Russell, WOW!! That's quite a day of super hero work! I think even Superman would be impressed.
I'm trying to get some of the Bullet2's myself and have been given an end-of-the-month ETA but won't be holding my breath. Please keep up the great work and let me know if there is anything that I can be of help with. Rick Lindahl "Your Wireless Solution Partner" Invictus Networks, LLC 503-635-2562, f503-635-9207 www.invictusnetworks.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Russell Senior Sent: Friday, January 09, 2009 1:00 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [ptp-general] my PTP day My PTP day today began like many others. After dreaming all night about solutions to outstanding PTP problems, I woke suddenly and began putting them into action. Well, I got a couple email's too. One of the emails was from a user near NodeLabarre. That node had been out for several days. I dashed off an email to our contact there and also began considering one of the outstanding issues there. The node consists of three radios: one old one and two new ones. I had noticed a while back that the old radio did not seem to be transmitting any more. It needed replacement, and if I was going to be there anyway, today would be as good a day as any to fix it. So, I posted to our wonderful general mailing list and found an offer of a few potential replacement radios of the same type from Tyler Booth, tube-provider extraordinaire. Then we got another email reporting about problems at the Powells Technical Bookstore node. In the late morning, I left the house for an errand strangely unrelated to PTP. After completing that mission, I diabolically took advantage of my increased proximity to downtown. First I stopped at NodeEcotrust, just to check. It had been a while since I'd been there. World Cup Coffee was gone, the glass covered with newspapers, and a sign for a Laughing Planet outlet. Node worked good, so I moved on. Next stop was Powells Technical Books. As reported, tubes were spotty. Near as I could tell, the problem was upstream from our gear. In or near the DSL. Will have to followup with their technical staff. Not enough for the day? I laugh at you with your silly talk. I stop at Stephouse and collect a couple replacement radios for NodeLabarre. While parked out front, I thought I'd saunter down the street to check on a former node Coffee Plant. Not a PTP node anymore, but they have free wifi and slightly soggy Ham and Cheese sandwiches. >From that end of downtown I wonder about a route down to Labarre, but before I'd gone a couple blocks, I realized that I was only a little ways from the former NodeMoonlight. Portland Staffing had left the building a couple months ago, but our radio gear is still there and plugged in to power (but no internet). I stopped in front and called the phone number on the door and left a nice message explaining who we were and requesting that we set up a time to recover the gear. No word back on that as yet. Okay, now I'm on my way. Over the Hawthorne Bridge, past NodeLuckyLab, past NodeCommunitecture. A quick stop at the Free Geek thrift shop. I got an old 10Mbps Netgear 4-port hub for $4. Back in the car and down Milwaukie Avenue to Labarre. I meet our contact there, exchange pleasantries, climb up to find the soekris box (machine shops are GRIME-EEE!), recover it, find a screw driver, replace the radio (confirming it is the same type), replace the device, make sure it's working. It is. As I leave, I 'stumble' a few of the neighboring streets to the east, to get an idea of the new coverage (not examined yet). About this time, I take a call from Seth and Don who are at Powells Technical Books, helpfully helping out. I explain what I had found there and what I think the problem is, and that it doesn't seem to be the NuCab. They agree. I am on my way home now, but when I reach 39th and Division, I remember the neglected NodeHotPepper. I swing over to the lefthand turn lane and drive by to check it out. I find the node operating (with 3 days of uptime), but that OpenVpn had died or not started or anyway, wasn't running. I restarted it. Otherwise that node seemed fine, except for the need for betterly placed radios (which we are working on, if Ubiquity Bullets are ever *actually* for sale anywhere). One last stop, I decide to swing by NodeRedAndBlack. Some months ago, we turned off wifidog there (the result of the ISP having apparently, and I would think rudely, been blocking its conversations with the wifidog auth server), and as the node has a dynamic address, it is not easy to determine what IP address it lives at on a day-to-day basis, and consequently it is hard to tell if it is alive or dead from offsite. Here's where my shimmering cape of justice got a little wrinkled. While attempting to modify the network configuration (fixing up a dns entry using current syntax) I managed to brick the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 device we had there. The script evidently hung on the broken network configuration (the syntax was *different* then) and as a consequence, we had no network and no way to connect to the device. Major oops. I identify myself, leave a card, and tell them I am taking the Buffalo home (all grinch-like) and I'll return in an hour or two. I go home, deal with some family matters, and then turn my attention back to the bricked Buffalo. My plan is to slap a serial console on, fix my breakage and reboot. Google helpfully provides instructions for opening the Buffalo. And now the story takes another devilish twist. When I had recovered the Buffalo, I left the ac adapter at the cafe. I didn't want to disrupt the nice arrangement of cabling they had there. As a consequence, when I got home, I needed a 5V 2.6A power supply. I didn't have one handy. But I did have a 6V radio shack power supply, MAYBE THAT'LL WORK!!! Hmm. No, it didn't. That's strange. I check the polarity. Oh. It was backwards. I correct and replug. The LEDs turn on for a moment and then rapidly fade. After which, nothing. I dug out a duplicate power supply to the one I'd left at the Cafe. Still nothing. Crap. Now it really *is* a brick. Dumb super-hero Russell. Luckily, I still technically owned the Buffalo, so there is no possibility of tort action for negligence. I dig out a PTP WGT634U and decide to go with that as a replacement. I had just flashed one of these for NodeIntegrity (Green Dragon), so the procedure was fresh in my mind. 30 minutes of twiddling and it was ready to go. I drove back to RedAndBlack and after sheepishly disrupting some nice folks' evening meal next to the window where the access point lives, I decided better of it and waited for them to finish. 20 minutes of pleasant conversation with a cafe-dweller later, the couple finished their meal and I was able to complete the reinstallation. I turned on wifidog, which is working elsewhere on WGTs without reported problems. Then home to my loving family. Just another ho-hum day of PTP volunteerism. -- Russell Senior, Secretary [email protected] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ The Personal Telco Project - http://www.personaltelco.net/ Donate to PTP: http://www.personaltelco.net/donate Archives: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.network.wireless.portland.general/ Etiquette: http://www.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/MailingListEtiquette List information: http://lists.personaltelco.net To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
