[IAEP] "Grannie" Needs Help!

[Yamandu Ploskonka]

Bottom line, Caryl, you may not need an access point, but maybe that 
makes all the difference as to how far they can be and still connect to 
each other.

So I tested things, coincidentially with 10 XOs on build 802, and a 
Sam's Club vanilla cheapest  Linksys WRT54g2 V1

First, without even an access point all the machines but one could see 
each other. 
When testing different builds yesterday some could see only those with 
their own build, and some were sort of random as to what other they 
could see.  My lab notes somewhere :-)

When I plugged in the Access Point and logged them to it, they *only 
could see those who were already logged in already.*  They lost "sight" 
of those that were not connected.  Note that the Access point was not 
connected to the Internet, just plugged to the wall, to act as a repeater.

I didn't test collaboration, just if they could "see" one another.  They 
were all pretty close together, except one.  Not all machines could see 
that one, about 15 feet away, and only after noticing that "ghost"
that showed up inconsistently I remembered it in the hallway charging 
and on since yesterday, so I didn't get to test fully this matter of 
distance.  One of these days I will test them at different distances.

Only two could see Access Points outside of the house, and as I 
mentioned, one could see nothing, even after rebooting, so I guess its 
radio is no good.   Out of 10,  2 better than average, one radio dead 
seem consistent with numbers I had been given informally at 1CC.  I am 
curious about other people's experiences.

All in all it is not clear whether to use the access point would have 
made a difference, as they could "see" each other on F1 (neighborhood 
view) even without the access point turned on.  But that might make all 
the difference when it comes to distance.

Yama






John Watlington wrote:
> Caryl,
>    There are two easy solutions that jump to mind.
> The decision is independent of a school server, you
> are really choosing how to interface the laptops to
> a network.
>
> If the school will allow a Wifi network, add a small
> cheap WiFi (802.11b/g) access point, configured
> as a transparent access point.  The laptops will have
> to select this AP once in the neighborhood, then
> "everything" will work.
>
> If the school insists on a wired network, then you can
> use USB/ethernet dongles to connect the laptops to
> the network.   Several dongles are known to work
> (is there a list for F9 somewhere ?).
> If they are supported their use is automatic if plugged in.
>
> In either case, you might consider a school server
> to interface between the laptop network and the internet.
> For ten laptops in a school, however, it is definitely
> not required.
>
> Cheers,
> wad
>
> On Oct 8, 2009, at 1:01 AM, Caryl Bigenho wrote:
>
>   
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I need to help the Audubon Middle School project get their 10 XOs  
>> on the net. Their school evidently has high speed internet, but it  
>> is all by ethernet cables... no wifi.  So, I need info on how to  
>> set up something that will work with the XOs... a school server, I  
>> guess.  I looked at the info on the OLPC wiki, but I don't  
>> understand enough about it to set it up or tell them how to do it.
>>
>> I assume they need a computer to do this. Do they have to install  
>> Linux before installing server software?  Is there any place on the  
>> wiki that tells how to do this? Should they just find someone to  
>> fund a decicated school server? Where can they get one? What is the  
>> most reliable, inexpensive way for them to do this?  Maybe just an  
>> inexpensive router? The school probably has some sort of firewall,  
>> what will they have to do to log on?
>>
>> Caroline... have you dealt with this at all?
>>
>> Is there a Grannie's Guide to doing this anywhere? Links appreciated!
>>
>> Caryl (aka "Grannie")
>>
>> P.S. I haven't actually seen their set up, but will go visit them  
>> next week.
>> _______________________________________________
>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>>     
>
> _______________________________________________
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
>   
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