Tag: gsoc

Freifunk Google Summer of Code Project LXNM (Lightweight Network Manager) current results

Posted on by Mario Behling

Fred Chien from Taiwan has published some results on the LXDE blog about his current work for the LXNetworkManager and I am happy to present some screenshots here. Besides having Fred working on code related to wireless networks, the goal of teaming up with him in the Freifunk Google Summer of Code is to bring him closer in touch with the global free wireless community. For a long time we are looking for an easier to use and faster lightweight network manager, that supports freifunk community networks. Through his previous work Fred has shown that he shares those goals and that he is eager and able to get things done. Also we can be sure, that he will continue working on the code once the summer of code funding is finished. The rewritten LXNM already supports wireless connection settings and we are discussing at the moment different ways to define standards for wireless freifunk networks. So, I am looking forward to an exciting ongoing development. Thanks for a great job this summer, Fred!

Lightweight Network Manager

Detailed description of the current status provided by Fred: LXNM (Lightweight Network Manager) is working now after a long time for development. If you often check the news of SVN, you can notice that the next generation of LXNM has already supported wireless connection setting, also it has many feature as old version of LXNM. The new implementation and protocol defination seems to work well at least there is no bug of old version of LXDE had that no Access Point was scanned always.

As a network manager, wireless is the basic feature, but only the feature is not enough for new internet devices. To be a full function network connection utility, it must provide most popular methods of internet connection service something’s like 3G(HSPDA), PPPoE, dial…etc. And also we can expect WiMAX will be coming soon, so supporting WiMAX maybe important and necessary in the feature as well.

So far most network connections methods need to use PPP(Point-to-Point Protocol) to make connection, so we must try to focus on how’s PPP working and how to integrate PPP stuffs with our program. Fortunately, Most of operating system was using pppd to handle the ppp connections, it seems to be a standard we can consider. If we know how to get pppd immediate status, it will be easy to integrate PPP with our utility for us.

Regarding pppd implementation, it uses a tdb(samba database) to store current connection information(IP, interface, deivce, gateway, dns…etc) in system folder as root. Thus we need to read the file to get network status and the relationship between modem(eg, 3G modem, general modem) and network interface(eg, ppp0, ppp1…). Because of pppd is a user-space implementation as well as it doesn’t have library to provide serial APIs to let us be easy to operate its own stuffs, LXNM must direct open the tdb file. The problem is that pppd will update the tdb file anytime, it is possible that database be modified when LXNM is just reading the file. When it is happened, LXNM will get incorrect information or access failed to cause crazy crash. For solving this bug, we do some to check more information details which is from tdb. After some hard works, right now the issue was solved already.

Besides, the 3G support which is most important feature people concern. LXNM will try to use AT command to control 3G(HSDPA) modem to implement the connection handler, it can provide more information(ISP, Service Location, current area…etc) for your SIM Card with AT command. Some developers suggest us to research the implementation of Modem Manager Project for helping development.

Now we are working on this part which is that dialing with 3G modem, but there were also some weird problems we got. More details about those issues will be explained at blog next time.


List of Access Points on LXNM


Scanning for Access Points on LXNM

Links

* Source code: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=180858&package_id=268419
* LXDE: http://lxde.org
* Fred Chien: http://fred-zone.blogspot.com/search/label/LXDE

 

Status of Service Discovery for Freimap development

Posted on by Mario Behling

An update on one of our Google summer of code projects: Service Discovery for Freimap. Stefano Pilla from Ninux.org is working on the project. We have widened the project a bit. He is now also working on porting freimap to IDE like
Netbeans. This will make it easier in the future to implement new graphic map views.

Service Discovery works fine and at the moment Stefano is testing a prototype and working already on documentation. During the project he got in touch with the creator of JmDNS, Rick Blair. JmDNS is an implementation of mdns for Java. He also started an exchange with the creator of JXMapKit
(SwingLabs – Josh) that is the new kind of map for freimap that we want
to use with Openstreetmap.

screenshot of the "new freimap"

An important mentor for this project is Alx Morlang from Freifunk in Berlin. Thank you! And our friends from Ninux namely – Saverio, Claudio and all of the team. Service Discovery will be tested first in the freifunk ninux network in Rome during the upcoming weeks with mdns.

screenshot of the "new freimap"

Freifunk Summer of Code ten students accepted

Posted on by Mario Behling

Thank you to all applicants for the Freifunk Summer of Code project and congratulations to the accepted students! All together there were 49 applications for Freifunk. We could accept 10 students. They are currently updating their project proposals. I will present them here soon. We invite the students and anyone else to our Wireless Community Weekend at the end of May. More info coming out soon. Good luck for your summer of code projects For everyone who did not get in or people who did not apply, we welcome every contributor and user of the freifunk software tools and are looking forward to your involvement outside the Summer of Code.

