[Freedombox-discuss] Wirelessly connecting two FreedomBox machines

[Marko Dimjašević]

Dear FreedomBoxers,

I was wondering if it was possible to set up two FreedomBox machines in
such a way that they form a wireless network and for both of them to
provide access to other devices. Here is a setup that I have and my
remaining plans.

On the first machine I installed FreedomBox 20.7. It has 3 Ethernet
interfaces and one wireless interface. Via its USB port it is connected to
a modem that provides Internet connectivity. The WiFi interface currently
acts as an access point for the home network. I am planning to add a
printer via one of the Ethernet ports so it is available to other devices
connected to the network.

Then there is the second machine with identical hardware to the first one.
I also installed FreedomBox 20.7 on it. This machine is located at the
opposite corner of my apartment to the first machine and it can't connect
via Ethernet to the first machine. I want to add this second machine to the
same WiFi home network and for it to also serve as an access point for
other wireless devices (it does not have to be a DHCP server).

How do I achieve this wireless connection between the two FreedomBoxes? 

Would that be a mesh network? I attempted to follow instructions for
creating and joining a mesh network available at the Debian Wiki [1], but
to no avail: after creating a wireless connection in the ad-hoc mode in the
1st step, there is no bat0 interface to use for the 2nd step. Do I have to
install Debian's batmand package first and configure it on my own?


[1] https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/Manual/Networks


-- 
Regards,
Marko Dimjašević <marko at dimjasevic.net>
https://dimjasevic.net/marko
PGP key ID:       056E61A6F3B6C9323049DBF9565EE9641503F0AA
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