fonosfera

We’re nearly there! The first release candidate is available, which contains all the changes we’ve planned for the 2.3.7.0 final release. We’ll now enter a period of more extensive testing, to find any remaining critical bugs or regressions. In the best case, we’ll not find any and the final release will be identical to to this release candidate.

What changed?
This release brings mostly bugfixes and a pile of Here’s a few highlights:

• The Transmission torrent client was updated to version 2.71.
• Wifi channels 12 and 13 are now available in countries they are allowed in
• OpenVPN is a lot more configurable (many thanks to Jon Spriggs for contributing patches for most of these changes!).
• USB audio devices work again (this got broken in beta3).
• USB disk support improvements

For the complete list of changes, see the changelog.

What about my feedback?
We welcome more feedback about this release, so go ahead and comment or post away. This does not just mean issues or problems: If you test a new or fixed feature and it works for you, we’d like to know as well. Feedback is welcome through various channels: comments on this blogpost, the development mailing list, IRC or by creating a ticket on our trac.

Note that at this point, we might not fix all bugs reported, but limit to critical bugs or regressions that were introduced by the recent releases. The goal here is to make as few changes as possible, to minimize the chance of introducing new bugs again.

So, how do I upgrade?
To install this release candidate, download the web upgrade tarball here, navigate to your Fonera’s dashboard through “Settings” and then “System” and upload the downloaded file there (under “Firmware update”). Note that you should not unpack the file you download (and make sure your browser doesn’t automatically unzip the file either, it should remain a .tgz file).

The following versions are available. Note that because this is release candidate, only the developer’s version is available, not the end user’s version (but you can freely switch between versions without problems). Be sure to pick the version for your hardware. If you pick the wrong one, the firmware update will silently bail out and no upgrade will happen (no error will appear either).

• 2.0g (FON2202) developer’s version
• 2.0n (FON2303) developer’s version

It seems that in some cases, the 2.0g fails to flash a new firmware through the webinterface due to insufficient free RAM. If you upload the firmware through the webinterface, but that page keeps loading indefinitely (and you do not get the updating countdown), you’re probably seeing this issue as well. As a workaround, you can disable windows file sharing (“Settings” -> “Fileserver” -> “Windows Network Shares”) and/or the public Fonspot (“Settings” -> “FONSpot”) to free up some memory. This should allow the 2.0g to successfully unpack the firmware and start flashing it.

If the upgrade somehow fails and you need to recover, the new FAQ section has recovery instructions.

Have fun!

Update: This release contains a bug breaking PPPoE mode when set to use the automatic DNS server address. If you have this configuration, either switch to a static DNS server (like 8.8.8.8 Google DNS), or see ticket #1229 for a fix.

Update: This release contains a bug breaking the 3G settings page in all cases. See ticket #1228 for a fix for this problem.

I’ve announced this post a long time ago, but I’ve finally gotten around to write a bit about our plans for the next release. I’ll try to be as specific as I can in this post, but of course I’m not 100% sure about how 2.3.7.0 will look or when it will be released either. So, expect some things to change from what I say here :-)

The primary goal for 2.3.7.0 is supporting 2.0g again. It’s been a long while without updates for 2.0g owners. Each time there was some important argument to get out the 2.0n update sooner and leave 2.0g for a while longer, but we really should get the latest fixes and features working for 2.0g again. So the plan is to release 2.3.7.0 for both 2.0g and 2.0n. Having the same version working on both Foneras will also make our life a bit easier, since investigating bugs is easier when we only need to check a single firmware version :-)

In addition to this, we’re trying to squeeze in some actual bugfixes and features as well. A good indication of these plans is the 2.3.7.0 milestone in trac, which lists the tickets we hope to get closed for 2.3.7.0 (or have already closed). Note the word “hope” here: We’d like to close as much of these tickets as possible, but if fixing them takes too much time, we might release 2.3.7.0 without them.

Some highlights:

• Updating some upstream software: Transmission, usb_modeswitch and OpenVPN.
• Fixing the twitter plugin (which is broken because Twitter changed its authentication scheme).
• Some fixes related to special characters in filenames on USB disks.
• Some improvements for developers (more usable opkg, easier plugin building, etc.)
• Fixing the music plugin again
• Enabling wifi repeater / wifi-wan mode again. This needs an update to the wifi driver for 2.0n so it hopefully becomes stable enough to enable in the non-dev as well.
• Bridge mode for 2.0g. This wasn’t actually planned, but when thinking about it a bit more closely a few weeks back, this appeared to be easier to implement than I had originally thought. I’ve since worked on this and found out that it wasn’t so easy after all, but it is nearly working now, so will probably be included after all.