Freifunk Summer of Code – Questions for your application

Posted on by Mario Behling

Eight Questions to answer for your application for the Freifunk Summer of Code. We are interested in your
answers to get an idea, how you would be able to contribute to
Freifunk. Dont worry too much about a correct English. We are more
interested in the content of what you have to say and how you could
join up with us, than about perfect Englich.

1. Please tell us your name and your country or origin or local background.

2. Please list contributions to the Freifunk/OpenWrt and related
projects or any other freely licensed Open Source project below.

3. Please tell us about your proposed project and the relevance to
Freifunk. You can also provide a link where you offer more details here.

4.  What is your expertise and ability to conduct the project you
propose? How do you plan to achieve the goals of the proposed project?

5. How would you describe your knowledge of development of Linux OS and OpenWrt related programming languages such as Lua?

6. How do you think you will participate in the Freifunk/OpenWrt development after the Google Summer of Code?

7. What would you like us to do to ensure that you stick with the project after the program concludes?

8. How do you plan to keep in touch with the Freifunk/OpenWrt community and your mentor during the summer of code?

Links

* http://socghop.appspot.com/org/show/google/gsoc2009/ffopenwrt

* Ideas http://wiki.freifunk.net/Ideas

 

Freifunk Participation in the Google Summer of Code 2009

Posted on by Mario Behling

I applied for the Google Summer of Code for Freifunk again this year and we got in 🙂 Please check the info page on the summer of code page for Freifunk here: http://socghop.appspot.com/org/show/google/gsoc2009/ffopenwrt . Applications need to be submitted via the Google Summer of Code website.

Discuss your ideas for development on the IRC channels of Freifunk and OpenWrt here:
irc.fu-berlin.de #freifunk
irc.freenode.net #openwrt 

We have set up a wiki page for ideas. Please add your idea here:
http://wiki.freifunk.net/Ideas

Some frequently asked questions from the Summer of Code FAQ

How does a student apply?
Students can submit their applications via the Google Summer of Code 2009 site from March 23 – April 3, 2009. … make sure to check out each organization’s "Ideas" list to get to know a particular open source organization better.  

What should a student application look like?
Your application should include the following: your project proposal, why you’d like to execute on this particular project, and the reason you’re the best individual to do so. Your proposal should also include details of your academic, industry, and/or open source development experience, and other details as you see fit. An explanation of your development methodology is a good idea, as well. If the organization you want to work with has a specific application template they would like you to use, it will be made available to you to fill in when submitting your proposal via the GSoC web app.   

Can a student submit more than one application?
Yes, each student may submit up to twenty applications. However, only one application will be accepted. We’ve heard from our mentoring organizations that quality is better than quantity.   

Can students already working on an open source project continue to work on it as part of Google Summer of Code?
Yes, as long as they meet all other requirements for program eligibility. Students should be sure to note their previous relationship with the project in their applications. New work will need to be done for the project as part of participation in GSoC.   

Should students begin working on their applications before Google begins accepting program applications?       
That’s up to you. Keep in mind, though, that our mentoring organizations will be publishing a list of proposed project ideas, so you may find that you’ll want to revamp your application later, or create an entirely new one to address one of those ideas.   

Can a student work on more than one project?
No, each participant is only eligible for one stipend.   

Can a group apply for and work on a single proposal?
No, only an individual may work on a given project. Of course, students should feel free to collaborate with others to accomplish their project goals. 

Links

* http://socghop.appspot.com/org/show/google/gsoc2009/ffopenwrt

* Ideas http://wiki.freifunk.net/Ideas

Freifunk Application for Google Summer of Code – We did not make it .. this time

Posted on by Mario Behling

What happened to the application of the freifunk community (Blog entry) for the Google Summer of code? Well, as you can guess by now, unfortunately we did not get it.. even though we were close. I had asked Leslie Hawthorn and she wrote us back the following lines:

"I know OpenWRT and like them. We simply couldn’t accept everyone. You folks made our short list if that helps. I can give you more feedback if you send me the URL for your ideas list. Is there a way Google can help you beyond Summer of Code? Leslie Hawthorn"

We had some nice ideas. Our intention was to serve as an umbrella for all the freifunk projects here, but maybe we can join the program next year. We still have the ideas pages, which is probably also intresting for developers who want to join freifunk projects in the future.

