OLSR is the optimized link state routing protocol, and is available as the olsrd package available (source or various binaries) here: http://www.olsr.org
OLSR is one of the most popular mesh routing protocols because it is easy to install and configure, though the docs are a little sparse at times.
Olsrd is available as an OpenWRT package, for those who wish to run it on Linksys WRT54Gs or the like (currently available as version 0.4.10).
Compiling olsrd locally requires flex and bison.
For some insight as to which version to run, or which options to enable, read this: https://www.open-mesh.net/misc/optimized-link-state-routing-deamon/olsr-story.txt/view
(Moral of the story: don't use any version prior to 0.4.10, don't use Hysteresis, don't use the default configuration.)
There is a small mesh (one house with 6 nodes) in Aloha (see the node map), and a larger mesh is rumored to exist in NE Portland.
Aloha mesh configuration:
contact http://syn.cs.pdx.edu/~jsnow
- mode Ad-hoc
- essid palantir
- network 192.168.2.0 (IPs statically assigned)
- olsr version 0.4.10, 0.5.1 (this release is rumored to have a showstopper bug), 0.5.2
Network nodes (numbered by last byte of IP address):
- 1: wrt54g installed on roof in tupperware box
- 2: wrt54g
- 3: wrt54g
- 100: compaq presario
- 101: thinkpad 600x (currently the only node not permanently tethered to AC power)
- 103: desktop with intel anypoint usb 802.11b adapter