotion doesn't proceed to
completion on the Bullet.  I've actually only used it on Nanostations and
Picostation myself.


On Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 6:08 PM, Nicolas North <star at nikksno.io> wrote:

> Hi there Ben!
>
> Thank you so much again for your help!
>
> Ok great I see. I actually decided in the end to just go ahed and buy[te]
> the bullet [ahahah - pun definitely intended].
>
> I tried flashing commotion from stock firmware without downgrading first
> and it worked!
>
> I’m having trouble accessing the commotion screens though and I can only
> mostly get openwrt-looking old-style pages some of which saying there are
> errors in the page scripts. I got the welcome screen once after rebooting
> the device but as soon as I clicked setup wizard I got  taken back to
> openwrt with some errors or even blank pages with errors printed on them.
>
> This can’t be the firmware lock right? That can only block the
> installation before it begins if it is actually in place if I understand
> correctly.
>
> In any event I’ll try again tomorrow when I get my omni antenna as I’m
> still unsure as to wether it’s ok to keep the device powered on even only
> for configuration purposes without an antenna attached to it.
>
> If reinstalling cw firmware was the way to go, what would be the best way
> to do so?
>
> Thanks again so much to you and the other user for your help!
>
>
> Nicolas
>
>
>
> From: Ben West <ben at gowasabi.net> <ben at gowasabi.net>
> Reply: Ben West <ben at gowasabi.net>> <ben at gowasabi.net>
> Date: 9 Apr 2016 at 18:44:18
>
> To: Nicolas North <star at nikksno.io>> <star at nikksno.io>
> Cc: commotion-discuss <commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net>>
> <commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
> Subject:  Re: [Commotion-discuss] CW Firmware on a Ubiquiti Picostation
> M2HP
>
> Hi Nicolas,
>
> 5GHz products with the firmware locks actually started appearing last
> year.  It's been in the past few months where some 2.4GHz products now have
> locks.  I.e. not just UBNT.
>
> My guess about Ubiquiti M2 products is that the firmware locks possibly
> aren't there yet for all products sitting on distributors' shelves.  I.e.
> purchase one unit from a particular supplier to try out, and then follow up
> with purchasing the remainder once tested successfully (while also ensuring
> the distributor ships you units from the same lot).
>
> Nevetheless, do still try downgrading the version of AirOS on the
> Picostation you have, i.e. to v5.5.10.  That would be the easiest to do
> right away.  Also, when flashing OpenWRT or CW, be sure you are using the
> "bullet" image instead of "nano".
>
> The UBNT Bullet M2 radios likely would have the same risk of uncooperative
> firmware as the Picostations.  They actually share the same stock firmware.
>
>
> On Sat, Apr 9, 2016 at 8:33 AM, Nicolas North <star at nikksno.io> wrote:
>
>> Hi Ben
>>
>> Thank you so much for your help
>>
>> I understand. I’ve heard of this ridiculous news before but hadn’t
>> imagined it was already being applied to actual products.
>>
>> Another user was suggesting using ubnt bullets on 2.4GHz band which from
>> your message I seem to understand are still possibly untouched by these new
>> absurd regulations.
>>
>> Has anyone had any recent experience with ubnt bullet M2HP on cw
>> firmware?
>>
>> If the first one worked do you think it would make sense to purchase all
>> of them now to avoid the risk of them getting locked in-factory in future
>> batches? I was planning on a gradual rollout but if this is the point we’ve
>> gotten to I guess it would make sense to pay for everything upfront.
>>
>> If anyone can give me confirmation I will start the project tomorrow. I
>> absolutely want to start this and now feel like we’re running out of time.
>>
>> Thank you all so much for your help!
>>
>>
>> Nicolas
>>
>>
>>
>> From: Ben West <ben at gowasabi.net> <ben at gowasabi.net>
>> Reply: Ben West <ben at gowasabi.net>> <ben at gowasabi.net>
>> Date: 5 Apr 2016 at 18:35:07
>> To: Nicolas North <star at nikksno.io>> <star at nikksno.io>
>> Cc: commotion-discuss <commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net>>
>> <commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>> Subject:  Re: [Commotion-discuss] CW Firmware on a Ubiquiti Picostation
>> M2HP
>>
>> Please be aware Ubiquity is gradually rolling out updates to their stock
>> firmware that will block flashing 3rd party firmware like Commotion
>> Wireless (and by extension OpenWRT and DD-WRT).  Right now such locks are
>> in place on new 5.8GHz gear (e.g. Nanostation M5's), and possibly they will
>> start appearing on 2.4GHz gear.  The reasons for these locks are quite
>> specious (in my opinion), and they were spurred by recent FCC decisions,
>> about which you can read here:
>> https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Save_WiFi/Individual_Comments
>>
>> Current versions of OpenWRT and DD-WRT may be to work around such locks,
>> e.g. DD-WRT loading while OpenWRT does not, but Commotion Wireless itself
>> will lag behind the latest version of OpenWRT by some margin.
>>
>> A common recommendation I've read to work-around such locks is to first
>> downgrade the stock AirOS firmware to an older version, e.g. v5.5.10, and
>> from there flash Commotion Wireless.
>>
