Monday brought an enthusiastic bunch into the lab this morning. Oscar was off to fix the Ubuntu campus point to point Ubiquiti link so that half the site had connection again. Austin was going to sort the connection to the 'ark' out (the ark is where most of the Linknet staff work and sleep.
Austin climbing a tower to fit a new cable:
There was even a grand plan to convert 75% of the non-mesh network to PolkaSpots. 25% would remained meshed until a solution could be found for the problems with open source firmware.
A conversation with the Meraka Institute in South Africa is really gaining momentum and I'm hoping together we can solve the problem of providing low cost, scalable Wi-Fi access to Rural Africa. There's a strange mix of commercial and open source technologies in use and nothing's what it seems. Just because we've done it in the UK doesn't mean it will work here - everything has to be adapted to make it fit.
This project isn't about making a quick buck for any of the people involved. This is about doing something real that will genuinely enhance the lives of those that live in these remote parts. This is a community project that everyone can be part of and everyone can benefit from. It just has to work!
The continuous power cuts cause problems but I'm starting to work around them. A 15 minute outage means I can find new friends to talk to on the street. The daily worry of where to eat, what to drink and how to get home have dispersed. I am currently know in Macha as "The English Man who keeps getting lost". I'm quite fond of that - especially as I was entrusted to get a newcomer home this evening! I managed just fine, although I suspect more by luck than judgement.
Tomorrow brings a lot of work again and I hope we can fit it all in. Time's no issue over here and that still blows my mind. I can't wait to get things done - here you have to wait for things to happen. Even my typing has caused a few comments this week. How do you manage to type so fast Mr. Morley? I've explained that we have no time in the west because we're too busy missing trains and spilling take away coffee down our trousers - I usually get a blank response… You'd get institutionalised here if you raced around or die of heat exhaustion. Just like you would if you put a bucket of water on your head in London.
Going to try and escape from the kamikaze bug that's just entered my room...
Comments