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Wireless Networking It's funny. Laugh. Hardware

Three-wheeled Wireless Internet 111

Posted by timothy from the three-rounde-tyres dept.
An anonymous reader writes "I just found this article which describes how a group of people in the UK built a 3 wheeled trike-type rickshaw to give visitors to a festival mobile Internet access. An interesting read for those /.ers into wireless networks, it also gives good information about the use of satellite for net connectivity and renewable energy sources. They do a good job of lightening a dry subject with a dash of humour." (The festival here is The Big Green Gathering, which sounds like a low-key, English version of Burning Man.)
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Three-wheeled Wireless Internet More

Three-wheeled Wireless Internet

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  • pretty cool (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mOoZik ( 698544 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2003 @02:34AM (#7151170) Homepage
    All of this is doable by the average slashdotter, except of course for the sattelite link, which is probably expensive. Still, very, very cool.

    • hmmm chicks (Score:2, Funny)

      by muyuubyou ( 621373 )
      The average slashdotter must be now drooling at the sexy [psand.net] chicks [psand.net] . Whatever keeps women within 10ft and can be built from spare hardware in their parents' basement is OK for the average slashdotter.

  • Portability perhaps? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by commie_pig ( 585693 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2003 @02:35AM (#7151171) Homepage

    I don't know if I'm too keen to rent a little bike with an internet connection. I'd much rather have wireless connection points scattered over the festival terrain which would allow a PDA to connect - that way, I can even walk.

    One day, when technology is dirt cheap (if that ever happens), then I wouldn't mind having a little computer loaded on a little bike like that.

    Until then, I first need personal connectivity

    Save the whales! - collect the whole set

    • Re:Portability perhaps? (Score:5, Informative)

      by semaj ( 172655 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2003 @03:35AM (#7151320) Journal
      I don't know if I'm too keen to rent a little bike with an internet connection. I'd much rather have wireless connection points scattered over the festival terrain which would allow a PDA to connect - that way, I can even walk.
      Did you actually read the article?

      They describe setting up a number of wireless base stations using 802.11b to "ensure that the majority of wireless clients could connect to our network". They built the rickshaw as a moving terminal so that people without laptops/PDAs could have a chance to use the network.
  • This looks like a very cool project indeed... I didn't find mention on the cost though. Estimates? Educated guesses?

  • uh (Score:2, Insightful)

    by DNS-and-BIND ( 461968 )
    Do you think maybe you can go to a freaking festival, and not have to check your freaking email? How about just chilling out and having fun for a few hours? And I'm not even going to mention the demeaning aspects of the rickshaw. Its shameful history should not be resurrected under any circumstances.

    • Re:uh (Score:2, Funny)

      by Urkki ( 668283 )
      • Do you think maybe you can go to a freaking festival, and not have to check your freaking email?

      Uh... Is this a trick question?

    • Re:uh (Score:3, Insightful)

      by TomV ( 138637 )
      Bear in mind that the BGG was always had a very strong contingent of the activist community, and a lot of these people have ongoing campaigns to run Commitment doesn't necessarily stop just becasue you're at a festival.

      Also, it wasn't just a few hours, it was five full (and very fabulous) days for the punters, and a lot of the workers were there for a week beforehand and a week afterwards.

      The rickshaw technology is not demeaning. For that matter, the opportunity it gives to grindingly poor people to fee
    • Can't I just go to my favorite coffee shop in town to have some real java and run into a friend or two when I feel like it, and just chill out and have fun? Often, the answer is, not if I don't have my email-enabled cell phone so my server or my boss can call me if there's a problem.

      The 'net can indeed encroach on our busy lifestyles, but it can be liberating, too.

      Then again, one of my primary hobby is cave exploration, and they ain't made the cell phone that will work down there (though it is technically
  • I already had this mental image of people riding around, delivering paper printouts of http-requests and...
    eh, nevermind...

  • Just took my laptop .... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by taniwha ( 70410 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2003 @02:51AM (#7151209) Homepage Journal
    at least to Burningman [burningman.com] this year, turned it on, grabbed a wifi lease and hey presto I was connected. Thanks to the playanet [playanet.org] folks.

    Then I realized "I'm in the middle of the desert I don't want my email to find me", quickly checked slashdot and turned it off ....

  • Mind you, they did apparently have some stiff competition from InterDump Inc, the company responsible for the festivals internet-enabled portaloos.

  • Oh man (Score:4, Funny)

    by cca93014 ( 466820 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2003 @03:06AM (#7151246) Homepage
    The Big Green Gathering is similar to the Burning Man with the exception of a total lack of 14 year old Californians off their heads on mescaline.