Some of the project ideas were/are:

  • Multimedia Streaming in Mesh Networks / Porting Obamp to C++
  • Passive + Active Measurement in Mesh Networks / Porting OpenIMP probes to OpenWRT
  • Traffic Flow Visualization / IPFIX DataSource for freimap
  • Mesh Node Status Monitoring / SNMP DataSource for freimap
  • Service Discovery in Mesh Networks / Avahi DataSource for freimap
  • Service Control Module for freimap
  • Topology visualization / B.A.T.M.A.N and olsrd routing decision recovery for freimap
  • Database output for freimap
  • Antenna placement information elements in freifunk map data
  • Search in Wireless Mesh Networks – Yacy
  • Search in Wireless Mesh Networks – Nutch/Lucene
  • Peer-to-peer file sharing applications in Wireless Mesh Networks
  • Developing a Freifunk Theme for CMS
  • VoIP phoning in Freifunk Mesh Networks
  • Porting Freifunk to EeePC
  • Freifunk Webinterface for OpenWrt Kamikaze

( http://wiki.freifunk.net/Ideas)

Freifunk Application for Google Summer of Code

Posted on by Mario Behling

Some fantastic work was done during the last days working with some great folks to get an application for freifunk networks for the Google Summer of Code out. Our goal is to get new students excited about the idea of free networks and to join us in the development process and contribute code. We have formed an international group to get this application done. Besides talking to our developers in Germany I have been busily speaking to ninux.org from Italy, guifi.net from Spain and France Wireless in order to recruit our most talented and active developers as mentors for the programme. Not everyone was able to give me a "yes" yet, but we have formed a great team to start off and we are happy to welcome even more prospective mentors from other free wireless networks from around the world.

Our starting team of mentors is:

  • Sven-Ola Tücke (http://ff-firmware.sf.net, Freifunk Firmware)
  • Alexander Morlang (Alx, p2p in freifunk networks, Fraunhofer, Germany)
  • Thomas Hirsch (freimap, Fraunhofer, Germany)
  • Felix Fietkau (OpenWRT, Europe)
  • Frithjof Hammer (Freifunk BNO, Germany)
  • Harald Schioeberg (t-labs, Germany)
  • Ramon Navarro Bosch (Guifi.net, Spain, former GSoC Plone student)
  • Xavi Martinez (Guifi.net, Spain)
  • Aaron Kaplan (OLSR.org, Austria)
  • Francesco Saverio Proto (ninux.org, Italy)
  • Mikolas Bingemer (Freifunk-Hannover.de, Germany, head of Software development of medium sized enterprise)
  • Jo-Philipp Wich (leipzig.freifunk.net, Freifunk Leipzig Firmware, Germany)
  • Andrea Detti is full researcher and adjoined Professor at the School of Telecommunications Engineering of the University of Rome "Tor Vergata" (Italy)

The backup organization administrator is Mario Behling (me), (Freifunkblog, perspektive89.com, Germany)

My idea is that we would have mentors for students who would maybe even be able to meet them locally. As we find already more than 170 free wireless communities worldwide on the global freifunk newswire, there is a chance we could do this in a lot of cases.

Freifunk serves as an umbrella for all the local projects here. We use the Freifunk-Wiki for our coordination. We started to collect ideas for possible student projects here already as well. Currently there are:

  • Multimedia Streaming in Mesh Networks / Porting Obamp to C++
  • Passive + Active Measurement in Mesh Networks / Porting OpenIMP probes to OpenWRT
  • Traffic Flow Visualization / IPFIX DataSource for freimap
  • Mesh Node Status Monitoring / SNMP DataSource for freimap
  • Service Discovery in Mesh Networks / Avahi DataSource for freimap
  • Service Control Module for freimap
  • Topology visualization / B.A.T.M.A.N and olsrd routing decision recovery for freimap
  • Database output for freimap
  • Antenna placement information elements in freifunk map data
  • Search in Wireless Mesh Networks – Yacy
  • Search in Wireless Mesh Networks – Nutch/Lucene
  • Peer-to-peer file sharing applications in Wireless Mesh Networks
  • Developing a Freifunk Theme for CMS
  • VoIP phoning in Freifunk Mesh Networks
  • Porting Freifunk to EeePC
  • Freifunk Webinterface for OpenWrt Kamikaze
  • more ideas are welcome…

After the application of Freifunk is accepted, prospective students have two weeks to apply at the summer of code programme. We hope our application will be accepted and we will soon see new
students contributing to the code base of our projects. We are looking forward to have students participating on an ongoing basis in the free wireless freifunk
networks all over the world.

Freifunk-Projekte für Google Summer of Code gesucht

Posted on by Mario Behling

Bis zum 12. März können sich Open Source-Projekte beim Google Summer of Code bewerben.

Für jeden studentischen Entwickler stiftet Google ein "Stipendium" in
Höhe von 5000 US-Dollar. 4500 Dollar der Summe gehen direkt an den
Studenten, die restlichen 500 Dollar erhält das betreuende
Open-Source-Projekt. Eine FAQ enthält einen genauen
Zeitplan und beantwortet
Fragen zu Details des Förderprogramms. (04.03.2008 11:37, http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/104444)

Wer Lust hat sich für ein freifunkrelevantes Projekt bei Google zu bewerben, kann sich gerne bei mir melden. Ich helfe euch gerne bei der Bewerbung. Beispiele für erfolgreiche Bewerbungen und ein "HOWTO: Write a Summer of Code application" gibt es u.a. bei der Drupal-Community zu sehen. Potentielle Freifunk-Projekte, die mir einfallen sind Maps, Mashups und Protokolle.