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Ricochet Modems == Wireless LAN?
dpease writes: "Metricom, purveyor of Ricochet wireless networking, died today. I understand that, sans infrastructure, a Ricochet wireless modem can call another Ricochet modem, and that modem-to-modem range is nearly a mile. Is the hardware this company leaves behind a viable solution for a really cool, really cheap wireless LAN?"
There is a peer to peer mode in Ricochet modems - at least (here's the catch) the older modems. Some guys on the Wearable Computing Mailing List have gotten them to work in P2P mode without any trouble.
However, Ricochet removed or somehow blocked this functionality in more recent models (those released within the past year). So the newer modems, unless you can figure out what they did and undo it, are useless in P2P mode.
As for your buddy, he must not know about the older models (I've seen them work in a demonstration here in Canada - definitely no network infrastructure).
(Keep in mind, the only ricochets I've worked with are the old 28.8's belonging to a friend. All bets are off with the new USB ones.)
/. crowd knows of the treasure, the prices will be driven up. Argh. Any one wanting to sell me their old 28.8 serials for $15 or so, email me at p-au-l@sim-er.net (Remove hyphens)
From what I've read and *seen*, these work much like landline modems. They even accept AT commands! Just tell one to "dial" the serial number of another one. If it's within, say, a mile of yours, a "ring" will happen on the other end. Just establish a PPP connection (Win98's Dial-Up server and many linux solutions will work), and you've got long range (>2 miles in good conditions), albeit slow, networking.
The possible uses for this just make me tingle. Wirelessly controlled robots with webcams, anyone?
Of course, I've been looking for deals on these babies on eBay, but now that the
So you can get your modem to work, you will not have any problems with the FCC.
Looking for any old 8-bit Heathkit/Zenith software/hardware - http://heathkit.garlanger.com
Nope, they used some tricks to avoid the need. First of all, they put some pretty strict power constraints on these. That's why some people are able to (illegally) boost their power and transmit for many miles.
They also transmit on a given frequency for a very short time, then hop to another.
These things allow them to operate on "public" frequencies. It's a great hack, but easy to abuse. If 10 guys boost their power in a neighborhood, no one gets to use it, because of signal bleed.
There are actually 3 different ways (at least) to do peer to peer with the Metricom radios.
1. Assuming you arn't using the Ricochet network at all and just have a pair of modems and a pair of computers then you can just treat the radios like a regular modem. I've got a pair of the older units and on the back there is a number like xxxx-yyyy. Set one of your systems up to answer calls and plug that number into your dialer you're done. One minor annoyance is that the standard Windows dialer (at least some versions) likes to strip out the "-" but there are plenty of ways to work around that.
2. Star Mode. So far as I know this is only supported under Linux and it basically turns 2 or more of these units into a lan. Look for the STRIP driver in the Linux kernel and have fun.
3. If you do have access to the Ricochet network I believe you can do #1 above through the network and thus get around the distance limitations. My understanding is that this ability was eliminated/changed in later models but I only have the older units and I'm nowhere near any official Ricochet nodes anyways.
As for the range, it depends entirely between what is in between the two nodes. In my particular neighborhood 1/2 mile was about the limit for normal use however if you have a clear view of the other node then you can go much farther.
--
Ray
I've never messed with STRIP, but I do know this:
You can connect 2 modems to each other for a p2p connection. The new 128k Ricochet modems actually respond to many normal AT commands. All you need to do is open a terminal window and tell the ricochet to dial the modem number of the modem you want to connect do. Just make sure the modem on the receving end has a terminal window open so that you can answer the call. While this technique does work, I've found it to be painfully slow.
Also, Ricochet modems communicate with the ricochet poll-tops and other ricochet's at 900mhz. However, the poll-tops then communicate with each other at about 2.3ghz. (The spectrum that metricom has the rights to.)
When it works, Ricochet is a incredibly fun toy. However, it's stupid to use as a primary net connection. It's about as reliable as a cell phone.
I thought they were just bankrupt. Aren't they hoping on selling all their equipment, technology, and customer base to someone else?
http://www.metricom.com/auctioninfo/index.html
I'd love to see a Freenet spring up in Dallas using these things. Any others interested?
Here's a link to a FAQ on using your Ricochet Modem outside Metricom's Network.
/ ricochet%20gs%20modem.htm
http://www.enlightenment-engine.com/eeng/ricochet
Looks like there are SOME interesting uses for these old Metricom modems in Linux. STRIP looks pretty interesting. Still, I'm seeing articles like this that make me think that the newer, faster modems are going to be useless.
Anybody have any more info relating to using these new GS models in peer-to-peer? I just bought a GS model, and I'm looking to get another. I'm seeing people posting on here that the modems are trash now-- but I'm not so sure that's the case.
The Attitude Adjuster, I hate me, you can too.
I don't now how much the FCC will like you doing that with no Licenes. They tend to take gear that is used against law , and may slap on a fine too. good luck
Alex Belits, a true Metricom packet radio fan, has lots of information on this at http://phobos.illtel.denver.co.us/~abelits/metrico m/.