    Whether this is a plus or a minus depends entirely on your age.

    • It's a lot more laid back, much more of a family affair.

      However I'm not too sure how popular people tapping away on laptops would be - my experience of the Big Green Gathering would lend me to expect they would get lots of pitying looks from most of the crusties.

      I went to one outside Leeds a couple of years back, and it was great fun. All electricity used is generated on site, using solar panels, windmills and pedal power - which means that unless a band has lots of energetic fans, they tend not to get to
  • Sounds like the premise for a bad Kids in the Hall sketch, with one of the gang on fire and acting totally low-key about it. Either that, or I'm amazingly sleep deprived.
    Mod with your heart, not your intellect!

  • WiFi Chick (Score:4, Funny)

    by aardwolf204 ( 630780 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2003 @03:34AM (#7151316)
    For those who are too lazy to read the entire article, I'll point you to the good stuff: Wifi Chick [psand.net], complete with iBook.
    • ObGeek - Its a TiBook ;-)
  • Wi-Fi networks essentially accomplish the same feat using a sub-pairing of ultra-banding technologies similiar to cell phone towers. It is an interesting technique that should make wireless networking available to the masses and at a much sweeter price point than currently available. Are we soon to see a Star Tre-like array with their triangulation of their tricorders?

  • Green Gathering (Score:5, Informative)

    by BeCre8iv ( 563502 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2003 @03:51AM (#7151354)
    This is on my doorstep, its my local culture and the the comparison with burning-man is a little off the mark.

    the BGG is an activists gathering, while there is music at night, by day it is not a hedonists paradise like Burning-Man but more a massive sustainability workshop where you can learn about non-violent resistance through to how to get web without a mains socket.

    People on /. tend to see the iTrike as a festival gimmik that is less than practical, when it is realy a high profile proof of concept with a little humour thrown in.

    I am realy glad the BGG got slashdotted because it rarely gets a mention in the UK, let alone internationally.

    BTW - Heds from overseas looking for a Burningman Type experience should try Glastonbury festival - the BGG is for serious activists, travelers and the free-festival harcore, the first thing you notice is that there is no branding or commercialism on site which is wierd to say the least in this day and age.

    As for cost... its difficult to know. Short of the tech itself, the iTrike is probably recycled bits and bobs from...

    Rinky-Dink
    http://www.baka.co.uk/rinky/

    Raymundo's Renewable Lounge
    http://www.ray-mundo.co.uk/

    and some road protest site somewhere.

    • "There will be healers offering Cranio Sacral Therapy, Kinesiology, Bowen Technique, Inversion Therapy, Sound Healing, Colour Healing and Hopi Ear Candles"

      And anyway, I thought Burning Man had the patent on "no branding or commercialism on site". Anyway, what about this?

      Tree Energy Workshop - Friday Morning
      Dave Bradshaw has lived and worked in the woods for many years. He now creates beautiful and inspirational furniture and wooden jewellery.

      Hahahah....he loves the trees so much he chops up their rot

      • Re:Green Gathering (Score:2, Insightful)

        by TomV ( 138637 )
        Sure there were healers. And sure they took payment. But there's a big difference between Katrina from Oxford getting in for free because she was offering Shiatsu for whatever amount seemed affordable (or in several cases for free) and fair rather than the 30 an hour she charges me as a regular client outside the festival, and huge Coke, Vodaphone and Carlsberg logos everywhere. There were plenty of small stallholders doing business. There were no major listed companies doing business. I think that's t
        • Making money isn't evil, it's essential.

          WHAT!!??? Please turn in your Green Party membership card immediately. You will shortly be receiving a visit from the People's Commissariat, after which you will be relocated to a re-education camp for further indoctrination.

    • No, do not try Glastonbury (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Glastonbury (actually Pilton) is constantly under harassment by the local Conservatives (read Republicans) who try to shut it down. It is now costing a fortune to maintain security and the quality of life around the area is suffering for several weeks in summer. It is also very difficult to get tickets outside the UK. The last thing we need is ticketless foreign stoners wandering around and giving the right-wingers on the council an excuse to stop it for good.
      • Conservatives (read Republicans)

        I would say for our US readers, Conversatives (read somewhat left of Democrats). ;)
      • all true... but its still the nearest thing to Burning-Man in the UK - much closer than the BGG which would dissapoint the politically inactive fun seeker.

