Here's an entertaining writeup on the Laos pedal-powered Linux computers from Greenstar's friend Lee
Thorn...with commentary by another of our co-conspirators, Bruce Sterling, to whom the whole world
is a science fiction novel...
Key concepts: 802.11 networking, pedal power,
appropriate technology, Laos
Attention Conservation Notice: If it's so great
for the Third World, how come rich people aren't
using it already?
"Pedal Power: Look Ma No Wires
By Craig Liddell
"An innovative, pedal powered, wireless network provides
Internet access to off-grid villages in Laos. (((Pedal-
powered wi-fi. Okay, that's hard to beat Viridian-
wise.)))
"Jhai PC is a project of non-government organisation
(NGO), Jhai Foundation.
"'The equipment will be powered by electricity stored
in a car battery (((yuck))) charged by 'foot cranks',' Lee
Thorn, Jhai Foundation chair, explains. These 'are
essentially bicycle wheels and pedals hooked to a small
generator. The generator is connected to a car battery and
the car battery is connected to the computer.' (((At
least car batteries are plenty available.)))
"'Connection with each computer to the others will be
by radio local area network (LAN),' he says. 'Each village
will connect to one repeater station powered by a solar
means on the ridge near the river valley. That station
will then send the radio signal to the microwave tower
nearby and eventually to a server in Vientiane that will
connect the villages to the Internet.
"The key message of Jhai, which means 'hearts and
minds working together,' is reconciliation. Laos is one of
poorest countries in the world and, on a per capita basis,
the most bombed place on Earth. Bounthanh Phommasathit, a
co-founder of the organisation, was forced to flee her
ancestral home in the Plain of Jars in Laos following the
American bombing campaign during the Vietnam War. Thorn,
the other co-founder, loaded several of the bombs that
fell on the Plain of Jars while serving on the USS Ranger,
an aircraft carrier. (((And let me guess further: Ms.
Phommasathit and Mr. Thorn got married and have three
lovely children now.)))
"(...) Each village will have a Jhai computer
connected in a network with the other villages that
connects to the Internet and to their high school-based
Internet Learning Centres (ILC). (((How about that pedal-
powered porn and spam?)))
"The Jhai computers will also provide them with the
opportunity to do simple business functions like writing
documents and creating spreadsheets for budgetary and
simple accounting purposes. (((Write a novel, lose 20
pounds.)))
"Lee Felsenstein is a member of the Jhai Board of
Advisors and project engineer for the Jhai communication
project. He, and fellow engineer Mark Summer, are
volunteering their time. Felsenstein has a long history of
public advocacy and was a co-founder of The Community
Memory Project, a non-profit organisation that developed
public-access information-exchange systems beginning in
1972. He also designed one of the first portable computers
for Osborne in the early 1980's."
Link:
http://www.computerhalloffame.org/pagetwo.html#Fels
Lee Felsenstein doesn't kid around; he's in the
"Computer Hall of Fame."
"'The Jhai PC is built of 'embedded' circuit boards,'
says Felsenstein, (((geeking fluently))) 'of the sort that
are used in industrial equipment. These are rugged and
devoid of moving parts such as fans or disc drives, made
to operate for long periods of time without service or
attention. The Jhai computer consists of a single-board PC
(the MZ-104 based upon the Mach-Z single-chip computer ==
equivalent to a 133 MHz 486 system).' He has analysed the
'Internet appliance generation of chips and found this to
be the best, especially for its low power consumption and
remote BIOS reboot capability.'
"The software is LINUX-based (((woot!))) and is being
localised into the Lao language by Anousak Souphavanh and
his team in New York. (((Laonux))) The system is being
configured to provide a 'telegraph' (email) and telephone
(VOIP communication) among the villages, via the Lao phone
system, and worldwide through Internet telephony.
"'Along with the processor,' Felsenstein continues,
'is an adapter card for PCMCIA cards, allowing us to use
the Cisco Aironet 350 Wi-Fi (802.11b) wireless LAN card. A
Sound Blaster compatible sound card completes the board
complement. The three boards, together with a connector-
panel board fit together in a compact 'stack' and have no
case or power supply. We will build our own case, using a
commercially available die-cast metal housing which will
seal the boards from the external environment and still
allow heat to transfer out.' (((Hey! Where's mine?)))
"'The system includes a regulator which doubles as a
battery charger,' he says, 'and can operate from a wide
range of voltages. We plan to use stationary bicycles
equipped with generators for charging the batteries. The
mountaintop relay stations will have solar panels for
power, (((yowza))) and we hope that the villages can also
have them, though they are expensive.'
(...) "'This is a world pilot project,' says Thorn, 'We
expect to document it extensively. We see it as stage one
of a project to link villagers in remote areas to each
other and to people like us who are interested in Lao
villagers' success in meeting their own and Lao PDR's
goals. We expect that Jhai Foundation and especially our
Lao consultants will report on this experience to
interested parties, first, in Lao PDR, and second,
elsewhere.'" (((How about down in the local gym? They're
pedalling anyway.)))
-- Paul Swider pswider@e-greenstar.com Greenstar http://www.greenstar.org/introduction.htm Cell 727.776.9979 eFax 208.248.1869 http://www.e-greenstar.com/pswider.htm http://home.earthlink.net/~swider/index.html
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