To get an idea of the fixes committed already, you can look at the closed tickets above, but also at the
revision log for trunk. Anything that is commited to trunk right now, will be included in th 2.3.7.0 release (though we might create a 2.3.7 branch later on).

One issue that needs some attention as well is firmware size: The main firmware has slowly grown a bit over the last year (mainly due to the addition of OpenVPN and OpenSSL). This works fine on 2.0n, but 2.0g has slightly less Flash space available, leaving only a few hundred KiB for plugins. Perhaps we can save some space here and there, or perhaps we’ll release a firmware version without OpenVPN included. We’re not sure yet.

As for the actual release process: There will probably be a beta release first. Since there’s quite some changes, particularly for 2.0g, I expect some new problems to emerge when people start testing. After the issues in the beta release are fixed, there will be one or more release candidates (RC) and finally the actual release.

In my previous post, I promised to say a bit more about the policy regarding blog comments. In the past, we’ve seen a lot of blog comments that were either spam (no relevant content and links to other sites), off-topic (questions or statements related to the Fonera, but not relevant to the particular post) or simply inappropriate (containing swearing or insults).

As of now, the Fon policy regarding user feedback is the following:

• Stay on-topic. The blog is not a place for general questions or remarks, so please only respond with comments relevant to the post in question. Off-topic comments might be deleted.
• Stay polite. It is ok to criticize in a constructive way, it is not ok to use inappropriate language or make derogatory remarks. Inappropriate comments will be deleted without exception.

In short, don’t be a troll!

When you post a comment, it will be spamchecked using Akismet, spam is deleted right away. If it is your first post to the blog, it will be held for moderation. We’ll try to frequently approve posts, but it might take a few days. After your first comment is approved, any subsequent comment should be published right away.

Where do I post my off-topic questions, then?
A lot of users have been using the blog to ask a myriad of questions about the Fonera and its development. Since the blog isn’t quite the right place for this, here’s a few places you can ask your questions instead:

• The forums are appropriate for most questions. Here you will get answers for other users, FON support staff and sometimes developers.
  The forums are good for questions like “Has someone tried installing jdownloader on his Fonera?”, or “What’s the difference between the Fonera firmware and OpenWRT?”
• FON support has some FAQs, a knowledge base and you can contact them in case you’re having problems with your Fonera, your various Fon accounts or accessing the FON wifi networks (use the “Contact Us” link at the top right).
  FON support is good for questions like “How do I register my router?”, or “What ports do I need to open to use torrent downloads?”.
• The IRC channel is appropriate for short development questions or to get help collecting information for a bug report. Here you will get answers from other users and developers. You can also try to ask more general questions, but remember that we’re busy with developing the firmware as well!
  If you use the IRC channel, don’t wait for someone to show up first, just ask the question you have and be patient (rule #1 on IRC: don’t ask to ask, just ask!). Don’t be surprised if it takes a few hours or even a day or two to get an answer: We’re not online 24/7, but do usually read back what we’ve missed.
  The IRC channel is good for questions like “What file handles the 3G connection setup” or “I think that DDNS is not working in bridge mode, what info do you need?”
• The Fonosfera development mailing list is a good place for (longer) development questions. This list is read by the developers and the more advanced users, so there’s a good chance you get an answer to your complicated questions here. This is probably also the best place to ask about the development roadmap.
  The mailing list is good for questions like “I tried to create a plugin to do [something], but I’ve encountered three problems: [long description]“, or “Would anybody be interested in having a plugin for [some program]?”
• The fonosfera Trac is the place to report bugs or request features. Do take care to search for existing reports first. Please read this wiki page before reporting a bug.

And finally, whenever you ask a question be sure to think about it and phrase it properly!

Update: Added a paragraph explaining how the moderation system works.

Hi guys, new firmware around the corner.

But we need more testing now. We have done tests with some volunteers that we are so thankful for, but now we need more feedback. We are releasing a Release Candidate for 2.3.6.0 soon.

It is not a final image: We don’t consider it stable and it has bugs that we expect to fix when the final 2.3.6.0 is released. However we feel it is now ready for some field testing.

So, what should you expect from this test firmware?

• The FON Hotspot feature has been fixed. You can share your WiFi again at your will.
• We have fixed the WiFi issues that the Fonera was having with the BCM4325 chipset from broadcom. This WiFi chipset is used by the iPhone 3Gs, many last generation iPods, some Apple laptops and desktops and other brands (Dell etc).
• We have been in close touch with RaLink, our chipset vendor, to make sure the WiFi configuration is the best possible. In previous versions we had a couple of values that were not completely optimized. Now the WiFi conf should be the best.
• Improvements in the 3G system: we have made some internal cleanups so the 3G configuration is cleaner. For instance, you can now reset the 3G configuration when it’s dialing, in case it seems to be stuck.
• We have replaced the software that controlled the 3G dongles with “usb_modeswitch”: a software that will allow us support many more 3G dongles and will make it easier as well. This doesn’t mean all units will work out of the box but many will and others will be easy to fix in the near future.

