Suggesting OS for testing?

[Andrey Yurovsky]

2009/3/3 Brian DeLacey <bdelacey at gmail.com>:
> I have been working with the following wireless USB adapter on several
> machines at a time:
>        EW-7318Ug  USB adapter chipset is called   RT73
> That was working well - for the past couple of weeks - until I installed
> something new.

Ok, that's interesting.  I suppose that rt2x00 mesh support is working
then?  I'll try it out when I have a chance.

> To make it work, I used a Jaunty build and downloaded the latest
> "compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2 ", then just ran make and make install. I
> wasn't rebuilding any kernel bits - and hoped to avoid that. I'm using the
> Aspire One for testing which is great for mobility but would be slow for big
> builds.

That's fine, you're then replacing mac80211 and other components
(drivers, etc) with the latest.  It should give you the same results
as building the latest kernel from wireless-testing.

> Although I wasn't initially "seeing" any of the other mesh point devices
> immediately after installing Linux Wireless, the following workaround would
> consistently connect up the mesh points:
>        sudo iwlist mesh0 scan

To see other mesh points:

sudo ifconfig mesh0 up
sudo iw dev mesh0 station dump

To see what paths (if any) you have, especially after transferring
some data (ex: ping)

sudo iw dev mesh0 mpath dump

"iwlist scan" should have nothing to do with the mesh, aside from mesh
points showing up in scan results (that's because they beacon).
Please try a "station dump" with iw and let us know if it shows you
other mesh points.  Also please try never running the "scan" to
confirm that things work without it (otherwise it's likely a driver
bug that we should report or look in to).

> That seemed to prime the mesh routes, and I could then ping the other mesh
> points from multiple directions. I concluded this connected the mesh, but
> maybe it was just luck that things worked.

No, that should have worked.  The routes are established as needed
(ex: when you ping).  The mesh points are discovered as beacons come
in and get processed.

> Is beaconing's sole function to let other devices know where they are are,
> and when they appear and leave? Or is periodic beaconing required to keep
> the mesh alive? For some apps, the lack of beaconing could be a security
> feature keeping the mesh points largely "hidden" from view.

Yes, and mesh beacons are quite similar to AP or Ad-Hoc beacons.
Beaconing is part of the 802.11s draft, so it's required.

> On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 3:35 PM, Andrey Yurovsky <andrey at cozybit.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Brian.  By Ralink USB, do you mean that you were testing rt2x00
>> mesh or just using the adapter in general?  I'm not aware of any
>> improvements in rt2x00 support as beaconing was broken in that driver.
>>  o11s mesh is not sensitive to the kernel version, so to speak, but as
>> a part of the mac80211 subsystem it is sensitive to the version of the
>> wireless components (mac80211 and drivers) that you have.  If I
>> understand correctly, Ubuntu usually picks a kernel and then pulls
>> additional patches from wireless-testing or elsewhere to further
>> update mac80211 and related bits.
>>
>> Another option is to test the latest and greatest.  In this case, you
>> would pull wireless-testing git and build it based on your Ubuntu
>> kernel's config.  One way to do that is described here:
>> http://o11s.org/trac/wiki/Ubuntu
>>
>> 2009/3/3 Brian DeLacey <bdelacey at gmail.com>:
>> > Any recommendations on the "best" combination of Linux Kernel and Linux
>> > Wireless versions to test mesh with?
>> > I was running well on a recent build of Ubuntu/Jaunty after installing
>> > recent builds of Linux Wireless.  That combination got my Ralink-based
>> > USB
>> > adapters working, but recent updates seem to have broken that
>> > functionality.
>> > Using the latest Jaunty dailies and Linux Wireless, I now find that
>> > Ralink
>> > USB no longer works and even built-in Atheros is now only partially
>> > working. (I'm trying to track down where the break occurred.)
>> > It seems like I need more recent builds (Linux 2.6.28+) and updated
>> > Linux
>> > Wireless to get the Ralink USB working, which is why I've been trying to
>> > keep reasonably current with the latest builds of Jaunty and Linux
>> > Wireless.
>> > Is the core mesh functionality most sensitive to changes in the kernel,
>> > changes in Linux Wireless, or both?
>> > Thanks,
>> >    Brian
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Devel mailing list
>> > Devel at lists.open80211s.org
>> > http://open80211s.com/mailman/listinfo/devel
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Andrey Yurovsky
>> cozybit Inc.
>> _______________________________________________
>> Devel mailing list
>> Devel at lists.open80211s.org
>> http://open80211s.com/mailman/listinfo/devel
>
>
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>



-- 
Andrey Yurovsky
cozybit Inc.