Bomebox is in Wifi Client mode, and usable on my network allowing me to connect to the internet or Bomebox with my laptop via Wifi.
I have an X32 mixer which I control via Mixing Station software on my laptop. I need to be able to physically connect the X32 to BomeBox via the ethernet port allowing me to control the X32 with Mixing Station on my laptop via Wifi, while still being able to use the internet via Wifi.
Ethernet is in Client Mode.
Currently, the X32 will not get an IP address when in DHCP mode and can not be found if I set it to a fixed IP on the same subnet.
Do I need to set Ethernet to Master on a different subnet and then create a static route in order for this to work? Or is there a better way?
I should say that I take this out to gigs and need to switch Wifi modes in order to make Bomebox my main hub, just FYI.
Hi, in ethernet client mode, DHCP is not enabled on ethernet. You can put ethernet as a master and it will assign an IP address. If WiFi is then set up as an Access Point, DHCP clients connected via WiFi will also be assigned addresses. It is important however that you only us BomeBox MIDI over WiFi or ethernet but not both or BomeBox will report itself with 2 separate IP addresses which will confuse Bome Network. To alleviate this issue if you want to use only one of the 2 addresses for MIDI traffic, the Bome Network tool has a network option to exclude the IP address that you want to ignore.
Clicking the Cog icon and then network settings will give you this screen where you can add exclusions.
Thank you for your reply. I think I just got more confused… My apologies for not fully understanding. A few things that might help me understand better:
If I understand you correctly:
With ethernet set to master, addresses will be handed out by Bomebox rather than my network.
If wifi is then set to access point, clients connecting via wifi will also be given addresses by Bomebox rather than my network.
So, if I connect X32 to BomeBox ethernet and my laptop to BomeBox wifi, I can use Mixing Station on the laptop to control X32. This is how I have been running it, but with this configuration I have to disconnect from Bomebox wifi in order to look something up on the internet, which is what I am quickly growing tired of doing over and over.
How can I still maintain this laptop/wifi to ethernet/X32 connection but be able to also access the internet from the laptop without switching the laptop from Bomebox over to my network?
I should note that I do not need midi through the ethernet port. All of my midi is via USB and DIN, as well as via wifi to/from apps on my laptop. Control of X32 by Mixing Station is only via a network connection (not midi), and any actual midi control I do of X32 is done via the DIN port.
If you set up ethernet as client and WiFi as access point, the connections between WiFi and ethernet are bridged so there should be no problem as long as your wired router provides DHCP addresses. It only becomes an issue, then if you disconnect ethernet in which case there is no longer a master to hand out DHCP addresses so BomeBox would be inaccessible.
At that point, you could either:
Connect BomeBox to your router, then reconfigure it as a master and then disconnect and use it without internet.
or
Use a USB thumb drive to do a network reset which will set Wifi back as a hotspot. Then access the BomeBox as a WiFi hotspot.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
I do not have any wired connection to my home router. I am only connecting to the router via wifi.
I was hoping BomeBox would be a bridge for an ethernet device to receive an address from my router through Bomebox’s wifi connection to that router. Is this not possible?
If you home router is Wifi then your home router can assign DHCP to your BomeBox if you set your BomeBox as a WiFi Client. Then everything is on the same WiFi network.
In this case you would use the SSID of your home WiFi network to access everything. In this configuration if BomeBox ethernet is also a client, everything is bridged so you could connect vie ethernet to BomeBox as well from any ethernet cables.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
Yes, that works fine, and is how I currently have it set up. However, the X32 which is on the BomeBox ethernet port does not show up on my network since it is not being given an address.
Before I had them both set to client, but was getting no address for the ethernet connected device.
I found a post were I think Florian was saying to have everything show up this way I’d need to set up static IPs for all and be careful which order I do it in so I don’t get locked out. Maybe this is the only way to get everything on the same subnet as the router I’m connecting to via wifi?
Yes, if you are not careful, if you don’t have any ethernet master, you could get locked out and would need to do a network reset with a thumb drive. I will test one of my BomeBoxes here but I’m pretty sure the connections are bridged by the ethernet DHCP server if both ends are set up as a client.
Ok, I did have them both in client mode. After rebooting and connecting to the router via wifi, Bomebox wifi is assigned 192.168.0.202 which is correctly in the router’s subnet but Bomebox ethernet has 169.254.5.102.
Now, theoretically, if I were to assign a static IP in the 192.168.0. subnet and assign the X32 to a static IP within the subnet as well, I should be golden, right? I’m ok with having to do this, I just wish it would do it automatically so it would be one less thing to worry about when going/coming to/from gigs. If you can figure anything else out, I’d be delighted!
The other route (pun intended!) I think would work is to keep Bomebox as a separate network and set up static routes to get out to the router/internet but I am not exactly a network engineer, so I’ll need to do some more reading in order to figure out what I’d need to do to make that happen.
At any rate, as always, thank you for spending the time to help work this out. I know tech support for such an open ended product can be so wide ranging but I feel more confident with this device than just about anything else I’ve used because I know you guys are behind it. It takes a special kind of person to do what you do! Much appreciated!
Yes, it looks like it does not automatically bridge connections when both WiFi and ethernet are clients. I think I remember a while ago how this was solved. Let me check my notes. I’m going to need to do a network reset first.
Note, you are relying on your WiFi host to handle firewall from the internet.
Other hosts within the LAN will be free to do anything they can on BomeBox
Might need to review the settings of wan->lan to determine if this creates other
security holes.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
This is called APIPA mode which is different than DHCP. It happens when there are two devices directly connected together via ethernet cable with no DHCP server. Not all devices support APIPA but most do. In this mode you would need to set up routes between the two networks in the advanced settings on BomeBox. I’ve never done this before, however.
Note: anything that uses Advanced Configuration is technically not supported so if we need to progress down this path, it would required paid services from me as an independent consultant. Honestly, I think I would struggle with it as well.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
Another possible solution is to put a WiFi to Ethernet adapter on one of the Ethernet ports and run it from there as the Ethernet ports a bridged. Again, care must be taken to ensure Bome Network excludes one of the reported IP addresses. The WiFi adapter would be set as an Ethernet client so that DHCP works. You would then connect into your home network with WiFi and you should get DHCP address from your Ethernet port. I have not tried this but it should work.
I started reading about doing this last night! I have an old wrt54g router i thought I’d hook up as a bridge for when i also need to get online. I was reading how to install DD-WRT on it and that led me to reading more about OpenWRT. I’m going to do some more learning and testing with the wrt54g and also experiment with more settings on the advanced page of BomeBox once ive wrapped my head around OpenWRT and i will report back with my findings. Back soon!
Yes, years ago, I repurposed an old wrt54g as a WiFi to MIDI bridge to extend WiFi range in my home. Since then I installed a Mesh network instead. This is what I occasionally use on one of the ethernet ports one one of my BomeBoxes.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