These are the things you might miss:

• We have removed the “Repeater Mode” or WiFi-WAN mode. It was unstable and until we find out why, if ever, it will be switched off.
• Torrent, DLManager, Samba etc. have had no changes. As we said many times, we will first try to make the base system (mainly connectivity) as stable and reliable as possible.

These are things we know are wrong:

• MAC OSX 10.6 seems to have issues with the 802.11d protocol (country code exchange protocol) over 802.11n. What does it entail: when WiFi is enabled in OSX, it will listen to any APs around. The first one that sends a message containing a country code, will determine the country selection of OSX. Once a country is selected, OSX will refuse to connect to APs advertising different country codes.
  How does this affect users? The Fonera is broadcasting US as the country code. If you live in Europe and your OSX gets a frame from a different AP saying it’s in Spain, for instance, then it will refuse to connect to the Fonera since it is in a different country (US).
  This bug is not Fonera exclusive, (see http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10500601) it happens to OSX with any AP that has a ‘wrong’ country code. We will very likely add a dropdown menu so the user can chose what country the AP is in.
• MAC OSX (other OSes not confirmed yet) seems to get micro-disconnections from time to time. We are still studying this issue.

When can you expect to test this new test firmware?

Well… we are aiming for next week. Can’t promise yet but it looks like we might be able to have it cleaned up and ready for you guys to test. Please, bear in mind it will be a test version and only those who feel confident (or desperate enough) should try it :)

Thanks for reading all the way down to here!

Hi all,

We have successfully tested some of the fixes today (or so we think so) and have an image almost ready for user testing. We have selected a set of users that have been reporting FON bugs consistently and in a comprehensible way in the last months to us. Also, they have experienced most of the important bugs that have been reported, so are good candidates to represent most of the rest.

Those users will be helping us test the firmware in the field. If you are not in that list, please forgive us and be patient. More users means more feedback (better), we know, but also much more coordination work. So, please understand we wanted a kind of reduced and well selected set of testers.

We still are working on some fixes, so what they will test is not meant to be a pre-final firmware, but an advanced stage firmware, with some important fixes. We can advance there is no major changes, don’t expect a cool super-fancy firmware, but just what we considered the most critical bugs (wifi connectivity, fonspot, stability, some 3g dongles support…) fixed.

How long will they be testing? Well, that depends on how good we made our work till now. Hopefully one week approximately should do it. Meanwhile we will keep working on the still open bugs and hopefully have a ‘final-to-be’ firmware ready for them by next week. Let’s cross fingers!

These users are, of course, free to talk about their findings about this new firmware with the rest of the community. They can blog, post, twit, comment, share on IRC… whatever they want.

Stay tuned and thanks again for your patience and trust!!

Hi all,

I am here to let you know a little bit about our current status of work, especially regarding the fonera 2.0n but also some other things.
As promised, now that the Fonera Simpl has been announced, we can communicate a bit more about what we’re working on. Sometimes, it might be that we are not working on your specific device, but we hope you will forgive us.

The Fonera 2.0n is already seeing some progress:
- We have reused the wifi driver of the firmware 2.3.5.0 RC1 which made the fonera more stable and also made all throughput problems with broadcom chipsets (some iphones, ipods, macs and other laptops) vanish.
- The FON funcionality that we broke in the 2.3.5.0 RC1 has, of course, been fixed ;)
- We have added the mode_switch driver: this will permit us to support more 3G dongles and do it in a easier way. We expect to test about 10 models by ourselves and probably will support many more out of the box!!!

These are our biggest focus right now. We are still at the firmware team testing process but will soon get into QA and we also plan to get some of you involved in the testing. We already have a list of people that are willing to test it: either to help us or for the hope of having their bug fixed :)

So, stay tuned, we are already moving little by little.

As for the fonera 2.0g, we don’t forget about you, just these changes are fonera 2.0n specific. The only common part is the 3G dongle support and that improvement, we will try to add some day when it is confirmed it works fine in the fonera 2.0n.

In parallel, we are also continuing with the development and testing of the coming fonera Simpl. We will soon make some code public and will publish everything probably before the official launch in Europe. It is a nice and small device, you will see.

Thanks again for your patience and help, we hope to get you a good firmware soon!

