8 Aug
2016
8 Aug
'16
6:14 p.m.
It's a case-less board with a single 2.4 GHz radio but it really is $5
including tax and shipping and you can buy as many as you want.
They're estimated to ship in November.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/onion/omega2-5-iot-computer-with-wi-fi…
I ordered 10 of them for mesh projects.
It's a bit sad that they don't have the ethernet broken out since that
would make them useful as mesh routers that we could just hand out left and
right. We could make ethernet breakout boards for them ourselves if we feel
like doing some soldering, but given that you can buy an OpenWRT router for
~$12 with two ethernet ports and a case it's not obvious that this is worth
it.
If we're ok with just one ethernet port then we could buy a bunch of $1.75
USB ethernet adapters. Assume $1 for a dollar store plastic case and we
then have usable mesh routers for $8 a pop.
They're probably more useful as interfaces between e.g. LoRa hardware and
sensors and such where you just want it to be small, low power and cheap
but still want to run e.g. a full meshing protocol.
--
marc/juul
9 Aug
9 Aug
12:17 a.m.
I just ordered 5 CHIP computers to set up a small wifi testnet. Any
thoughts on how these compare? One possible advantage of the CHIP is that
it includes battery charging circuitry to make a lithium battery a cheap
addition. On the other hand, this has an antenna connector. I'm wondering
if it's worth cancelling or reducing my order of CHIPs, since they won't
ship until October anyway.
-Jehan
On Mon, Aug 8, 2016 at 6:14 PM, Marc Juul <juul(a)labitat.dk> wrote:
4:29 p.m.
On Tue, Aug 9, 2016 at 12:17 AM, Jehan Tremback <jehan.tremback(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
The CHIP is really solid. I've tested it. It has a limit on only being able
to do two wifi networks at once on its built-in wifi chip but supports all
modes (ad-hoc, master, client). It runs full Debian! The Omega2 is OpenWRT
and needs soldering or add-on boards to use the USB (though soldering five
wires is not hard). The only thing it has going for it over the CHIP is
that it's cheaper (actual cost including shipping and taxes is $5 vs. $12
for the CHIP), potentially lower power (unknown but likely <1 watt), has a
u.fl antenna plug and on-board ethernet (but you'd need to solder an
ethernet transformer and an RJ45 plug or buy the adapter). The CHIP battery
support _is_ really nice. I actually didn't realize until this email that
it also has charging circuitry (I thought it could just suck power from a
battery)! That's pretty amazing. I'll have to test it ASAP.
I was testing cheap Li-Ion USB battery packs from china yesterday to find a
model that can both charge and discharge at the same time to act as a 5v
UPS (un-interruptable power supply) between a solar panel and a e.g. an
Omega2 and out of four tested I found one that actually lived up to
expectations:
https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Mesh/Power#Battery
--
marc/juul
10 Aug
10 Aug
11:52 a.m.
On Tue, Aug 9, 2016 at 3:14 AM, Marc Juul <juul(a)labitat.dk> wrote:
Hi Marc,
I was also on same KS page looking at their kits which is $20 if you
want power board, AFAIK $5 version you can't even power up! :(
A then again you are missing ethernet ports, usb over ethernet is not
something I'll go for, so when you count all of those shields it is
quite expensive device...
I was thinking also to get few Omega2 devices but decided that for my
use case which is that I need a device in a nice small case, ethernet
port, small dimenstions, usb port, and external antennas it is much
better to go for some of GLiNet devices... check them out...
http://www.gl-inet.com/
Which devices are you buying for $15 ?
Cheers,
Valent.
11:54 a.m.
On Wed, Aug 10, 2016 at 8:52 PM, Valent Turkovic
<valent(a)otvorenamreza.org> wrote:
Also if you are open source enthusiast then keep in mind that they
claim they are open source, but when pressed they admited that most of
their code is actually closed source binaries in form of openwrt
packages :(
12:03 p.m.
at the last IETF96, dave taht gave a talk reviewing different kinds of
(non-classic-ethernet) networking, specially ethernet-over-usb and the results were very
promising / encouraging,
why would you not go for it?
any (bad) experience?
cheers!
On 10 August 2016 20:52:43 CEST, Valent Turkovic <valent(a)otvorenamreza.org> wrote:
2:08 p.m.
On Wed, Aug 10, 2016 at 11:52 AM, Valent Turkovic <valent(a)otvorenamreza.org>
wrote:
Yeah they just need 3.3v power in. A voltage regulator with 3.3v output
will cost you 50 cent or less.
Well you could fairly easily solder an ethernet transformer and RJ45 port
but it's probably not worth the trouble to save a couple of bucks.
We have been able to get the Western Digital My Net N600 for ~$10 a pop but
that was a limited time thing and we can't get them any more. We're now
looking at the NEXX WT3020F as a possible super cheap mesh node. We've
bought them before for $12.50 shipped. They will suck but they will be
enough to make a VPN'ed hotspot that advertises peoplesopen.net and have
two ethernet ports so can be extended with our extender node system.
--
marc/juul
3243
days inactive
3244
days old
7 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
Gui Iribarren -
Jehan Tremback -
Marc Juul -
Valent Turkovic