Free Sydney Wireless - SydneyFreeNet » Open Source http://blog.freesydneywireless.com SydneyFreeNet, community driven, free, wireless access all across Sydney. Sat, 19 Jun 2010 23:47:06 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 New year, new product releases. And a challenge. http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2009/03/01/new-year-new-product-releases-and-a-challenge/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-year-new-product-releases-and-a-challenge http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2009/03/01/new-year-new-product-releases-and-a-challenge/#comments Sun, 01 Mar 2009 07:54:53 +0000 halans http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/?p=256 a

]]> Meraki has released a new, powerful 802.11n router, the MR58, targetted at businesses (with a price tag to match). It’s an outdoors version, has three 802.11n radios, five antennas. Meraki:

“The MR58 can also be used to create long distance mesh links as far as 20 km with optional antennas.”

The folks over at Open-Mesh also have a new router, the Professional Mini Router OM1P. New features include “a hardware watchdog chip that will restart the router should it lock up due to environmental or power spikes or short outages” and Power over Ethernet. Still only US$59 (the original still available at US$50). Soon they’ll also start offering Ubiquiti and WiliGear routers, pre-flashed with the Open-Mesh software.

Ubiquiti Networks are holding a contest, the UI/Firmware Challenge with US$200.000 prize money (first prize US$160.000!), ending August 17.They have some lofty goals:

“In an effort to enrich and contribute to the open-source community, Ubiquiti Networks is offering $200,000 in cash prizes for developers who provide the most impressive User Interface/Firmware for Ubiquiti’s newly released open-source embedded wireless platform, the RouterStation.”

“The goal of the contest is to design a feature rich routing firmware with a clean, intuitive web interface for configuration and maintenance of Ubiquiti Networks RouterStation hardware platform.”

As far as I can tell, it’s not about Linux hacking, but rather the UI design only. You might need to buy their RouterStation though…

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]]> http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2009/03/01/new-year-new-product-releases-and-a-challenge/feed/ 0 Tim Berners-Lee introduces the Web Foundation http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2008/09/16/tim-berners-lee-introduces-the-web-foundation/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tim-berners-lee-introduces-the-web-foundation http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2008/09/16/tim-berners-lee-introduces-the-web-foundation/#comments Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:04:30 +0000 halans http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/?p=198 a

]]> Almost twenty years on, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, creates the World Wide Web Foundation, the Web as humanity connected by technology:

The World Wide Web Foundation seeks to advance One Web that is free and open, to expand the Web’s capability and robustness, and to extend the Web’s benefits to all people on the planet. The Web Foundation brings together business leaders, technology innovators, academia, government, NGOs, and experts in many fields to tackle challenges that, like the Web, are global in scale.

The mission of the Foundation is:

  • to advance One Web that is free and open,
  • to expand the Web’s capability and robustness,
  • and to extend the Web’s benefits to all people on the planet.

In a world where Net neutrality is under threat, and the intertubes are being censored, this is a welcome initiative. I believe Free Australia Wireless fits perfectly in the Web Foundation’s “Web for Society” and “Friends of the Web” programs.

Read the Web Foundation’s concept paper.

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]]> http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2008/09/16/tim-berners-lee-introduces-the-web-foundation/feed/ 0 NETGEAR joins the Open Source router club http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2008/06/29/netgear-joins-the-open-source-router-club/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=netgear-joins-the-open-source-router-club http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2008/06/29/netgear-joins-the-open-source-router-club/#comments Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:42:24 +0000 halans http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/?p=63 a

]]> NETGEAR recognises the power of Open Source and introduces its new OS based router WGR614L and the NETGEAR Open Source Router Community:

The latest NETGEAR open source wireless router is the WGR614L: the open wireless router platform of choice for serious developers and newer users alike. Flexible and powerful, the WGR614L can support many popular third party firmware applications, including DD-WRT, Tomato, and Sveasoft.

As most new consumer routers do, it also supports guest access via a separate SSID. All this starting at 69 USD.

