The Heads on Fire Community

My name is Azriah Minovi, I am a high school student in San Diego at cortez hill , and I have been working with SDSU VIZLAB and the MIT Fab Lab San Diego division. We have been working on a communication method that is equivalent to the one laptop per child project. Because the One Laptop Per Child computer systems are no longer readily available for purchase in the United States of America, and we are developing an alternative system.

Currently we have found an affordable laptop (Acer) and are utilizing it by applying open source software for versatility along with the usability needed for some who aren't as tech savvy. So far we have established that we will be using the linux operating system along with basic communication applications and we may also be working towards extending the wifi range on the laptop for the communication that is necessary to apply in an emergency situation.

Our main focus is to create a system which will be useful and helpful in a situation with limited infrastructure.

here is our current progress
Got my hands on the ACER 1.6ghz laptop with 1 gig of ram and a 160 gig hard drive and have been compiling a Linux distro witch is capable of doing everything a desktop could. It will have the ability to boot directly from the flash drive, along with all the programs being integrated into the distro it supports am0st any processor meaning it can run on smart phones to old macs (os 6 and before ) to even the old PPCs, this allows for flexibility of work and a geographical freedom that wasn't previously applied.

Ideology
The idea behind the acer beta 1 is more than just a system for humanitarian relief it is also a adreesse to the one laptop per child issue. the hard ware for the OLPC pcs are no longer produced. The Acer beta 1 allows for people from different computer backgrounds to be able to have a chance to use a system that is stable and useful for what they need done. it breaks the barrier between people who are tech savvy and people who arnt it also allows for many uses, most of witch are limited by your creativity.

current work
Currently i am applying a GIS (geographic information system)
"GIS allows us to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts.

A GIS helps you answer questions and solve problems by looking at your data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared."

current work as of 24/2/09
Today at the fab lab i talked with Dr.Christoph maier and furthered the design of the borderless wifi project.We have updated our design to a different curve than before because the new curve allows for multiple signals to be focused into one precise area IE where the antenna is, this allows for more usability and more functionality. Today we got to the physical creation process of the recivers and we have composed two final beta designs, one of these designs is a isotropic receiver, and the last is a anisotropic antenna. a isotropic antenna allows for multiple connection and also can capture a higher signal to noise ratio but there will be more noise compared to a anisotropic antenna antenna. the anisotropic antenna antenna can clear out such a large percentage of the noise and still maintain a strong signal, the major issue with mono topic is the limitations imposed by its limit in directional containment. We are now planing to have both antennas done by next Tuesday if not thursday.

current work update feb/26/09
there were two initial ideas: those where extending wifi, and the other idea was to use mesh networks. mesh networks are a system that work kinda like torrents, they allow multiple people to connect and share the internet or files, this causes a community because it allows everyone to know that they are a key component in the network. i believe the mesh networks will be more useful because not only do they give a higher chance of success they also empower the people and inspire a community that wasn't there before. this can cause the exact effect that we are aiming for, the community will be tighter together, there will be more communication between them, and any real world issues can be relayed to help instantly. this isn't brainpower THIS IS SMART PoWER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reference Links
laptop.org/
www.hpcwire.com
headsonfire.org/community
http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2008/09/11/jhai-pc-low-cost-com...
http://www.gis.com/
http://www.intel.com/intel/LearningSeries.htm
www.acer.com/
http://www.gogofan.com/gogofannew/asus-inch-900mhz-12gb-home-notebook-co...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parabolic_reflector
http://www.analyzemath.com/parabola/parabola_work.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotropic_radiator
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directivity
http://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/jk1/lectures/node83.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxymoron
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antenna_(radio)#Practical_antennas