Hi all,

First of all, my personal apologies for not having posted anything in such a looooooooooooong (not enough ‘o’-s, I know). I know many are expectant, many angry and some bored. I can’t blame them.

It’s been a huge load of work since my last post in December. Out of a sudden, everything had to be restructured and rescheduled due to an upcoming new product. Whatever the reason for the decision was, I could do nothing but follow it. I do understand the feeling many might have, of being left behind, especially for the lack of comunication: I want to say that it was 90% because of lack of time (informing is not only posting an entry but following up on it and IRC and forums etc) and 10% because I could not talk about why a new firmware was being delayed and I didn’t want to lie. So I thought it was to better shut up than liying.
As many of you know, we are launching a new product soonish and we need to work a lot on it. However we have not stopped developing for the Fonera 2.0n. The new product is based on the same Ralink chipset family, so some of the fixed bugs and improvements we have done for the new device will also be present on the next firmware release for the Fonera 2.0n.

We have been working on the Fonera 2.0n on a best effort basis and we expect to very soon be able to focus on it with the following target in mind: release a stable firmware that does all the WiFi router funcitonalities well. We are now reschedulling projects but I can already say we are aiming to release it on mid March. We mostly want to make sure we do proper QA this time and not rush, it just doesn’t pay.

This is our short term aim. For the long term, we expect to merge both firmwares, the one of the Fonera 2.0n and that of the new Fonera SIMPL, with the hope that it will be a robust and stable, feature-rich firmware.

Please, accept my apologies, again, and try the new firmware when we release it: I believe it will satisfy most of you.

Thanks

iurgi

PS: there are some unpublished comments on the previous posts and some on this one might remain unpublished too. It’s not censorship (which I’m not against in some cases): you can see we publish very critizicing comments. It’s lack of time to go over all of them to see if they cross the line or not. Somee good ones are unpublished as well. Sorry about that :( They might eventually be published.

Hi all,

Some of you might have noticed that Rudolph has been removed from the location it was made publicly available at. Many wonder why… well, Rudolph had a congenital illness: the FON Hotspot did not work and also, it registered a wrong MAC address on FON’s system.
Anyway, you can still compile the image from svn if you want to use the rest of the benefits.
We are working hard, even if it is Christmas and will try to release a new fixed RC asap.

Also, 2.3.5.0 will be available for the Fonera 2.0g too. A bit later than for the 2.0n, but it will come.

Thanks for understanding.

Hi all,

I would like to kindly remind you that “rudolph”, this is 2.3.5.0_rc2, is only a “release candidate”. We know it has bugs and we DO NOT recommend it for anyone that doesn’t like testing and reporting bugs.
We know it is a long waited firmware: it has very nice functionalities that many of you asked for (bridge, wlan client etc) but please be patient. There have been MAJOR changes on the firmware, including a completely new WiFi driver, so don’t expect it to work perfectly on the first run.

I am sure you all understand this is not an easy task. We are a small team and really appreciate your feedback and support, but also suffer your impatience and unhappiness. So please, try to be comprehensive and give usgood feedback so we can make Rudolph grow into a nice firmware from the little young reindeer it is now :)

Thanks a lot for your patience and understanding ;)

Ho, Ho, Ho, …..

its been nearly 3 months since the last update, but it was worth waiting.
Just intime for xmas, Santa has sent us a new update called Rudolph (2.3.5.0)

Rudolph

Santa gave Rudolph a lot of presents for us. The main ones are :
- adds new wifi driver (fixes 11n only, iphone, powersave,…)
- adds openvpn server
- adds upnp mediaAV in DEV-only image
- adds wifi-wan mode
- adds bridge mode
- adds wps support
- fixes cache problems that cause errors after 24 hours
- fixes ntp server pool, we now use openwrt pool
- qos was not enabled even if selected in webui due to a typo
- fixes column header in torrent app
- open torrent port and allow client to register as active on tracker
- disabe snr graph on fon_status page as it was not working as expected
- fixes wpa validation 8-63 chars with special chars are no supported
- small fix to SimpleForm template
- fixes “onsucess” logic of firewall app
- allow anonymous login for ftp (and make it configurable on webui
- onlined now only checks the fon server
- typo in italian translation, openvpn, qos pages
- fixes coova for NEC cell phones
- disable tcp_ecn in sysctl
- adds port allocation logic of switch when in bridge mode
- fixes lucid when ip changes
- fixes lan netmask
- fixes mac override for wan port
- fixes large file download in fonbrowser

This is RC2, a few translations are still missing but if everything goes well, we will release 2.3.5.0 final next week.

Enjoy !!

Developer image: http://download.fonosfera.org/Rudolph/20091210_FON2303_2.3.5.0_DEV-RC2.tgz