[dundee] Installing a Free WIFI Hotspot at the DCA

[magnus lawrie]

Hello,

I was along for the 'Signals in the City' event where there was a bit of
coffee time chat about wireless things including the possibility of a
DCA access point. I'm game for helping out with this and, like Rick,
also happy if there are LUG members that are willing to take it on.
Organisationally it might be good to have one person (not me, I mean) to
communicate between the LUG and DCA. Maybe those of us interested can
put our heads together at the next Abertay LUG meet?

Magnus

Rick Moynihan wrote:
> Hi, everyone
> 
> After Magnus and Arron's  presentations at the DCA Upgrade event on
> Wednesday; I spoke briefly to Clive Gillman (Director of the DCA).
> 
> It seems that Clive wishes to provide free wireless internet access at
> the DCA as part of their role within the community.
> 
> Being an institution in a public space however their is a requirement
> that they ensure (or at the very least strongly encourage) responsible
> usage by their customers.
> 
> Hence they want to:
> 
> 1) Ensure connecting clients are first directed to a DCA splash page,
> informing them of events at the DCA etc...
> 2) Provide a level of content filtering
> 3) Ensure fair use of a limited resource (by time/download limits)
> 
> The main concern here though is to provide open access.
> 
> Clive had mentioned taking a look at ZoneCD ( http://www.publicip.net/
> ) which is a Linux LiveCD for doing precisely this.  I'd agree with
> his assessment that it looks like a near ideal solution for this
> problem, being both low cost and easy to deploy.
> 
> Clive's a busy guy however and doesn't have time to set this up
> himself, though he has already provisioned the hardware.  Having
> spoken to Clive over the years, he asked me whether I would be willing
> to do this for him.  Though it looks like an easy job and their may be
> a small pot of money involved, I'm conscious that my free time is
> limited and that I'd rather not personally be responsible for
> maintaining and supporting this system.
> 
> So it occurred to me, maybe a better solution for the DCA would be to
> have the LUG itself maintain and support this.  That way the DCA get
> some notion of ongoing support and assistance and perhaps some of the
> younger members of the LUG get some valuable (CV worthy) experience.
> Plus I think it's good for the LUG to engage with such things.
> 
> I'm thinking maybe a few LUG members could set this up & perhaps
> document it on the website.
> 
> I'm not sure how much money Clive had in mind, but after some thought
> it seems there are 2 options:
> 
> 1) Pay the individual(s) who do the work
> 2) Donate the money to the LUG or another good cause.
> 
> I personally have a preference for (2) but I'd be happy to see what
> other people think of this.  I don't know yet what the implications
> are for the DCA or the LUG, but it seems like it's a discussion worth
> having.
> 
> Interested in your thoughts,
> 
> --
> Rick Moynihan
> rick.moynihan at gmail.com
> http://sourcesmouth.co.uk/blog/
> 
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