The Freifunk movement develops software for free local wireless infrastructures like mesh networks to share local services and Internet connections. Freifunk Linux Firmwares based on OpenWrt are running on thousands of routers worldwide. Commercially adapted versions are used in hundred of thousands of devices.

It is the goal of Freifunk to make it easy to set up local wireless networks with local services. Freifunk meaning free wireless is the pendant to free and open source software or freely licensed content. The tools used in Freifunk networks are exclusively open source.

Open source mesh networks are more cost efficient and offer new usage cases (local content sharing, local fm radio networks, sensor networks, distant visual observation etc.) and business opportunities. Freifunk is comparable to an open digital space like public streets and parks.

Freifunk software tools and firmwares are available in different ¨flavours¨ adapted to local conditions and policies of communities and local ISPs (for example a business man in a small town, who sets up a mesh network for his community and gets paid for providing Internet, whereas local exchange inside the network is freely available).

The Freifunk community encompasses people working on open source software, open hardware, the actual set up of infrastructures and freely licensed content.

-- FREIFUNK SUMMER OF CODE --

Freifunk is participating in the Google Summer of Code as an umbrella organisation bringing together different projects in the free network community. We are encouraging students to apply with any project related to open wireless infrastructures and specifically mesh networks. What do we need to establish a mesh network? What makes it easier to set up and administer a local network? What is a missing feature or application? What else do we need to set up mesh networks in regions in Asia and Africa where the Internet is not yet available? Ask yourself these question and please talk us about your ideas.

-- SUMMER OF CODE AND FREIFUNK COOPERATION WITH UNIVERSITIES --

The Freifunk community has established relations to universities and educational institutions. We are able to offer ECTS credits for many projects in the summer of code through the TU Berlin (see Ideas Page for details http://wiki.freifunk.net/Ideas). Please check with your university for specific conditions for acceptance of credits.

-- FREIFUNK FIRMWARES--

The embedded Freifunk Firmwares (operating system) are specially adapted OpenWrt Linux Versions that are developed for routers and mobile devices. The firmwares are particularly lightweight and use less resources compared to other systems. They run on devices with minimal hardware specifications and work well on extremely low powered devices thus can be used in environments with limited energy resources.

Main features of Freifunk Firmwares are a common web interface and pre-installed mesh routing protocols. There are different versions available that are customized versions of Freifunk OpenWrt developed by local groups and adapted to local needs and conditions. For example a large city network has different needs than a small Freifunk network in a mountainous village. The firmwares offer common features and can be extended through plugins.

The original Freifunk Firmware is developed by Sven-Ola since 2003. Many others have joined since then. The main aim of the firmwares is to make it easier and faster to set up wireless networks, and particularly mesh networks. Installation, customization and administration of OpenWRT for normal users is much easier with Freifunk Firmwares as it provides a prebuild Linux version with OLSR daemon and a web based user interface.

-- LOW POWERED DEVICES --

Freifunk Firmwares are designed as embedded Linux´ for low powered devices and tools. The firmwares can be adapted for a wide variety of local as well as mobile devices.

-- A STRONG COMMUNITY AND MANY COMMERCIAL USERS --

The Freifunk firmwares are being used in wireless mesh networks around the world with the biggest ones reaching more than 700 nodes in cities like Berlin or Leipzig. Commercially adapted versions are included on hundreds of thousands of routers of companies like FON.com (main investor Google) and Open-Mesh.com. The firmware is currently gaining popularity with local ISPs in developing countries such as China, India and South Africa, as it is easily adaptable to local needs. Teams of our community are also working on combining advantages of projects like Android and OpenWrt by sharing code.

-- WLAN/Wifi COMMUNICATION --

Freifunk/OpenWrt supports ad-hoc WLAN communication and layer 2 and 3 routing with the OLSR protocol and the BATMAN routing protocol. By building the Freifunk embedded firmware together with the OpenWrt team we are developing an easy to use self-configuring, self-fixing and self-tuning mesh network (http://wiki.openwrt.org/Freifunk).

-- PLUGINS --

Current test versions on SVN (https://dev.openwrt.org/wiki/GetSource) are enabling developers to create plugins for the firmware. These plugins will enable users to offer locations based services, local search, router CMS, local fm radio distribution via routers, and many more. An example for locations based services is Apple Bonjour that offers users to share their music in local wifi networks, however, in Freifunk mesh networks, there are many more ways to share and communicate as services are build on open standards and open source software.

-- LOCAL SERVICES --

WLAN Telephones for local and regional phone companies - this is another project where we are connecting services for more cost efficient communication: The Villagetelco project. The goal is to adapt the firmware to offer telephone services over an adhoc network (www.villagetelco.org).

-- ADAPTING THE FIRMWARES --

Going in another direction the community also engages to port applications and desktop environments such as LXDE (http://lxde.org) to OpenWrt for Freifunk clouds to offer faster devices with an X interface and making use of thousands of available applications. The porting of code from Google Android also aims to support the adaptability of the Firmware for special use cases.

-- COMMUNITIES AROUND THE WORLD --

The development of the Freifunk Firmwares is supported by the freifunk.net initiative. Freifunk.net also supports the set up of networks and educates the public and politicians about open standards and free frequencies. Read more about free wireless networks around the world and visit the global Freifunk newswire at global.freifunk.net.

Links:

* http://wiki.freifunk.net/Ideas

* http://openwrt.org

* http://wiki.openwrt.org/Freifunk

* http://freifunk.net

* http://global.freifunk.net

Thank you for your interest in Freifunk. We are interested in your answers to get an idea, how you would be able to contribute to Freifunk. Dont worry too much about a correct English. We are more interested in the content of what you have to say and how you could join up with us, than about perfect English.

1. Please tell us your name and your country or origin or local background.

2. Please list contributions to the Freifunk/OpenWrt and related projects or any other freely licensed Open Source project below.

3. Please tell us about your proposed project and the relevance to Freifunk. You can also provide a link where you offer more details here.

4.  What is your expertise and ability to conduct the project you propose? How do you plan to achieve the goals of the proposed project?

5. How would you describe your knowledge of development of Linux OS and OpenWrt related programming languages such as Lua?

6. How do you think you will participate in the Freifunk/OpenWrt development after the Google Summer of Code?

7. What would you like us to do to ensure that you stick with the project after the program concludes?

8. How do you plan to keep in touch with the Freifunk/OpenWrt community and your mentor during the summer of code?

9. Is your university or institution interested and open to freely licensed open source software? Does your university support your application for the GSoC Freifunk/OpenWrt project? In what way do they support you? Could you provide a short supporting letter of your professor or insitution?

10. Please tell us a few infos for our communication with you.

What is your IRC nick?

What is your user name on sourceforge?

What is your user name on Wikipedia?

What is the URL of your blog?

Please, provide us with your Messenger contact (e.g. XMPP, Jabber, Gtalk, Skype etc.).

Please, tell us your mobile and landline phone number.

Please tell us, your address.

Thank you very much for answering our questions. We will get in touch with you as soon as possible.