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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?"
(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
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. Of course, to prevent breakins, just have the recieving device set up with authentication. Just like you would running a dial-up server at home.
I believe I also read that these modems encrypt data locally, and transmit on a given frequency for only a very short burst at a time. (This allows them to avoid hefty FCC charges!) If you've got concerns about eavesdropping, then add your own encryption before data is sent.
So we all want an open and free network...
The next time a large network like this shuts down and auctions their network off (unfortunately, we can't do this with Ricochet because they've already registered the bidders), let's all pitch in and bid on it.
Sure, there are a lot of inherent problems in purchasing this. For example, who would maintain the hardware?
It's still a decent idea, and if we all pitch in a little, it just might happen...
Do you like German cars?
It seems to me after reading the article you refernce that the only way P2P is going to work is if no one buys the network and they shut it off. Then the whole problem of the nameserver goes away.
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
Man, I'm frustrated .. I read the article the other day about Ricochet and that they intended to let go of their staff and turn off their network, and I called up my provider, WWC (Wireless Web Connect) and asked what was going on, and if my service would be impacted..
I was immediately assured that Ricochet had only announced Chapter 11 Bankrupcy and that this was only for financial reasons and it would not impact my service at all. I pointed them at the article on slashdot, and was assured that it was just a rumor.
So now, I call them up again and all I can get is a recorded message saying that they have filed legal action to force Ricochet to keep their network online and provide users with at least 30 days notice. Additionally, they say that although Ricochet intends to keep their service online until the date in the future, degredation of service will happen between now and then.
(Case and point, it took me 30 minutes to get connected.. I kept getting No Dial Tone, even though I have green flashy lights indicated signal).
WWC has a lot of sales speak about remaining committed and blah blah blah. They'll stop billing us if Ricochet's network should happen to go dead. How great of them. They also claim that they're working with AT&T on their Wireless Data Service .. A new CDPD modem will be needed, and their trying to get existing Ricochet customers a $$ break. .....I guess I need to get a new ISP Account .. and back to 33.6 I go.. :( :( :(
I'm sure someone can elaborate... but I believe that it basically said it will work with the older 28.8 modems, but not the new 128 capable ones.
Ah, supply and demand. This is all natural and necessary of course though. We were in a period of rapid and unfounded growth in many areas, such as Metricom's attempt at building an infrastructure that not enough people really wanted or needed.
In all, to 95% of the people out there, the Internet is just a suppliment, like a glorified fax machine. Sure the potential is there, but the only killer app I have seen so far (from a business standpoint) is really email.
I think if metricom had started like most businesses, real business, and started small, in limited market(s), then reinvested those profits, and grown slowly, we might not be seeing them falling on their face right now. A lot of this venture capital feeding frenzy created this idea "if you build it, they will come", and that is rarely true.
So a message to all of the people out there that have to fend in this new-new economy, start small, work the bugs out, and don't try to do everything at once.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
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.
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.
Here is a schematic for a 6 watt, 900 MHz bi-directional wireless data amplifier this would be perfect for old Ricochet hardware. All the parts are quite easy to find also.
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.
Yeah! Too bad there isn't some sort of global network tying everyone together. That way people could play games of UT and Q3A with each other without having to move their computers into the same room!
Wouldn't that be grand?