MESH Chat Setup Help Request (Raspberry PI)

17 posts / 0 new

Thu, 05/09/2019 - 22:18

K1DOS

Looking for some help via phone - installing and setting up MESHCHAT on clean Raspbian Raspberry PI installation.

K1DOS-1

Hank

Fri, 05/10/2019 - 07:54

nc8q

MESH Chat Setup Help Request RPi

Hank:

Start here:
http://www.trevorsbench.com/meshchat-messaging-for-mesh-networks/

Scroll down to 'Raspberry Pi'.

I am running v1.0. My neighbors run 1.01/1.02.

I'll be home until noonish EDST today
N2MH meshphone 973-1073.

Chuck

Sat, 05/11/2019 - 18:22

(Reply to #2) #3

K1DOS

Chuck,

Chuck,

Sorry but I did not see this until after the time specified. I don't have my MESH phones connected (packing things up to return to the states). Can you send me an email? commsprepper@gmail.com

Hank K1DOS

Mon, 06/03/2019 - 19:24

(Reply to #3) #4

AG6ST

AREDN Mesh Chat on Raspberry PI3

Hi Chuck and Hank,
I just now gave up trying to get the mesh chat using the raspberry pi working as described on trevors bench.
I just sent him an email asking if that process is still good.
His instructions link to s3.amazonaws.com/aredn/meshchat_1.02_all.deb
It looks like that link won't work any longer.
I searched that site with google and could not find any reference to AREDN in a search.
Perhaps someone else can post a copy of the
meshchat_1.02_all.deb
and/or let us know where it is.
I'm not sure what the next line:
dpkg -i meshchat_1.02_all.deb
does. maybe unzipping it?
Ron - AG6ST in Torrance

pi@raspberrypi:/usr/lib/cgi-bin $ wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/aredn/meshchat_1.02_all.deb

--2019-06-03 15:02:13-- https://s3.amazonaws.com/aredn/meshchat_1.02_all.deb

Resolving s3.amazonaws.com (s3.amazonaws.com)... 52.216.200.101

Connecting to s3.amazonaws.com (s3.amazonaws.com)|52.216.200.101|:443... failed: Network is unreachable.

Mon, 06/03/2019 - 19:34

K5DLQ

that link works for me.

that link works for me. Does your Pi have internet access?
ping 8.8.8.8

Tue, 06/04/2019 - 10:16

K6CCC

First of all, like K5DLQ, the

First of all, like K5DLQ, the link works for me. Second, having set up MeshChat on a RasPi 3B a couple weeks ago, I should be able to help. I did not have any real issues and I did follow the instruction on Trevor's site for install.

Tue, 06/04/2019 - 13:50

(Reply to #6) #7

AG6ST

AREDN Mesh Chat on Raspberry PI3

Yes, my pi did/does have internet access. I ended up searching for that meshchat_1.02_all.deb file. I found it and then loaded it manually and ran the dpkg -i meshchat_1.02_all.deb. Which seemed to unpack the files just fine. So now the pi3 mesh chat program seems to work, but I'm not sure if it is connecting and updating as it should. Someone please try to send me a mesh chat message on AG6ST-2 and let me know what you see.
I see what looks like normal mesh chat boxes for sending messages when I bring up the mesh chat on my AG6ST-2
I'm not sure about when trevors instructions say to edit the meshchatconfig.pm file. He says edit these two lines:
the stuff in quotes ' LWMeshChat' and 'localnode'
How do I get what I need to put in there?
I used 'MeshChat-5819' for zone because that is what a local user AI6HJ is using.
I left the localnode unchanged.
ron... AG6ST Torrance, CA

Tue, 06/04/2019 - 14:12

(Reply to #7) #8

K5DLQ

did you install the meshchat

did you install the meshchat_api package on the localnode? The Pi will "link" to it.

Tue, 06/04/2019 - 14:38

(Reply to #8) #9

AG6ST

Well, yes and no. I'm using

Well, yes and no. I'm using a Mikrotik Hap ac lite between the LDF5 node and the pi. So, I only see the pi DHCP address reservation from the Hap AC lite, which I named AG6ST, not from the AG6ST-2 LDF5/dish node linked to Mt. Wilson. So I only see the reservation to the pi from the hapac. The mesh chat only seems to (sorta) work from the hapac, named AG6ST. There is a guy in Glendora K6ccc that looks to have the same setup as mine. I just sent him a mesh chat message to contact me by email, so I can quiz him on how he set up his pi3b - hapac - node
ron...

Tue, 06/04/2019 - 14:46

(Reply to #9) #10

K5DLQ

if you use meshchat on a RPi,

if you use meshchat on a RPi, you MUST install the meshchat_api package on a node. The RPi will get some if the network information from meshchat_api running on a node in order to work properly with multiple meshchats in a zone.

Tue, 06/04/2019 - 17:23

(Reply to #10) #11

AG6ST

AREDN Mesh Chat on Raspberry PI-hAPac - api package

I think I need to somehow get the LDF5 AG6ST-2 node to see the rpi reservation. I don't understand how the routing works on the hapac. With the hapac between the pi and the LDF5, I can't see or set the pi reservation. I currently have the pi connected to port 3 of the hapac and the ldf5 node connected to port 5 of the hapac.
Yes, I installed the api package, but believe I could only install it on the hapac routerboard because only it can see the pi DHCP reservation, unless I'm missing something, I can't set the api on the AG6ST-2 node, because it requires a reservation to the pi (according to trevors instructions). I can not set a reservation to the pi from the AG6ST-2 node. It just does not show up as available from the port forwarding, DHCP page for the AG6ST-2 (ldf5) node. The AG6ST-2 node does have a reservation to the AG6ST (hapac routerboard). So maybe I need to remove the api from the hapac, and try the api from the AG6ST-2 (ldf5) and hope that the double link to the pi will work? Tried it, can not connect.