I have mixed feelings about the demise of Metricom, myself. Properly used, the technology could have had great benefits. However, the company was arrogant and poorly managed. At one time, K N Energy (the local gas company) announced that they were going to deploy Metricom in our town. Neither they nor Metricom had given consideration to the fact that a wireless WAN serving many community organizations and some of the schools ran on the same frequency band. (The Metricom equipment -- dozens of transmitters running at the maximum legal output -- would have blown the other users right off the air.) The existing users made a reasonable request before the City Council: If Metricom was going to monopolize a public resource -- the 900 MHz band -- they should pay at least some of the cost of moving the schools and small business users to another band. But Ralph Derrickson of Metricom (the CEO until the bankruptcy) arrogantly refused to make any such concession. Fortunately, K N Energy's management was not so coldhearted, and agreed to help the community network move to another band if Ricochet was to be deployed in our city. (The network was never deployed, however, as K N Energy dropped its Ricochet franchise shortly thereafter.) The story is at http://www.lariat.org/metricom.html.
It may have been a similar lack of consideration for others (prices too high for the market; poor customer service) that led to Metricom's recent economic problems. $80 per month for 128 Kbps or less simply wasn't competitive with DSL, and there are not enough mobile users to support such a system by themselves. $29.95 per month would be more like it.
--Brett Glass
Its called STRIP - STarmode Radio IP, and there are Linux drivers. Check out the info at:
http://ns.uoregon.edu/~jremy/strip.html
There appears to be two modes to these modems: peer-peer or broadcast. Apparently Metricom calls their broadcast mode "starmode." These drivers allow you to basicly setup a wireless subnet. Very cool.
Can someone comment on the security of these modems? I might have to get myself a couple.
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
For comparison purposes, if you want to build a wireless 802.11b lan, and you want to do it with stuff you can buy from a major retailer, you're gonna need:
one of these. - $250
at least two of these. - $130 each.
so, we're up to $510, as a reference point, as to what an 802.11b network costs.
~z
sig?
According to Alex Belitis's Metricom-on-Linux web page, there was no hardware change. It's just that the Metricom pole top units were no longer programmed to forward peer-to-peer "star mode" packets for modems registered after December 23, 2000. If you have two modems talking directly to each other rather than through a pole top unit, then there shuld be no problem.
On the other hand, six months ago I tried and failed to get my Merlin Metricom card to talk my external USB metricom modem in star mode.
The "modems" can be used for point to point links without retransmitters, however the distances that I have observed were much less than a mile -- apparently long distances are achievable only if there is a cleat line of sight between transmitter and receiver, and in those conditions 2.4GHz wireless stuff makes at least as muhc sense, plus it's faster.
The information about ricochet modems and their use in both "normal" and point to point mode under linux is at this page that I maintain.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
Actually, increasing effective radiated power may not cause "signal bleed" whatever you meant by that (spurious/harmonic rf, perhaps?) for a number of reasons. Particularly if ERP is increased by means of one or more directional antennae, or even better LOS is increased by placing transceivers at strategic positions above ground level. Some modifications are not permitted for devices intended for unlicensed operation in that band, but effective range can be increased without attracting fcc field officers.
AC's cheerfully ignored
Actually Metricom did start small, they've been around since around 1985, so their not some new company formed in the bubble years, but the latter certainly had an influence and ultimately led to its demise. Their initial concept was to fit these boxes to lampposts and automatically read electric meters in people's houses, thus streamline the billing process. When you consider the man-hours and messing about involved with reading meters it was a good idea, I'm sure it will take hold eventually.
I've seen a similar thing in the UK, they have contracts where you have a cheap 'off peak' electricity in the night time, this is electricity that is always available on the grid from the Nuclear baseload but goes largely wasted, so they sell it at a discount. Anyway, they send a RF signal and your meter picks it up then switches to and from 'off-peak' automatically, so no time clocks to go wrong and no potential for fraud. It's an extension of those MSF clocks that automatically sync via RF signals broadcast from places like Rugby.
his was all before the Internet became mainstream, much like the way ADSL was actually designed to supply DTV and VOD services to homes so the telco's could compete with the cable companies. It wasn't actually designed as a net connection, but obviously since video data is just data, the lines were adapted to tcp/ip.
Alex Belits, a true Metricom packet radio fan, has lots of information on this at http://phobos.illtel.denver.co.us/~abelits/metrico m/.
I have mixed feelings about the demise of Metricom, myself. Properly used, the technology could have had great benefits. However, the company was arrogant and poorly managed. At one time, K N Energy (the local gas company) announced that they were going to deploy Metricom in our town. Neither they nor Metricom had given consideration to the fact that a wireless WAN serving many community organizations and some of the schools ran on the same frequency band. (The Metricom equipment -- dozens of transmitters running at the maximum legal output -- would have blown the other users right off the air.) The existing users made a reasonable request before the City Council: If Metricom was going to monopolize a public resource -- the 900 MHz band -- they should pay at least some of the cost of moving the schools and small business users to another band. But Ralph Derrickson of Metricom (the CEO until the bankruptcy) arrogantly refused to make any such concession. Fortunately, K N Energy's management was not so coldhearted, and agreed to help the community network move to another band if Ricochet was to be deployed in our city. (The network was never deployed, however, as K N Energy dropped its Ricochet franchise shortly thereafter.) The story is at http://www.lariat.org/metricom.html.
It may have been a similar lack of consideration for others (prices too high for the market; poor customer service) that led to Metricom's recent economic problems. $80 per month for 128 Kbps or less simply wasn't competitive with DSL, and there are not enough mobile users to support such a system by themselves. $29.95 per month would be more like it.