>> Again, do please note underlying issue is that the radio manufacturer
>> themselves are beginning to lock out anything but their own stock
>> firmware.  The extent to which such locks have been implemented appears to
>> vary from product to product (e.g. certain things are locked on new
>> Picostations which aren't locked on Nanostations or Rockets), but
>> downgrading the stock firmware and then flashing to 3rd party is a common
>> recommendation I've read.
>>
>> Long term outlook, unfortunately, is that OpenWRT and DD-WRT eventually
>> will be barred entirely from all wifi products that operate on 5.8GHz band,
>> along with some 2.4GHz products too.  Generally, this is applies only to
>> the USA, but many device manufacturers are implementing the locks
>> universally, regardless of country where the device is sold.
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 5, 2016 at 6:42 AM, Nicolas North <star at nikksno.io> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi there!
>>>
>>> Thank you so much for your reply.
>>>
>>> This is an important problem as the picostations are great in terms of
>>> coverage / price ratio. I’m now looking at other ubiquiti devices but the
>>> antennas for the ubnt rocket cost more than the rockets themselves. I’m
>>> trying to figure out how much larger the range would be with rockets + omni
>>> antennas.
>>>
>>> Could I ask you which devices you’ve switched to or are planning to
>>> switch to given the impossibility of using picostations with cw firmwares
>>> at the moment?
>>>
>>> Do other cw-supported devices have the same reliability, quality and
>>> price as ubiquiti devices?
>>>
>>> I have to cover all houses [meaning the inside of houses in practically
>>> every room with decent signal] inside a living complex 120 meters wide and
>>> 100 meters long with lots of exterior spaces. The APs would all be on
>>> rooftops no higher than two storeys above the ground. I’m thinking of
>>> sticking with 2.4GHz for now as it reaches better inside houses.
>>>
>>> Thank you again and thanks to all who’d like to share some advice for
>>> this project! :)
>>>
>>>
>>> Nicolas
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> From: d***@***.net
>>> Reply: d***@***.net
>>> Date: 3 Apr 2016 at 19:59:34
>>> To: Nicolas North <star at nikksno.io> <star at nikksno.io>
>>> Subject:  RE: [Commotion-discuss] CW Firmware on a Ubiquiti Picostation
>>> M2HP
>>>
>>> We have a small mesh project we're working on here in Vermont, U.S.A.
>>> We have found that we are unable to install Commotion on recent models of
>>> Ubiquiti Picostation. Commotion says others have found that Picostation
>>> version v5.6.x and above is incompatible with Commotion, but that probably
>>> it wouldn't load at all rather than not being configuarable as in our case.
>>> Anyway, we aren't going to buy anymore Picostaions. Maybe this relates to
>>> your problem.
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: "Nicolas North" <star at nikksno.io>
>>> Sent: Sunday, April 3, 2016 11:41am
>>> To: commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>>> Subject: [Commotion-discuss] CW Firmware on a Ubiquiti Picostation M2HP
>>>
>>> Hi everybody!
>>>
>>> I’m looking to start a mesh network here in Milano [Italia] where I live
>>> and I need some help :)
>>>
>>> I have a ubiquiti picosta tion m2hp that I can’t get to work with the cw
>>> openwrt firmware.
>>>
>>> I downloaded the factory image from the website and followed the
>>> guide but after I uploaded the new firmware from the airmax web interface
>>> and after the pico rebooted it only had the power and network lights on and
>>> seemed to create no network at all: it didn’t provide any dhcp so I tried
>>> to connect to it manually by setting ip address and netmask on my macbook
>>> and trying all kinds of stuff but I had no success.
>>>
>>> I tried it the tftp way then but it failed with a 512 "firmware check
>>> failed" error code. So I tried flashing three different pure openwrt
>>> firmwares onto it but it kept failing with the same code.
>>>
>>> I tried ddwrt out of curiosity and it works perfectly.
>>>
>>> I was never able to get it back to airmax thought: tftp doesn’t fail but
>>> after it reboots it gets stuck in a 20 second bootloop and even after power
>>> cycling it it keeps restarting and never becomes reachable. Do you think I
>>> could try at least reverting it to airmax from the ddwrt web interface?
>>>
>>> I have tried compiling openwrt from scratch specifically with the ath9k
>>> drivers but after three hours of compilation it still fails via tftp with
>>> the same error.
>>>
>>> I’m using the bullet image as instructed.
>>>
>>> The pico is brand new so I don’t want to open it and void the warranty.
>>>
>>> What can I do to fix this?
>>>
>>> Thank you very much in advance!
>>>
>>>
>>> Nicolas
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Commotion-discuss mailing list
>>> Commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>>> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/commotion-discuss
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Ben West
>> http://gowasabi.net
>> ben at gowasabi.net
>> 314-246-9434
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Ben West
> http://gowasabi.net
> ben at gowasabi.net
> 314-246-9434
>
>


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