[isf-wifidog] Re : Re: Re : Re: WifiDog v2 development update?

Sam 4 Avr 15:14:12 EDT 2009

I don't know much about orangemesh, but open-mesh/robin supports the
so-called 'nodogsplash' and CoovaChilli access controllers. I have been
helping them with deeper integration with CoovaChilli, in fact. 

For many, WiFiDog is great because it has everything you need - the self
contained portal/management application being the main focus of
attention. If you take away the portal, and only consider the access
controller features, I find it rather limiting and the gateway would
need work to do (standard) things like MAC address authentication (a
patch, btw, I submitted to WiFiDog probably over a year ago included
this in the "protocol"). But, with feature development being taken from
a purely portal perspective, basic features found in most commercial
(and open-source) access controllers haven't been a priority. 

[For those unfamiliar, where WiFiDog uses it's own HTTP based protocol
for provisioning access and logged heart-beat messages, CoovaChilli and
most all commercial access controllers use RADIUS to provision access in
a standard (though sometimes vendor specific, depending on specific
features) way. With Chilli, you can limit time, data, and/or bandwidth.]

I have two minds about a "v2" development push. On the one hand, of
course those with networks deployed want support/maintenance and have
invested time/money. On the other hand, instead of building out a
"framework" and integrating in CMS features, why not pick a well
established framework with a TON of features already (and active
development community) and add in the Hotspot management features...
Ultimately, I think you'd have a better and more accessible project.
But, would that even be considered WiFiDog still? We'll see PylonDog
here soon, I expect. 

David

On Sat, 2009-04-04 at 14:25 -0400, Gabe Sawhney wrote:
> Hi -- I'm from Wireless Toronto.
> 
> My dream is for us here to be running our network on a platform
> that'll accommodate the WRT54G investment that our venue partners have
> already made, as well as allow us to manage the (probably) ROBIN-based
> routers that we'll start deploying.  We're a culture-focused group, so
> portal pages and content -- and consequently, a server -- are
> necessary components.  I would like a little more intelligence on the
> gateway side, so that users are still able to get online if the router
> can't find the server.  I'm also interested in stepping away from an
> authentication model, and move towards one of (bandwidth) accounting.
> (Whereby users are only required to authenticate if they cross a
> bandwidth usage threshold.)  This approach would improve the usability
> of our network (giving us a distinct advantage over commercial WISPs),
> it would reduce support requests, maybe make building out a mesh
> easier, and make our network finally not-totally-annoying for users on
> mobile devices.
> 
> I picture this dream platform being easier to achieve by building on
> top of the soon-to-be-released (this summer?) open-mesh/orangemesh
> system, rather than from the existing WifiDog code.  There are other
> options I haven't looked into, but it seems to me that the openmesh
> project has good momentum, and is a comparatively new system which has
> been designed with usability on the admin side in mind.  I'm totally
> open to other possibilities.  I know others have requirements that are
> different than ours, but I'd love for us to be collaborating to figure
> out what are the core features that we could all use and can work
> together to build.
> 
> Dana: Are you committed to sticking with wifidog for the festival in
> the fall, or would you consider using orangemesh, or something else?
> 
> Gabe
> 
> 
> On Sat, Apr 4, 2009 at 12:34 PM, Richard Lussier
> <richard.lussier at gmail.com> wrote:
> > bruno.remy at videotron.ca wrote:
> >> I'm not a programmer, as Alexis said, but i'would like to share with
> >> you the mind of every programmers involving around Wifidog's
> >> development in IleSansFil (Montreal) and ZAP Québec (Quebec city) .
> >> This sounds like this :
> >>
> >> "The time of tracking bugs and/or patch actual Php code is over !
> >> It's time consuming, and fixing bugs is a too-small step.
> >> The dynamic has changed :
> >> Wifidog needs to be rewriting from scratch, with buildt-in or radius
> >> or openId or ldap authentification, and with CMS content (like
> >> Wordpress or Drupal).
> >> The brainstorming is open ! ;-)"
> >>
> >> Bruno
> >>
> >> ----- Message d'origine -----
> >> De: Wichert Akkerman <wichert at wiggy.net>
> >> Date: Samedi, 4 Avril 2009, 11:28
> >> Objet: Re: [isf-wifidog] Re : Re:  WifiDog v2 development update?
> >> À: Jean-Philippe Menil <jean-philippe.menil at univ-nantes.fr>
> >> Cc: WiFiDog Captive Portal <wifidog at listes.ilesansfil.org>
> >>
> >> > Previously Jean-Philippe Menil wrote:
> >> > > I think the idea of a forum would be great,
> >> > > too many people use the bug tracker in wrong way.
> >> > > And not so many use the mailing list.
> >> >
> >> > FWIW I find forums painful to use. If wifidog development moves away
> >> > from the mailinglist to a forum most likely I will stop paying
> >> > attention. There reasonable services that provide a forum
> >> > interface for
> >> > mailinglists such as nabble or gmane; perhaps they are interesting.
> >> >
> >> > I have no interest in working on the wifidog portal since I use
> >> > my own
> >> > portal, but I can help with the gateway if needed.
> >> >
> >> > Wichert.
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> > Wichert Akkerman <wichert at wiggy.net>    It is
> >> > simple to make things.
> >> > http://www.wiggy.net/                   It is hard to make things
> >> simple.
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > WiFiDog mailing list
> >> > WiFiDog at listes.ilesansfil.org
> >> > http://listes.ilesansfil.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/wifidog
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> WiFiDog mailing list
> >> WiFiDog at listes.ilesansfil.org
> >> http://listes.ilesansfil.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/wifidog
> > Hi list,
> > I am involved a lot in operations at ISF.
> > What Bruno says is what I also understant of the situation in our area.
> > We are convinced that the modular approach is the way to go, so every
> > need can be covered without imposing it to other.
> > Also to permit to evolve with more ease.
> > There are probably (I am not a coder either) lots of things that are
> > great in what has been made, so let's not throw away the baby with the
> > tub water (a french expression :-) ).
> > Sylvain Carle expressed the desire to lead the project among our groups
> > in Québec area, I would like to ear what he has to say.
> > Richard
> > _______________________________________________
> > WiFiDog mailing list
> > WiFiDog at listes.ilesansfil.org
> > http://listes.ilesansfil.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/wifidog
> >
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