[Nottingham] LinuxUser Expo - OK, wangled it

[Michael Erskine]

Duncan John Fyfe wrote:
> > I managed to wangle it to visit the Expo
>=20
> exellent, glad to hear it.

> Are you thinking of adding access points to your 'timetable=20
> display' PC's
> to provide WiFi at stations or are you thinking more about=20
> over the mobile phone networks ?

No, nothing so sophisticated! "Intelligent" signs at bus stops is as far
as its going to go but we need bus mounted units for tracking the
vehicles (with GPS or similar). We're eager to avoid reliance on
GPRS/GSM infrastructure - this is generally city centre based and
everything's likely to grind to a halt on Fri/Sat night with everyone
sending picture messages of their backsides to everyone else.=20

There are plenty of local authority provided powered locations for our
own network of nodes - bus stops, street lighting, CCTV poles etc. We
had a presentation from NOW IP Ltd (http://www.now.co.uk) pushing a
MeshNetworks MEA solution (http://www.meshnetworks.com/) (exciting
stuff) which will be going in at one of our sites (Portsmouth city
centre) for CCTV over IP. I'm seeking an open source solution but I need
to be confident in any capabilities, limitations, timescales and prices
that I tout to management. Unfortunately, sometimes its easier to take a
proprietary system off the shelf along with some costly consultancy.
Now, if I can find similar open source WiFi consultancy... hence my Expo
visit.

> I'll be there Tuesday and Wednesday.  My mobile no for the=20
> day will be: xxxxxxx
> Give me a bell when you're free.

I definitely will -- I'll be wearing my new Perl T-shirt
(http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/coder/321a/) that I picked up from the
shipper on Tuesday (hmm, it may need washing by then - aw, what th'
hell, I'll just appear to be a more authentic hacker!).

For 802.11 limits...
> 1. Range
>=20
> 2. Doppler shifts ;)
> How fast would you need to be moving before the shift between=20
> your card and the
> access point's tranmist/receive bands caused problems ?

There was some talk about Doppler shift compensation - it does seem
crazy but it was mentioned and seems to be a consideration.

Regards,

Michael.


Michael Erskine
Senior Software Engineer
Jasmin Simtec Limited
michael.erksine@jasmin.plc.uk
(+44)|(0)115 9 165 165