The Melbourne Wireless Firmware is a firmware image for wireless routers for the purpose of creating and extending the Melbourne Wireless community network. Currently, the Melbourne Wireless Firmware is a slightly-modified Freifunk Firmware image. Customisations and localisations will be added via add-on packages. We will stick with Freifunk until it's planned merge back into OpenWRT. ! Future Plans Planned add-on features for the Melbourne Wireless firmware include the integration of the (http://melbournewireless.org.au/wiki/index.php?MWRPHotspot MWHotspot) package. Also planned are further social networking features such as guestbooks and other ways to communicate with other users of the same hotspot. ! Firmware Builder The Firmware is distributed via the Melbourne Wireless website using the (http://melbournewireless.org.au/wiki/index.php?FirmwareBuilder Firmware Builder). The Firmware Builder makes the task of configuring and customising the firmware very easy. ! Routing Protocol (http://www.olsr.org OLSR) is the routing protocol used by the firmware. OLSR is easy to configure and has features that are well-suited to community wireless networks. OLSR allows single-radio nodes to participate in a routed IP network with no need to plan link paths or coordinate IP addresses. A netmask of 255.255.0.0 is appropriate for network interfaces ! Network Interface Layout \|/ WIFI | | +---------------+-+ | | | | | | | |-|-|-|-| |-| | +-----------------+ LAN WAN WIFI: * Interface is separated from the LAN ports. * The OLSR routing protocol is active on the WIFI interface * Configured for open access, and is firewalled from the LAN interface * The Melbourne Wireless IP allocation is used on the WIFI interface * The IP address = Melbourne Wireless allocation + 1 * Has a netmask of 255.255.0.0 to allow one-hop radio communication to other Melbourne Wireless Firmware nodes * Radio is in Adhoc mode, on Channel 10, with the SSID "melbournewireless.org.au" * WEP is not supported at all - and is pointless on a public network. * DHCP is active on this interface, allowing casual visitors access to the Melbourne Wireless network. LAN: * The private network interface * Wired Internet access can be connected to this interface and shared via the WIFI interface. * DHCP is active on this interface * OLSR is not active on this interface WAN: * Is unconfigured by default * Not all routers have a WAN port - e.g. the WL-HDD * OLSR can be made to run on this interface and be cable-linked to other Freifunk boxes (apparently - untested) ! Design Philosophy The primary design aim behind the firmware is reducing the learning-curve and the hardware costs involved in building a node. These have previously been major barriers to participation in the Melbourne Wireless network. Using OLSR routing in conjunction with a single wifi radio in adhoc mode with an omnidirectional antenna allows node-owners to make links with similar nearby nodes easily, with no pre-planning required. The hardware costs for such a single-radio node are a fraction of the cost of a multi-radio node that uses directional antennas. However, for node-owners wanting to add more radios to their setup, multiple routers can be connected together at the same location. Or the node-owner can build their own router and their own operating system, run the OLSR protocol on it and be compatible with the Melbourne Wireless Firmware. ! Freifunk Firmware / OpenWRT The Freifunk Firmware is based on (http://openwrt.org OpenWRT) WhiteRussian. Any of the routers listed as being supported by WhiteRussian on the OpenWRT (http://wiki.openwrt.org/TableOfHardware Table Of Hardware) in theory is compaitble with the Melbourne Wireless firmware. We have found that currently the most easily available compatible routers in Australia are the Asus WL-HDD, WL-500g and WL-500g Premium. Older versions of the Linksys WRT54G and the WRT54GL are also compatible. We eagerly await the first stable release of OpenWRT Kamikaze so that we can create a Kamikaze-derived Melbourne Wireless Firmware for the (http://meraki.net/products/mini/ Meraki Mini) community wireless router. ! Installation The Melbourne Wireless firmware images can be flashed (installed) to a compatible router by the end-user. The installation method can vary between routers - the best documentation is the (http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/Installing OpenWRT Installation Guide). If you have an (http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/Hardware/Asus/WL500GP Asus wl-500g Premium), please pay special attention to the OpenWRT installation notes for this device.