[Sussex] Linux Not as We Know It

[Phil Slade]

http://www.jhai.org/jhai_remoteIT.htm


Our Jhai PC and Communication System responds to villagers express needs for
telecommunications, business opportunities, and enhanced education for their
children through the development of a solid-state, low-wattage computer that
can be powered by a foot-crank, a high-bandwidth wireless network, and
support for village small businesses.

Farmers in Ban Phon Kam and nearby villages are now able to grow surpluses
of rice and other crops-thanks in part to organic farming techniques that
Jhai helped introduce. To profit on their surplus, however, they need
accurate and timely information about pricing in the market town of Phon
Hong and the capital, Vientiane.

The expert women weavers in the villages have begun the use of natural
dyes-again with assistance from Jhai-and would like to weave textiles for
export. They hope to find partners among expatriate Lao who will help them
market their weavings and receive reasonable returns.



Technology for harsh conditions

Without telephone lines or electricity, amid torrential rains followed by
high temperatures and thick red dust, standard technologies won't function.
Many of the villagers whom Jhai is working with are low-literate and do not
speak English, so e-mail won't help them, the Internet is inappropriate.

To respond to their needs, Jhai Foundation is developing:


A rugged computer and printer assembled from off-the-shelf components that
draws less than 20 watts in normal use - less than 70 watts when the printer
is printing - and that can survive dirt, heat, and immersion in water


A wireless Local Area Network with relay stations based on the 802.11b
protocol, which will transmit signals between the villages and a server
located at the Phon Hong Hospital for switching to the Internet or the Lao
telephone system


A Lao-language version of the free, Linux-based KDE graphical desktop and
Lao-language office tools
Villagers in five villages and their surroundings will use this Jhai
Communications Center to make telephone calls within Lao PDR and
internationally (using voice-over-Internet technologies), and for the
activities, such as accounting, letter writing, email, that are so important
for their start-up enterprises.

Village youth and children will receive technology training and
microenterprise training using the Jhai Computer, with some young people
joining the project as Youth IT Entrepreneurs. The Youth IT Entrepreneurs
will support their elders in the use of the technology and in business
operations.

The design team is led by Lee Felsenstein, one of the leading design
engineers in the world. Two of Lee's designs are in the National Museum of
the United States, the Smithsonian. The implementation team in Laos is led
by Vorasone Dengkayaphichith. Lee is assisted by a large international
team,about 25 people in all, including notably, Bob Marsh, a pioneer
hardware engineer and project manager, Anousak Souphavanh, a Linux
specialist who coordinates the localization effort, Mark Summers, a wireless
network expert and engineer, who assists Lee on both hardware and software,
and Steve Okay, a software developer and system admnistrator. All the people
in the design team are donating their time, a priceless collective gift. The
design is meant to meet the specific needs as expressed by the villagers in
Phon Kham and associated villages. The Lao members of the team, including
the villagers, see this effort as a gift from the people of Lao PDR to the
world's rural poor.


A sustainable, replicable solution

The Jhai PC and Communication System will be owned by the villages. Small
fees will be charged users for running costs, replacement costs, and suppor
costs, making the project fully sustainable immediately upon completion of
the training period.

The Jhai PC and Communcation System, with wireless network and youth
entrepreneurial support for business creation, will serve as an easily
replicable model for the delivery of Information Technology services to poor
and remote regions throughout the developing world.

To date (April, 2004), we have been approached by people from 85 countries
who want to replicate what we are doing.


For more information:

Proposal to SIDA (330 kb PDF)

Proposal to IDRC (11 kb PDF)


These PDF files can be opened using free Adobe Acrobat Reader software.

You can also read what our friends at The Economist have to say about the
project.