[Cerowrt-devel] [Make-wifi-fast] arstechnica confirms tp-link router lockdown

[moeller0]

Hi Jonathan,


> On Mar 13, 2016, at 16:18 , Jonathan Morton <chromatix99 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>> On 13 Mar, 2016, at 02:15, David Lang <david at lang.hm> wrote:
>> 
>> my point is that you can use a browser interface to mock-up what you would do on your local display without having to build custom hardware. Yes, it would mean you have to work with javascript/etc to build this mockup, but it would let you create a bitmap image with buttons/etc that will work the same way that your physical device would, but be able to tinker with things that would require hardware changes if it was a physical device (different screen sizes, button placements, etc)
> 
> And my point is that if I can do that *without* involving a browser, so much the better.  Given my existing experience, I can probably do it *easier* in something like C and Xlib (yes, really) than in a browser.
> 
> Yes, it would be a pure software mockup, and thus still easy to change.
> 
>> a 6x8 font on a 2.7" screen is unreadable for many people, this is about an 11pt font on something that is not at your optimum reading distance.
> 
> The display I linked has basically the same pixel density as a 1980s/1990s Macintosh display, a 9-pin dot-matrix printer, and a basic Nokia phone - the standard 72dpi.  Anyone with standard visual acuity should be able to read 8-pixel-high text on it.  Your concern would be limited to that segment of the population who already needs to buy large-print books and newspapers.
> 
> The most important text wouldn’t be 6x8 - I included that stat only to contrast it with the 16x2 cell text-only display.  Since it’s a graphical display, we can use larger fonts where desired.
> 
> Incidentally, the classic Nokia phones seem to use a proportional font which is 5x7 on average.  

	Please note that the classic Nokia phone is dead as a doornail as far as popularity is concerned; that might speak against their ease of use compared with touch screen “smart phones”… (take home message might simply be “aim for a touch screen”)

> They sold many millions, probably because they designed a UI that even my mother could be coached into learning (believe me, that’s a feat).  Up, down, select, cancel, and a numeric keypad.  The size of the text on the screen doesn’t seem to have been a factor.

	The keypad is sort of helpful to put in say IP addresses (or passwords with a T9 like numerical hash for words system). I have used old HP on printer interfaces to configure IP networking, not an experience I would recommend to emulate (not that you are doing tis, but please keep the failures of old in mind when designing your system).

> 
>> OLEDs do color as well.
> 
> The ones that do colour are even more expensive than the mono ones.  Increasing the size of an OLED display also seems to be incredibly expensive - I couldn’t even find one at 2.7” or larger on the “maker kit” sites, only as raw components.

	That reminds me a bit of https://www.securifi.com/almondplus

> 
>> don't forget that you also have to have buttons/switches to go along with the display. don't assume that people are going to have a spare USB keyboard around to plug in.
>> 
>> There is a substantial population who's only computers are tablets, phones, TVs, and other non-traditional devices, but who need wifi to use them.
> 
> Keyboard, mouse, xbox/ps4/wii controller - don’t care.  They’ll either have at least one of those (basic models are cheap), or we can auto-generate a basic working configuration and display the resulting wifi SSID/password on the screen.  The only button needed is a factory-reset.
> 
> If they don’t have anything with an Ethernet connection, they would have difficulty configuring most existing routers from the factory-reset state anyway.
>  I just made a brief search for WPS on my Android phone - no dice.  Apparently there *is* a WPS function, but it’s buried four layers deep in the UI, behind an “advanced” option^W^W “beware of the leopard” sign - and it’s potentially in a different place on each device, making it hard to give directions remotely.
> 
> But with the wifi SSID and password visible on-screen, we wouldn’t need WPS.  That’s something an ordinary router can’t do.

	Well, a lot of ISP supplied routers have a sticker on the back giving exactly the information (in addition to the password for the web-gui), your alternative would make it easier to change the password and/or SSID; but while the password could be randomized, I envision user unhappiness with randomized SSIDs… ;)

Best Regards
	Sebastian

> 
> - Jonathan Morton
> 
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