From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from smtp70.iad3a.emailsrvr.com (smtp70.iad3a.emailsrvr.com [173.203.187.70]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by lists.bufferbloat.net (Postfix) with ESMTPS id A1A083CB3A for ; Sat, 25 Aug 2018 16:04:34 -0400 (EDT) Received: from smtp1.relay.iad3a.emailsrvr.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by smtp1.relay.iad3a.emailsrvr.com (SMTP Server) with ESMTP id 702FA5B87; Sat, 25 Aug 2018 16:04:34 -0400 (EDT) X-SMTPDoctor-Processed: csmtpprox beta Received: from smtp1.relay.iad3a.emailsrvr.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by smtp1.relay.iad3a.emailsrvr.com (SMTP Server) with ESMTP id 679645B91; Sat, 25 Aug 2018 16:04:34 -0400 (EDT) Received: from app48.wa-webapps.iad3a (relay-webapps.rsapps.net [172.27.255.140]) by smtp1.relay.iad3a.emailsrvr.com (SMTP Server) with ESMTP id 497655B87; Sat, 25 Aug 2018 16:04:34 -0400 (EDT) X-Sender-Id: MAILER-DAEMON Received: from app48.wa-webapps.iad3a (relay-webapps.rsapps.net [172.27.255.140]) by 0.0.0.0:25 (trex/5.7.12); Sat, 25 Aug 2018 16:04:34 -0400 Received: from deepplum.com (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by app48.wa-webapps.iad3a (Postfix) with ESMTP id 399C4212FC; Sat, 25 Aug 2018 16:04:34 -0400 (EDT) Received: by apps.rackspace.com (Authenticated sender: dpreed@deepplum.com, from: dpreed@deepplum.com) with HTTP; Sat, 25 Aug 2018 16:04:34 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2018 16:04:34 -0400 (EDT) From: "David P. Reed" To: "Dave Taht" Cc: bloat-announce@lists.bufferbloat.net, "bloat" , "Make-Wifi-fast" , cerowrt-devel@lists.bufferbloat.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-ID: <1535227474.22151132@apps.rackspace.com> X-Mailer: mobile/6.0.2 Subject: Re: [Make-wifi-fast] [Cerowrt-devel] closing up my make-wifi-fast lab X-BeenThere: make-wifi-fast@lists.bufferbloat.net X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:04:34 -0000 WiFi is a bit harder than IP. But you know that.=20 I truly believe that we need to fix the phy/waveform/modulation space to re= ally scale up open wireless networking capability. LBT is the basic bug in = WiFi, and it is at that layer, melow the MAC. I have tried for 20 years now to find a way to begin work at that project, = by the way. There is also no major donor anywhere to be found for that work= . Instead, any funds that seem to be appearing get attacked and sucked into= projects that miss the point, being controlled by folks who oppose opennes= s (e.g. WISPs wanting exclusive ownership of a market, such as so called Su= perWiFi or whitespaces). I did once come close to a useful award when I was= at MIT Media Lab, from NSF. But after the award, the funding was cut by 90= %, leaving just enough to support a Master's thesis on co-channel sharing, = using two 1st Gen USRPs. Using my own funds, spare time, and bubblegum and = baling wire, I've slowly begun work on extra wideband FPGA based sounding-c= entric sharing in the 10 GHz Ham band. (500 MHz wide modulation), where I c= an self certify multiple stations in a network. But the point is, I've failed, because there is less than zero support. The= re is active opposition, on top of cluelessness. Paul Baran tried in 1993 to push forward a similar agenda, famously. 99% of= his concepts died. Thanks to Apple, and lots of others, we got WiFi, barel= y. Industry hated that, and vow never to let that ever happen again. So Dave, I salute you and Toke and the others. I salute Tim Shepard, who al= so moved the ball in his PhD thesis, only to hit the same wall of oppositio= n. It's so sad. We get shit like the "Obama band" proposed by PCAST, and are t= old to be thankful.