In just the past couple of days I got my gateway working. I have a CS degree, test software for a living and considered myself proficient on linux but found getting the gateway to work correctly difficult due to contradictions in documentation and examples. With KB3VWG's help I was able to get it working. I'll just say it was a little difficult to get it going, mostly due to understanding how it all works together. I'm using ubuntu linux as a gateway.
On the subject of non-operational gateways I would consider attempting to send RIP broadcasts to them at a reduced rate instead of deleting them. In my case I'm on a dynamic address. It doesn't change often, longest I've had an address was about 5 months. It's most apt to change if I restart. I registered my gateway in January... it was down all of Jan and Feb. It's been intermittent but mostly down since until Monday evening of this week. Had my gateway been deleted or removed from the list I'd now be offline rather than online.
Lynwood was a great help with understanding policy routing rules and I'd like to publically thank him here. He's patient and points things out that don't work.
I plan to document my journey so others who wish to join the network can learn from my mistakes. I'm a firm believer in understanding how it works.
--tom /n2xu