EDIT EDIT EDIT: See post 16 for explanation of the cause, and a possible solution
I have mentioned this in a few conversations about network issues, but I don't know if DJ saw it since the issues were marked a resolved before he commented, so I am opening an explicit thread for this bug report.
While troubleshooting some strange issues on my 802.11g and n network when running multiple EZ-B's (specifically, EZ-B's and the few other G or N devices I have refusing their reserved IP addresses and getting other addresses, not showing up in the DHCP client list of my router, and some strange error messages in the router log) I ran wireshark on a computer connected to my 802.11n network with a display filter looking at bootp messages then powering on EZ-B's.
The first EZ-B come up normally and connects to my network with normal messaging.
When I power up the second one, and it sends out a discover, both my router, and the first EZ-B send out an offer. The EZ-B accepts one of the offers (usually the one from the first EZ-B), and rejects the other (and the router sends out a reject and logs an error because it is seeing another DHCP server on the network).
When I power up a 3rd EZ-B, the first 2 send offers.
4th EZ-B, the first 3 send offers.
Any other device also get DHCP offers from the EZ-B's as well as the router.
Thankfully most of my network is on 802.11ac or wired and not impacted by this, but the few 802.11n devices behave very strangely when the EZ-Bs are on (losing their internet connection, or restarting their network connections).
Hopefully this will be an easy firmware fix, because it is actually fairly serious and unfortunately validates the few network administrators who have told users here that they can't put the EZ-Bs on their networks. Having more than one DHCP server on a network is a major networking policy violation.
Alan
Awesome - I'm nerding out and putting the package together tonight. While I wait for for my custom bb8 to print
Didn't like the bb8 builders version so I'm making my own. And i received a not-very-friendly message from one of their members. They seem to have InMoov fever by also not welcoming contributors... Anyway, my bb8 will be entirely 3D printable, unlike all the others which require purchasing a pile of hardware. Apologies for the off topic
Here is the EZ-Robot Open IoT Wifi: http://synthiam.com/Products/ARC
Did you get the programmer? How's your new dhcp and open iot firmware running?
I got the programmer, but haven't had a chance to try it out yet. Maybe Sunday.
Alan
geez whiz! I figured you'd be alllllllllll over programming the v4!
I will be. This summer has been rough. My basement was flooded by a plumbing leak and it has been undergoing mold remediation and reconstruction for 5 months. All that is left is carpet install and the return of belongings that were not destroyed fron the Servpro warehouse (including virtually all of my tools and many robot parts).
Thankfully my Roli and boxbot were upstairs at the time, but I don't have a good workspace upstairs. When the work is done I'll have a fabulous workshop amd will finally get started on my big Steampunk Dogbot I have been talking about for 3 years.
Alan
@Alan.
Hurray, I've been hoping you would get around to the steampunk build. I'm really pleased you have finally got your basement almost sorted. What a pain in the butt with that flood, but at least you'll have a shiny new workspace to play about in now.
For anyone who has been following this thread, a discussion started in https://synthiam.com/Community/Questions/8685&page=5 with post #47.
The upshot of it is that the PIK programmer that DJ discusses above is pretty easy to use, and the latest version of the firmware that you can load with it resolves the issue.
If there are members in the US who are nervous about flashing their EZ-Bs or just don't want to buy the PIK programmer, I would be happy to flash them for you for just the cost of return shipping the EZ-B back to you (although the programmer is so cheap, it would probably cost you less just to buy one).
Only tricky part is that the header pins that came with the PIK are not a tight fit in the EZ-B, so you need to hold it tightly in place while programming.
Alan