[Freedombox-discuss] FreedomBox Stack quick question

[Sandy Harris]

On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 5:05 PM, John Walsh <fiftyfour at waldevin.com> wrote:

> 1) Does this mean each layer is independent of each other?

That is the whole point of layers. Applications just use TCP or UDP; they
need not care about anything below that. TCP and UDP use IP; they need
not care about things below that.

For IP, each machine needs the low-level drivers for each network it connects
to directly. For example, a plug computer might need ethernet, PPPoE and
wireless. However, it does not need to know about all the other link layer
stuff -- phone company fiber, undersea cables, satellites, ... -- it just uses
IP and the routers attached to those links know how to use them.

> 2) Does this mean we can release FBX and then do an upgrade through a click
> of the button like Firefox to add networking?

You cannot add "networking" that way, since you need a network to do it.
You could add new drivers that way. Or new protocols. For example, by
default a Box might just be able to access a wireless network. You could
add the ability to be an access point for others, or to do mesh networking,
that way.