[OLPC Networking] Wireless Recommendations (Ricardo Carrano)

[Tom Mitchell]

Hi Ricardo,

On Sat, Aug 09, 2008 at 07:46:19PM -0300, Ricardo Carrano wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 9, 2008 at 6:50 PM, Tom Mitchell <mitch at niftyegg.com> wrote:
> > Ricardo Carrano wrote:
> >>
> >> On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 3:21 PM, Tom Mitchell <mitch at niftyegg.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Greg Smith wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> Hi Ricardo,
> >>>>
> >>>> Interesting page with some great ideas. A few comments and questions
> >>>> after a quick read through.
> >>>
> >>> Not for the high priority project list:
> >>> One connectivity model that could be considered is a
> >>> disconnected model.  I think of it as a dial up
> >>> on demand uucico model,  uucico for short
> >
> > .....
> >
> >>
> >> Tom,
> >>
> >> The subject of DTN (Delay or Disruption Tolerant Networks) are now
> >> perceived as increasingly important and I am sure that, in many
> >> deployments, technologies emerging from this research and efforts will
> >> be very useful.
> >>
> >> It seems that we have another category of recommendations, or another
> >> page, which deals with the school connectivity. So, that would split
> >> the deployment recommendations into two categories:
> >>
> >> - The backhaul (or external) connectivity - the school connecting to
> >> the Internet
> >> - The wireless (or internal) connectivity - the school wireless
> >> infrastructure
> >>
> >> Comments?
> >>
> >> Cheers!
> >> Ricardo
> >
> > I suspect that DTN issues will work themselves out. They are core to mobile
> > networking futures.
> >
> > What I was reflecting on is a supplemental backhaul connectivity strategy
> > built on existing code and designs.  In the "old days" before wide area
> > TCP/IP we moved email, net news, files, sources and more via uucico (unix to
> > unix copy in copy out) over telephone line modems when daytime long distance
> > calls were expensive and the internet non existent.
> >
> > Delivery addresses were bang "!" separated routing lists. The telephone
> > calls were made on demand, or on a schedule, in the middle of the night, on
> > weekends within a time slot window so as to not overload modem banks.   A
> > subtle twist to this would be a cross between sneaker net and meshed
> > networking where a portable machine could visit collect and deliver files,
> > mail, etc. up and down a delivery route on an irregular snail mail like
> > schedule.
> >
> > Like I said not the first thing to work on but something to keep in mind as
> > a possible solution for areas with expensive or non existent connectivity.
> > It turns out that late versions of uucico work over TCP/IP making
> > connectivity transitions almost transparent.
> >
> 
> And I second your suggestion. [Side note: Let's say I'm not young
> enough not to remember uucp. ;-)]
> 
> I didn't bring the DTN term to the discussion gratuitously. Actually
> the example of the guy that takes a bicycle with a linksys router and
> every day rides it through disconnected villages and collect people's
> url requests (via email) turns to be one classic scenario of DTN. As
> usual, it's just a fancy name for an old problem.
> 
> The email seems to be the last remainder of an store-and-forward
> application and that's why it probably fits well in this scenario.
> 
> I also agree that this may not be a top priority, but I have the same
> feeling that there exists the situation where this class of idea (name
> is less important) would come in hand.
> 
> So, the question is, how can we formalize a deployment recommendation
> based on that idea? Would you volunteer? :)


Let me think about this and do some homework before I volunteer.... 

At this point I know more about what I do not know than the other way
around to describe and address this.  My biggest gap  is in the XO model of
shared activities, host name and mesh network management in the framework
of shared activities.  Like printing and perhaps for the same set of
reasons the XO currently does not have an Email activity/ application.
The XO and a web interface work well so that might be enough.  Sitting 
outside in bright daylight with an XO is a very fine way to read mail
and PDF documents.  


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	T o m  M i t c h e l l