The Wavlink antenna sits on the outside of the potato hut and picks up the Gasthof WiFi. This is wired via ethernet cable and PoE (Power over Ethernet adapter) to the Netgear router, which acts as a switch and wireless access point. DHCP is done by the antenna. The antenna should be wired to one of the black LAN ports on the router, not the yellow WAN port. The Wavlink antenna is set up in "Repeater" & "WISP" mode. This is the only device seen by the Gasthof WiFi as it performs NAT for devices connected to its network. A device must manually login to the Gasthof network every so often, which autheticates for all devices on our network. In the past there has been an automated login script, but this is currently broken.
Wavlink AC600, provided by Wookey in 2025. The IP address of this device is 192.168.10.1 and the password for the admin panel is the usual cavey:beery password. In order to configure to connection to the Gasthof, the mode must be re-set from the "Advanced" tab. This has been done and shouldn't need repeating unless the device is wiped or the Gasthof network changes.
The ethernet cable to the outisde is run into the ceiling vent above the kitchen and then out of the wall vent above the sink outside the tatty hut. The antenna is mounted to a screw on the wall near there. In 2025 the download speed achieved from this setup was 50-60Mbps. The cable was crimped after running through in 2025, and may be more difficult to run with the connector head attached if it is removed in the future.
In 2025, two USB hubs were found with mini-USB ports, but no mini-USB cables could be found. A new hub with an attached USB A cable was ordered in order to avoid this problem in the future.
The Gasthof WiFi - which you can use if you are close enough to the main building - is "StaudnGast" and has no WiFi password but there is a login webpage. It allocates IP addresses in the range 192.168.2.x etc. The antenna is now on the first-floor balcony within sight of the tatty hut window. You can get the password from the Gasthof front desk, or during expo it is usally written on the whiteboard in the potato hut. In the scripts published in this handbook we use the word GASTSECRET instead of the real password.
If you are not actively using the internet, the Gasthof system will close the connection after a few minutes and you will have to re-login again, typing the password into the login page.
The potato hut WiFi has SSID "potatohut" with our usual cavey:beery password. Like almost every other wifi anywhere it is running DHCP (done by the Wavlink) and allocating IP addresses to your device.
A new script has been created to automate the portal login process. There is a cron job on Crowely that runs every minute, checking there is access to the internet and logging in if there isn't. The process of accessing the internet every minute keeps the connection alive, preventing premature deauthentication. There is an ultimate timeout which will still happen, just not as quickly.
The scripts "keepalive" and "gasthoflogin" are stored in ~/.fakenet/. The cron job is in /etc/cron.d/fakenet. Backups of these are stored on the server in /home/expo/config/netbook/, with a README file with instruction for reinstalling them. The old scripts are obsolete and have been moved to /home/expo/config/netbook/old/.
The Netgear ethernet/wifi hub holds the radio transceiver that provides the wifi coverage inside the potato hut. It has an online manual but it needs no configuration at all during expo. Just turn it on at the beginning of expo and off again at the end.
The webpage control panel (which you should never need or touch) is accessed by connecting a laptop to the wifi or using the expo laptop on the ethernet and bringing up a web browser to http://192.168.200.1 with username 'admin' and the usual expo cavey:beery password. The password is also written on the underneath of the box.
While you can use 5Ghz wifi and IP6 to connect within the hut (if the Netgear router is being used), there is no IP6 connectivity to the external internet. Sorry. We are dependent on the Gasthof system for this. Use a phone and data roaming if you want it.
We have a Samsung C430W printer, which can be connected to the network via ethernet, giving everyone printing access on their own device (2025).
From a clean Debian install on the expo laptop, the missing thing for making the printer work was: apt-get install libcupsimage2 Also you need the Samsung driver installation from the Samsung website (see below).
To share the printer:
cupsctl --share-printers
lpadmin -p C43x-Series -o printer-is-shared=true
this should be one-time config.
We have our own archive copy of this driver at expofiles/documents/uld.zip.
The archive site is at The Samsung Unified Linux Driver Repository: "This site provides an apt (.deb) repository for installing the Samsung Unified Linux Driver (as of 2017, sold to HP) in a more user-friendly and less problematic way than downloading and installing directly from the Samsung website or using the installer that ships with printers."
Or you can try to get the driver from www.samsung.com/us/support/downloads/ but it may have evaporated since HP took over the support.
Installing the Samsung driver package:
Make sure that the machine is connected to your computer and powered on.
Copy the package to your system.
Open Terminal program and go to the folder that you copied the package to.
Extract the package.
Move to folder.
Execute "./" command (If you're not logged in as a root, execute the command with "" as "")
Proceed with the installation.
When the installation is finished, launch printing utility(Go to > > or execute "" command in Terminal program).
Click button.
Select your printer.
Click the button and add it to your system.
If the WiFi isn't working, some of the things to try are:
You test whether the internet is running by trying to visit www.google.com or github.com.