Tue, 06/04/2019 - 17:35

(Reply to #11) #12

K6CCC

I wont see the message until

I wont see the message until late this evening or tomorrow, but I see your query here. I am running a hAP with a tunnel connection (I'm in a AREDN desert). I have a RasPi 3B running MeshChat and it is working. Short answer is that Trevor's instructions worked perfectly. It will work locally without the api, but requires the api to sync properly with other nodes. The DHCP reservation and api should both be on the hAP. Also remember to edit the file as described in the instructions.

Jim

Tue, 06/04/2019 - 19:21

(Reply to #12) #13

AG6ST

AREDN Mesh Chat on Raspberry PI3 - API on HAPAC

Hi Jim,
Thanks!
I'm getting there. So I reloaded the api on the hapac as well as on the LDF5 & things appear to be working.
"Multiple Zones and Channels are supported for categorizing and separating message traffic".
So what are the zones and channels on the LA AREDN area network? I just see one Channel called "Everything"
My chat window shows zone MeshChat-3835 - what is that? something like my ID for chat that was automatically assigned?
Do messages go out to everybody in the "Everything" channel? I don't see a way to send a message to one person using my own chat page.
I'm still not sure what to put in where the instructions say to edit LWMeshChat and localnode.
our $pi_zone = 'LWMeshChat';
our $local_meshchat_node = 'localnode';

What do I need to do to check that everything is working correctly?
Sorry for so many questions!
thanks for your help,
r

Wed, 06/05/2019 - 12:27

(Reply to #13) #14

K6CCC

Configuring MeshChat

"Multiple Zones and Channels are supported for categorizing and separating message traffic".
So what are the zones and channels on the LA AREDN area network? I just see one Channel called "Everything"
My chat window shows zone MeshChat-3835 - what is that? something like my ID for chat that was automatically assigned?

I think I have this part right. MeshChat will sync with other nodes in the same zone. When MeshChat is installed directly on a node, the zone will MeshChat-nnnn where nnnn is a random number. In theory you are supposed to be able to change that, but I could not make it work when I tried it. When you install MeshChat on a Raspberry Pi, you CAN change that to anything you want. In my opinion, unless you have a specific reason to do something else, you should use just MeshChat. If everyone has their own zone, it largely defeats the purpose of a multi node mesh chat program.
As far as channel goes, my observation is that most everything is on Everything. You can add a channel on the fly. For example I saw a channel call Telemetry whcih was just that. That way you could filter out the extraneous traffic.

I'm still not sure what to put in where the instructions say to edit LWMeshChat and localnode.
our $pi_zone = 'LWMeshChat';
our $local_meshchat_node = 'localnode';

The first line is the zone name (for example Meshchat) and the second line (if I remember right) is the node name. I can check mine when I get home (unless I get my wife to power up the family room computer so I can remote into it, then SSH into the Pi)...

Wed, 06/05/2019 - 15:40

(Reply to #14) #15

AG6ST

AREDN Mesh Chat on Raspberry PI3 - Channels and Zones

Hi Jim,
I'm thinking it does not matter what is in those fields. My meshchat seems to be working fine now, as far as I can tell so far and I have not edited those fields. I have been able to chat with a local ham - AI6HJ on the local Everything AREDN net. Maybe it is because he left those fields unchanged also?
The first really odd thing is that when you first get to the login page, it says "Enter Your Call", that one had me stumped at first as it seemed I was just going to send a message out to perhaps everyone from there, after entering MY callsign. I reread the AREDN meshchat write up in the arednmesh.org and it says "Enter A Callsign", not YOUR callsign.
I guess YOUR callsign could mean some callsign you know, but I think that should be changed to "Enter A callsign"
There seem to be very few folks using mesh chat. What's up with that? A few of them seem to be dead links. I'd think in an emergency, everyone should be able to meshcat as a first thing to look at. So is there a way to send a general message to everyone? Saying some disaster just struck your local area and need help? Or is there a better way to ask for help over LA area AREDN?
Ron AG6ST

Wed, 06/05/2019 - 18:27

#16

K6CCC

Should be your callsign

The first really odd thing is that when you first get to the login page, it says "Enter Your Call", that one had me stumped at first as it seemed I was just going to send a message out to perhaps everyone from there, after entering MY callsign. I reread the AREDN meshchat write up in the arednmesh.org and it says "Enter A Callsign", not YOUR callsign.
I guess YOUR callsign could mean some callsign you know, but I think that should be changed to "Enter A callsign"

No. It should be YOUR callsign. It is the callsign that will display when YOU type a message into MeshChat. The software will allow you to put anything there (and I have put other things there when I was testing on several MeshChat nodes and wanted each message to show a different ID). Under normal circumstances it would create confusion if you put in W1AW or K6CCC, etc. You may at times want to ID with a tactical call rather than your FCC call. A few examples: "Parade Ops", "Red Cross", "Shelter", West Camera" or "Glendora EOC".

From the MeshChat website:

Using mesh chat

Meshchat is really easy to use. When you browse the web interface for the first time you will be prompted to enter your call sign. You can put in your call sign or any other identifier you want your messages tagged as.

Thu, 06/06/2019 - 00:20

#17

K6CCC

Looks like the settings matter

This is how I set my two lines in the /usr/lib/cgi-bin/meshchatconfig.pm

our $pi_zone = 'MeshChat';
our $local_meshchat_node = 'K6CCC-hAP-at-Home';

So, yes the $pi_zone specifies the Zone and $local_meshchat_node is the name of the node that it's connected to.

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