On 23.07.2019 00:00, Brian via 44Net wrote:
Well, the best step would be to make connecting easier, meaning, anything but IPIP.
That seems to be the vocal preference no?
Nope. It is a fact.
Until there is simple option to connect using plain, stardard and widespread equipment, there will be no significant expansion.
Many hams are using RPi units as 'routers' now, and this allows for greater flexibility.
RPi is a complication. I learned through years that in 44net community there will never be understanding about that.
And I also learned that we will never see significant expansion of 44net use.
We already have problem with IPIP that requires very odd configurations. Inventing new protocol that would not be supported in any existing routers is nonsense.
If an RPi is used it'd be quite simple actually. Also some routers allow for you to place a daemon in them as well and run it, most of them are linux based.
That is not solution. That is just more complication.
As long as 44net is inaccessible using plain, standard factory routers and standard protocols, it will not be expanding.
We need the very opposite - to use protocols that are wide spread and available in almost every device.
We as a community have developed protocols in the past that are in use today. Why couldn't we come up with something such as AGP (Amprnet Gateway Protocol for example) that could pass through most ISP filters on a device such as a Pi. We could then keep our "ASN" number as our callsign-ssid to identify who we are and keep it from propagating to the global internet and only for our own usage.
I understand a principle, and I understand motivation but, c'mon. RPi is not solution. It is part of a problem.
Whole IT world uses standard devices and standard protocols, and it works. Why should anyone spend time, efforts and money to invent new protocol that does the same jsut a bit different and which would bnever become standard outside 44net?
After all, with BGP we have problem only that we cannot easily use public but have to use private ASNs - which is wrong way of doing it.
Al we need is another "instance" of BGP that would allow freely using new set of ASNs. So, why inventing new protocol, just alter existing one so you can run at lest two independent BGP layers on single machine.
But that would be custom protocol, non standard, not available anywhere except on custom set hardware.
And again, that is repellent for people. If we want people to join in, it must be simple and standard way using standard hardware and software. Anything that requires installing linux and setting up custom machine and administer would simply keep people away from 44net as it already does.
Please notice that I do not speak about concrete solutions. I am talking about principles. When we adopt principles we could talk how to implement them. You simply have to see big picture to be able to work on details.