FAQ: Computer Hardware and Software

FrogNets need a computer with WiFi and a router.

FrogNets should run on almost any Linux platform available, including older, slower boxes.  The software does not place heavy resource requirements on the host, so older, less capable boxes like Celeron-based machines can be supported.

For now, yes. We are automating things as much as possible, but the first step is installing a Linux distro on the computer, and we need you to do that.

Once you have Linux on the machine, we can take over. You'll need to answer a couple of questions, and we'll take care of the rest. Your computer will reboot a couple of times, and in the end, you'll have a FrogNet.

We created ways for the FrogNet to work on almost any Linux distro.  We have tested on Raspbian and Debian (latest versions of both), so if you find a distro where it's not working, let us know.

We install system packages to support the FrogNet.  These packages include, but are not limited to:

• NetworkManager
• dnsmasq
• iptables
• jq
• Apache2 W/PHP and CGI
• net-tools
• inotify-tools
• python3
• openssh-server

Once the machine is configured correctly, we install the FrogNet software.  This includes a bunch of configuration files sprinkled across the disk, a set of web responders in /var/www/html, and the FrogNet software itself, in /usr/local/bin.

You will need to provide three pieces of information.  

One is the set of interface names on your computer.  On many machines, the network interface names are eth0 (Ethernet port), and wlan0/wlan1 (WiFi ports). Our installation process will attempt to identify the correct names for the interfaces for your Linux distro, but you will be asked to confirm our selections.

You can see the interface names on you machine by entering the command "IP r" at a Bash command prompt.  The name of the interface is right after the interface number and always starts with interface "l0 <LOOPBACK".  The address after the loopback is usually the Ethernet interface.  On some machines this may be "eth0", but on others it may be something like "enp0s31f6".  

The second and third pieces of information you will need are the domain name of your FrogNet and the IP address you'd like to use. Both of these must be unique within any network you are implementing.

The domain name is the name of your network, and replaces the .com/.org/.whatever when looking for sites.  Something like SmithHouse or TownHospital would work.  Do not use the standard extensions, like .com, .org, and .net.

The IP address must begin with 10 and be followed by 3 "octets." These octets are numbers between 1 and 254, inclusive, and are unique to the network. For example, 10.101.30.1 is a valid IP address, while 11.101.30.1 and 10.101.30.299 are not.

IP addresses should always end in .1

Sample Domain Names:  DavesRanch, SmithShop

Sample IP addresses:  10.101.40.1, 10.220.214.1

To recap:

1. Open a Bash prompt and note the names of the Ethernet and WiFi interfaces on your computer
2. Decide that you want to call the network (MainHouse, Barn, etc.)
3. Decide what IP address range you want your network to use

You may reconfigure your FrogNet at any time by executing the following:

/usr/local/bin/setup_lillyPad.bash <domain> <IP Address>