Re: [PLUG] PLUG Wireless/ Co-op?

[Noah silva <nsilva@atari-source.com>]

Well I would think that the base stations would all be on a private
network with private IP addresses, and if they connected to the internet
at all, there would probably be NAT.  

I was more or less asking if 802.11x had any hand-off mechanism, but it
sounds like you just said "no, but if they are set up the same, the card
might not notice".

I am thinking of the situation where I am using my laptop, typing in
telnet, in the back of a cab... I press a key, it goes to base A, and then
I leave base A's range.  I get to base B, and then the server sends back a
packet which echos my keystroke.  That packet goes to base B?

I suppose to figure that sort of thing out, you would have to know the
details of how the 802.11 to ethernet bridging was implemented.  Does it
just operate in promiscuous mode, and bridge the IPs of all the wireless
cards it sees in range?

I thought that the 802.11 basically hadn't been designed to hand-off from
base to base, which was why I was asking.

As for Ricochet, there are two basic local modes:
a.) Emulated Modem.  You type "ATDT <remote modem's MAC address>".  It
connects... it acts like a modem.  If you go out of range you get "NO
CARRIER".  It connects, so the connection could break.
b.) STARmode - works more like ethernet, packets get assembled and sent to
the remote modem's MAC address.  You have to be within range of the modem.

STARmode is currently supported only in linux (and probably bsd, I
assume).

I couldn't use the emulated modem mode in win2k very easily because
windows thinks it's smart, and strips out the dashes (which are needed!).  

There are other modes, but those are the ones I have played with.  (and
they work without the network).

Actually most of the "other" modes involve the dial-up emulation (that's
what you were using when you subscribed to ricochet service).

There is also of course a mode where the fixed tower stations relay the
signal from radio A to radio B through X number of intermediate stations
if A and B aren't in range of each other.

they used to offer this as a private service too, so you didn't have to
use them as an ISP, but could also use them for private
networking.  Unfortunatly they dropped this, and started routing all
numbers dialed to end up at their PPP server.

another interesting thing I heard is that the fixed stations and the
mobile ones have the same electronics, but different firmware.  I think I
should disect one of the fixed ones.. (who owns them anyhow, if ricochet
isn't in business in phila anymore?)


 -- noah silva

On Wed, 24 Apr 2002, gabriel rosenkoetter wrote:

> On Wed, Apr 24, 2002 at 03:39:32PM -0400, Noah silva wrote:
> > Another reason 802.11 seems like not such a good idea to me for a wireless
> > ISP is because... can it automatically hand-off from cell to cell?
> 
> If they're plugged into the same ethernet segment (that is,
> everyone with the outside line gets their service from the same
> provider and is on the same network and you're *really* careful
> about the NAT) it won't matter. If not, a little dhcpd, dhclient,
> and DDNS magic can make it seamless to the user.
> 
> -- 
> gabriel rosenkoetter
> gr@eclipsed.net
> 


______________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group       -      http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements-http://lists.phillylinux.org/mail/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  -  http://lists.phillylinux.org/mail/listinfo/plug