Ronan, seriously I think it costs more than $30k/lb. for lofting? 
They have to position it as well, true?  When you said Zaurus, I 
thought of a hardened case and RF equipment.  It would weigh hmmm 
five pounds or so?
Now how many people would contribute money to have that thing lofted 
to have a FREE network?  I, for one, would chip in $100 and I'M 
BROKE!  Sooo worst case $200000/100 = 2,000 people
Better yet, why don't we unwind some old transformers and build us a 
rail gun?  No fuel!
How about, Intergalactic Linux <--yes, I'm the first to coin this 
distro, so hands off, buddy!
Oh how the creative juices secrete from thy cranium.
/mario
>Mark wrote:
>>Hey, can a bunch of you guys come over and design a satellite
>>communications transceiver that uses linux?  I'll pay for the pizza.
>>
>>Anyway, it seems like it worked for others so I guess I would try as well.
>>
>
>
>Sure.  By satellite transceiver, do you mean a ground-station or a 
>device to be lofted?  At $30,000 per pound (lofting fee), I think I 
>would try to use a PIC chip rather than one of those HUGE hardware 
>platforms capable of running Linux. Even without the LCD, it would 
>cost a fortune to loft a Zaurus!
>
>--ronan
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