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MeshStat

Amateur Radio Mesh Network Status Monitor

Version 0.10.0 Copyright (c) 2017 License: GPL 2 or higher

Author: Jonathan M. Cameron, KF6RTA [email protected]

This program will display the status of a set of Mesh Nodes on a periodic basis.

Please send me email if you have difficulties with this program! (Include which OS and version of OS you're using as well as the MeshStat version number).

Installation and Set Up

  • Copy the executable anywhere you want
    • Linux executable: MeshStat
      • You may need to install the gtk3 package
      • You may get some GTK warnings which you can safely ignore
    • Windows executable: MeshStat.exe

  • You can get help from the program by running it on the command line like this:

    MeshStat -h

  • Create a MeshStat.ini file in the same directory. See the sample version (with commented out settings) in the file 'Sample-MeshStat.ini' for examples and descriptions of what can be set.

    • Make sure the 'period' (seconds) is set to a number greater than the number of nodes!

    • Adjust 'num_columns' and 'font_size' as you wish. You may need to adjust the other 'pane_*' settings to get the display to work out nicely.

    • Make sure to list at least one node in the [Nodes] section

  • You may also specify an alternate MeshStat config file on the command line.

  • Run the MeshStat executable!

  • Each operational node should display its status in 4 lines. If you do not see the node name on the first line, it is likely you may need to adjust 'pane_width_chars' and 'pane_interline_space' to get all on 4 lines to show properly. On Windows this may cause periodic beeping when this problem occurs. There is a brief explanation of these parameters in the file 'Sample-MeshStat.ini'. You may want to work this out with a smaller set of nodes before using a larger list of nodes.

  • If you're having trouble getting all four lines to display, follow this procedure:

    • Chose the font_size you want (eg, 10, 11, 12)
    • Choose a small size for 'pane_width_chars', such as 20.
    • Run the program and enlarge the display until all panes display their content in 4 lines.
    • Under the Help menu look at the About page and notice the current width of the panes. Change the 'pane_width_chars' to this value. In the future when you run the program, the display should be wide enough.
    • If all four lines are still not displaying, increase 'pane_interline_space' (pixel by pixel) until the fourth line displays properly. Or set 'pane_hight_lines' to 5.

  • WARNING: With more than a few nodes, avoid trying to move the windows while the nodes are being updated. It may not be responsive and lead to problems that may require restarting the program.

  • If you have a lot of nodes, there is a 'one-line' mode that displays only one status line per node:

    • add this setting to the [Settings] section your config file:

      display_mode = one-line

    • Note that in this mode, the 'pane_height_lines' setting is ignored

    • You can move our mouse over any node line to see details for that node.

    • Here is a procedure to help optimize the display with a large number of nodes:

      • Set config settings: display_mode = one-line num_columns = 6 ; or as large as your monitor supports font_size = 9 pane_width_chars = 10
      • You should see gap on the left and right edges of each node cell, but the node display text will be truncated.
      • Resize the window or increase 'pane_width_chars' until the whole MeshStat program window reaches the width of the monitor OR until the gap on each side of each node cell disappears. The decrease 'pane_width_chars' by one.
      • If you do not get the full name of most of your nodes displayed, Reduce the 'font_size' and repeat the process

  • If you have several differnt sets of nodes to monitor (eg, for the different frequency bands), you can specify an arbitrarily named MeshStat config file on the command line:

    MeshStat myconfig.ini

    So you can set up several shortcuts, each specifying a different config file. On MS Windows modify the "Target" item for each to insert the config file name after the MeshStat.exe executable. If the config file is in the same directory as the MeshStat.exe executable program, you do not need to specify the full path, only the filename.