While hsmm-mesh binaries are only supported on certain models of linksys routers, some of ubiquiti's devices, such as the bullet, have successfully been used to connect to an hsmm-mesh. Doing so requires modifying the software on the ubiquiti by hand. I thought I'd post some information on the picostation 2 that others might find useful.

There are four models of the picostation:

• picostation2: 2.4GHz. 12V, 1A. 100mW. (wrt54g is 60mW I believe)
• picostation2hp: high power (800mW) version of the picostation2
• picostation5: 5GHz, up to 24V input. half the memory of the picostation2.
• picostation M2. I think this is 802.11n, but I could be wrong.

Data sheets for these models are available here: http://www.ubnt.com/picostation and here: http://www.ubnt.com/picostationm.

They range in price from $70 to $100. (You get to pay more for Open Mesh to be installed.)

These wifi routers come with AirOS installed. A software development kit is available for this OS, so that you can add extensions to it. Documentation for AirOS can be found here: http://www.ubnt.com/wiki/AirOS_5.2.

With respect to olsrd and AirOS I've read conflicting things:

• AirOS lacks adhoc mode, and olsrd requires adhoc mode, so …
• olsrd will run on AirOS, but the latter lacks VAP, causing olsrd not to work, so ...
• olsrd doesn't require adhoc mode and someone has written a wiki about how to run olsrd on AirOS, and all you need to do is google for "olsrd wiki" and you'll find the necessary information.

With openWRT available for the picostation, I'm not inclined to pursue AirOS, though it does have a nice web interface.

The picostation includes a serial port. Instructions on how to access this can be found here: http://www.ubnt.com/wiki/PicoStation2_RS232_Connection. (The cheapest place I've found for the usb/serial cable is DIYdrones: http://store.diydrones.com.) And yes, the drivers work on OS X.

Netgate (and probably others as well) has a DC PoE lighter plug for use with the picostation2 (and bullet and other devices): http://store.netgate.com/-P274C116.aspx. (Hunh. last week there were over 1000 units available for sale for $3, but this week there are only 7 available at the standard price of $10.)

AirOS has a web page that allows you to upgrade the firmware to either openWRT or AirOS. After the unit is upgraded to openWRT, and you find yourself unable to scp a new image to the unit (or use a web interface), you can use the following procedure: http://www.ubnt.com/wiki/Firmware_Recovery. I've used this a number of times (cough) and it works fine.

The bootloader for the picostation is redboot. A manual for it can be found here: http://ecos.sourceware.org/docs-latest/redboot/redboot-guide.html. More information on redboot: http://ecos.sourceware.org/redboot. In spite of being GPL'd, I haven't seen any source code from Ubiquiti for redboot. They might be using a version that predates the 2002 GPL license for ecos (on which redboot is based).

As you can see from some of the web pages listed above, Ubiquiti has a pretty good wiki page for the support of their products. They also have some forums in which questions can be asked and are answered.