        Back in the day - Glasto was very international, you would meet people from every continent, this year was very much lacking. There has always been some local objection, which has made the situation worse but the further people travel, the more likely they are to take in the more traditional tourist sites in the area which is holding the local economy u
        • >> Back in the day - Glasto was very international

          hmm. if i remember it was mostly americans trying to sell you `sunshine` acid. When you pointed out they hadn't been available since about 1967 they tended to go away quite quickly.

          mind you I did buy a piece of playing card the first time I went. *ahem*

    • Costs. (Score:2, Insightful)

      by adelayde ( 185757 )
      Here are the costs for this (in Euros):

      - Satellite terminal and dish: 5,000
      - Buffalo Tech Base stations x 5: 750
      - Assorted cabling: 50
      - Home made wireless bits: 150
      - Home built rack-mount firewall: 1,000
      - Dodge D50 s/h: 3,5000
      - Rickshaw: 1,000 (guessed)
      - Speakers and Amp, Mixer, Batteries: 1,000
      - Solar+Wind+Batteries: 10,000 (guess)
      - Other bits and bobs: 100

      So quite expensive really, obviously you could this for a lot cheaper.
  • well, this is pretty nifty, wireless and all. My friends 1982 Cadilac doesn't have that, but he *swears* it has a power ass-scratcher...

  • NOT BurningMan (Score:2, Informative)

    by ynohoo ( 234463 )
    Burning Man was based on the likes of Stonehenge Free Festival (1973-84) which got closed down by Maggie Thatcher for having too much fun.

    This is more like a church picnic for eco-types.
  • "The Big Green Gathering is a annual get together of people attempting to provide inspiration and education on alternative approaches to daily living

    Uh huh... Next year's challenge: A rickshaw mounted solar powered shower and soap.

    • The solar-powered showers were admittedly fantastic again this year (and there was a lot more water available at Cheddar than used to be the case at Upper Pertwood (the old site for the BGG).

      But for serious cleanliness, the various on-site saunas were even better. Big shout out to all at Sam's Magic Hat sauna - built in a converted old caravan capable of holing maybe 20 people if you *really* crammed those sweaty bods together ;-), with a woodburning stove, cold showers in the entrance and a full-blown co
      • Ah, cheers for reminding me about the best way to get clean. Soap free and loving it ... Was introduced to Sam's Magic Hat sauna this year, lovely lovely people :) And this is getting towards the whole point of these festivals isn't it? We don't need all this c*rporate sh*te to exist - just to be clean for example. It is unnecessary and just plain evil in so many ways.
  • We have had rickshaws/bicycle taxis in Copenhagen (Denmark) with wireless access since the beginning of this year (some call them mobile net cafes). I wonder how many actually use this?!
    • I know that there have been taxis with Internet access in them for a while. I presume that if they are popular, then why not the greener, peddal-powered variety? Do you know how they are powered (the terminal and connexion I mean) and how they achieve their connexion? Do you have a link to some information about them?
  • Sounds alot like something freeserve would do to tie in with their hippie-style tv ads. :P
    • Funnily enough we were asked by Glastonbury to do live streaming from the main stage. Freeserve was apparently to provide the distribution capacity (as they were also going to do for the Stop the War demonstrations in London). On both instances, they flaked out on the deal.

      We ended up doing Glastonbury, but not with the main stage, as their were too many people taking their cuts to actually page for a 36 hour continuous 200Kb/s video stream (which is what they wanted). Funnily enough the company that we

  • Conventional distributed mains and fossil fuel generated power are disallowed, leading to a demonstration of inventive technologies that are hopefully less harmful to the planet.

    Unfortunately the rocket that put the sattellites in orbit was a tad less than "earth-friendly" :) (Never mind all the messy heavy manufacturing processes that produced all of the gear)

    Next time it might be fun to try something more decentralized, and owe more step away from the military-industrial complex (which admittedly is

    • "Unfortunately the rocket that put the sattellites in orbit was a tad less than "earth-friendly""

      While a good point, if you read the text, it refers to 'Conventional distributed mains and fossil fuel generated power', so we are discussing sources of power here, not communications equipment. It's true that it's not at all perfect, whilst it's generally agreed that BP make the best solar panels, they are also a petrochemical company that a party to the industry that is ruining the environment and heating up
  • Anyone interested in seeing what the stats look like for a page being slashdotted can visit this URL:
    http://mirror.us.psand.net/cgi-bin/awstats.p l?conf ig=mirror.us.psand.net

    It's interesting to see what browsers and platforms /.'ers use as well as where they come from.
  • If you're in New York, you should check out magicbike [magicbike.net].
  • Yes, they magically use a 3-wheel cart as a magical internet kiosk. Let's just ignore the 6 ton equipment truck they had nearby with the actual uplink and all the real equipment.

  • "Three-wheeled Wireless Internet"

    They're called R2 units.

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