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]]> http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2008/06/29/netgear-joins-the-open-source-router-club/feed/ 0 Flashing the La Fonera with OpenWRT http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2008/06/03/flashing-the-la-fonera-with-openwrt/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=flashing-the-la-fonera-with-openwrt http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2008/06/03/flashing-the-la-fonera-with-openwrt/#comments Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:57:47 +0000 halans http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/?p=61 a

]]> Great CUWin wiki article on how to flash a Fonera with OpenWRT using Win XP, Linux or OSX.

The article is quiet lengthy, and again, shows that flashing a device is not for the faint hearted (or regular Joe on the street). That’s why we need projects like Open-Mesh and CUWin to give us preflashed open source meshing devices, though we also need them to get the Australian/NZ C-Tick to be able to use them.

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]]> http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2008/06/03/flashing-the-la-fonera-with-openwrt/feed/ 0 Meet us at Wireless World and BarCamp next week http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2008/03/29/meet-us-at-wireless-world-and-barcamp-next-week/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=meet-us-at-wireless-world-and-barcamp-next-week http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2008/03/29/meet-us-at-wireless-world-and-barcamp-next-week/#comments Sat, 29 Mar 2008 01:44:57 +0000 halans http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2008/03/29/meet-us-at-wireless-world-and-barcamp-next-week/ a

]]> Come say hi at booth 65 of the Wireless World 2008 expo in Darling Harbour this week Wednesday and Thursday. The expo is free to attend, though you do need to register at entry. Heckle us with your questions, get touchy-feely with a Meraki up-close (oooh), or just say hi!

“Now into its fifth year and still experiencing unprecedented growth, Wireless World has become the region’s biggest dedicated end-user, solutions-focused event.
The event brings together mobile workers and wireless enterprises and provides them with an effective way to research the industry and then choose the best fit technologies, solutions and suppliers for their organisations.
In short, Wireless World is all about the integration and convergence of wireless, mobile, RF and IP solutions and how this can be applied to improve the way we all communicate and do business.”

I know most of us need to work during the week, so meet us next weekend Saturday and Sunday at BarCamp Sydney v3! Free again!

 

NO SPECTATORS, ONLY PARTICIPANTS

BarCamp Sydney April 5 & 6, a whole weekend!

When you come, be prepared to share with BarCampers.
When you leave, be prepared to share it with the world.
BarCamp is an ad-hoc unconference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment.
It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees.
Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to participate.

What’s Next?
Sign up on the wiki, check out the blog, tell all your friends, prepare your presentation, ask your company if they’re interested in sponsoring…

Go!: http://barcamp.org/BarCampSydney

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]]> http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2008/03/29/meet-us-at-wireless-world-and-barcamp-next-week/feed/ 0 Changes at Meraki and Open Source Alternatives http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2008/03/11/changes-at-meraki-and-open-source-alternatives/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=changes-at-meraki-and-open-source-alternatives http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2008/03/11/changes-at-meraki-and-open-source-alternatives/#comments Tue, 11 Mar 2008 06:11:52 +0000 aDB http://blog.freesydneywireless.com/2008/03/11/changes-at-meraki-and-open-source-alternatives/ a

]]> MerakiHere is an interesting rundown on the history of Meraki and perceived negative changes that have been made to the original offering. Changes like forced advertising on the original price point while tripling the price to use the ‘Pro’ service allowing you to charge for access, most recently the right to flash other firmware onto Meraki hardware has been removed.
These changes have lead to splinter groups that are working hard (and successfully) to duplicate Meraki’s offering in an entirely open source solution. See http://www.open-mesh.com/ for one such group.

Meraki makes another business blunder

After just a few months, Meraki responded by updating their End User License Agreement [...] (which) allows the Meraki to prevent any changes to the Meraki hardware or firmware (software) on any new hardware purchases.[...] My ultimate goal is a completely open source solution for creating a Wireless Open Mesh Network by April 1st. Let’s work together to make that goal achievable everywhere!

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