=20 UWB failed miserably, too. My advice to any young smart innovator: don't touch wireless unless you are= working for an incumbent. Expect the incumbents and governments to close a= nd destroy wireless innovation. Really. You will be in a world of hurt, and NO ONE will support anything. N= ot even VCs. Very sorry to say this. I had hoped Make WiFi Fast would have gone somewher= e. I mourn its passing. -----Original Message----- From: "Dave Taht" Sent: Fri, Aug 24, 2018 at 4:10 pm To: bloat-announce@lists.bufferbloat.net, "bloat" , "Make-Wifi-fast" , cerowrt-deve= l@lists.bufferbloat.net Cc: bloat-announce@lists.bufferbloat.net, "bloat" , "Make-Wifi-fast" , cerowrt-deve= l@lists.bufferbloat.net Subject: [Cerowrt-devel] closing up my make-wifi-fast lab All: It is with some regret that I am announcing the closing of my make-wifi-fast lab at the end of this month. Over the years we have relied on the donation of lab space from ISC.org, georgia tech, the LINCs, and the University of Karstadt and elsewhere - but my main base of operation has always been the "yurtlab", in a campground deep in the los gatos hills where I could both experiment and deploy wifi fixes[0] at scale. CeroWrt, in particular, was made here. During the peak of the make-wifi-fast effort I rented additional space on the same site, which at peak had over 30 routers in a crowded space, competing. Which I (foolishly) kept, despite the additional expense. Having heat in the winter and aircond in the summer was helpful. With ongoing donations running at $90/month[1] - which doesn't even cover bufferbloat.net's servers in the cloud - my biggest expense has been keeping the lab at lupin open at $1800/mo. I kept the lab going through the sch_cake and openwrt 18.06 release process, and I'm now several months behind on rent[3], and given how things have gone for the past 2 years I don't see much use for it in the future. Keeping it open, heated and dry in the winter has always been a problem also. I'm also aware of a few larger, much better equipped wifi labs that have thoroughly tested our "fq_codel for wifi"[4] work that finally ends the "wifi performance anomaly". it's in multiple commercial products now, we're seeing airtime fairness being actually *marketed* as a wifi feature, and I kind of expect deployment be universal across all mediatek mt76, and qualcomm ath9k and ath10k based products in the next year or two. We won, big, on wifi. Knocked it out of the park. Thanks all! Despite identifying all kinds of other work[5] that can be done to make wifi better, no major (or even minor) direct sponsor has ever emerged[2] for the make-wifi-fast project. We had a small grant from comcast, a bit of support from nlnet also, I subsidized what I did here from other work sources, toke had his PHD support, and all the wonderful volunteers here... and that's it. Without me being able, also, to hire someone to keep the lab going, as I freely admit to burnout and PTSD on perpetually reflashing and reconfiguring routers... I'm closing up shop here to gather enough energy, finances, and time for the next project, whatever it is. The make-wifi-fast mailing list and project will continue, efforts to make more generic the new API also, and hopefully there's enough users out there to keep it all going forward without the kind of comprehensive testing I used to do here. If anyone feels like reflashing, oh, 30 bricked routers of 8 different models, from serial ports (in multiple cases, like the 6 uap-ac-lites, via soldiering on headers), I'll gladly toss all the extra equipment in the lab in a big box and ship them to you. Suggestions for a suitable donation target are also of interest. The yurtlab has been an amazing, totally unique, unusual (and sometimes embarrassing [6]) place to work and think, but it's time to go. Perhaps I'll convince my amazingly supportive landlord to let me leave behind a plaque: "On this spot bufferbloat on the internet and in WiFi was fixed, 2011-2018"= . Sincerely, Dave Taht [0] https://lwn.net/Articles/705884/ "How we made wifi fast again" [1] https://www.patreon.com/dtaht [2] Like adrian chadd's infamous flameout - I too, give up on wifi. There's gotta be some other tech worth working on. What we shipped is "good enough" to carry a few years though. [3] This is not a passive-aggressive request for help making rent next month, given all the other problems I have, it's best to close up shop while I look for a new gig. [4] https://arxiv.org/pdf/1703.00064.pdf "ending the wifi anomaly" [5] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Se36svYE1Uzpppe1HWnEyat_sAGghB3kE28= 5LElJBW4/edit# [6] https://www.cringely.com/2012/10/01/clothing-may-be-optional-but-buffer= bloat-isnt/ _______________________________________________ Cerowrt-devel mailing list Cerowrt-devel@lists.bufferbloat.net https://lists.bufferbloat.net/listinfo/cerowrt-devel