Fresh out of the box, AirOS is pretty good.  I wish it had SSH and iperf,  OLSR, and a kitchen sink, but these things will come in time and by other people.  You can set the NS2 as an AP or a Client, do WDS, encryption, MAC Clone, bridge, route, and a slew of other things in the simple but AJAX’d web configurator.  AirOS is linux under the hood, so you can enable telnet in case you need to set some routes or do something outside of the capabilities of the standard stuff.    It shouldn’t take long for an OpenWRT build, so just keep your eyes on the NS2 Support Page.

These should make for an Interesting HackNight next week, and if you’re local and interested in picking one up,  just let me know.

We’ve been working on Node SeaCCP, a SeattleWireless node that covers much of Capitol Hill from the 30th floor window of the Westin building, and although my node already has strong signal from the roof, I wanted to see if we could connect with something a bit less beefy than a Metrix Mark II. We (Metrix) recently started carrying the Ruckus Metroflex (it kind of looks like a plastic taco) as a low cost CPE, and I had heard good things about the new Dual Zone (DZ) features, so I thought it might be a good idea to toss one in the window.

Just sticking it in the window, I was able to get 2 (out of 4) bars to swn-seaccp-yagi. Initial tests got about 800k through speakeasy’s speed test. Not bad, but I was sure I could do better. I added an Ikea mesh ‘plate cover’ to the mix, and bumped it up another bar and 2mbps. Not bad at all. I still haven’t spent any time messing with the angle to get an optimal install. I have a feeling if I get the distance right on the reflector, and actually point the thing correctly, I’ll be able to pull down packets a whole lot faster.

Dual Zone, enabled after a really easy one button firmware update, turns the ruckus into a single radio repeater, something that we’ve played with in madwifi-ng for some time now, but is rarely seen in a consumer grade device. I don’t think I’ll have a problem recommending these for people who want to connect on the cheap, and as an added bonus, I’ve knocked 15 bucks off the metroflex for the entire month of April.

Due to popular demand, we also present to you, the Pyramid Linux Wiki, your one stop shop for support and information on Pyramid Linux and Metrix Networking Kits.

Rob has a list of the big changes over at Rob’s Notebook

The Metrix Mark II Kit just got better. The new kit features a Soekris Net4826 motherboard and any two of our radio cards, letting you build your wireless node the way you want it. We also dropped the price, giving you a faster box, with more options for only $500, with POE injector and outdoor cable included.

The Mark I Kit has also dropped in price, and you can pick your radio (802.11g, 802.11a/b/g, or high power 802.11b), for only $275.

If you’re already a Community Partner, contact us for your new pricing because this is all new and we haven’t updated your sites yet. ]]> http://seattlewireless.net/~mattw/2005/01/07/metrix-kits-just-got-better-faster-and-cheaper/feed/ 0 http://seattlewireless.net/~mattw/2004/06/25/zyxel-deconstruction/ http://seattlewireless.net/~mattw/2004/06/25/zyxel-deconstruction/#comments Sat, 26 Jun 2004 00:19:00 +0000 mattw http://seattlewireless.net/~mattw/?p=145 Over at Metrix, we just started carrying the new ZyXEL P2000W SIP Phones. They’re extremely cool devices, and I’m amazed at the quality of the calls as well as the crazy potential of a phone that can just attach to any random network and dial out. I’ve been using FWD as a free PSTN bridge, but have also registered my SIP on e164 and tried out like2fone’s free service as well. I’ll probably have an asterisk box up within the month, but I will need to scrounge around the house for something x86 to build it on since I haven’t been able to find any fx0 minipci yet.

If you want to see what the guts look like, check out the ZyXELPrestige2000W page at SeattleWireless.