Editing Talk:Main Page

Please utilize this space.

-Marco

Okay, let's utilize it. What do you think the main page should have?

-isaac

I think it should have knowledge.

Jesus, man, these spammers. I locked the page down so that only registered users can edit it. I'll work on changing the general permissions so that you have to be a user to edit anything at all.
--[[User:Freenet|Freenet]] 18:45, 24 December 2010 (CST)


Knowledge is good to share in these pages.  F'rinstance, I've installed numerous Clear modems on the rooftops of fast food joints, and I think some of the stuff we did on those jobs might be useful in the Freedom Tower design.  I also might have a good workaround, and possibly a more robust and stable and less expensive embedded solution than the Lenovo Q150.  I'm new here, so I'm not sure how to go about sharing info.

-Vegatyme-

Going under the assumption that the tower wants to be as high up as possible, and will be associated with some building location, like a volunteer's home or business, we can follow the model we used on these fast food joints.  For these, we used commonly available weatherproof enclosures with weatherproof gasketed cable entry, so no need to modify the gasket on the box to accommodate cabling. Also, a smaller enclosure can be used, as all that is necessary to have up the mast will be the modem and radios.  We used ordinary satellite antenna masts, and affixed the boxes using "U" bolts.  All the rack gear lived inside, and the modem was powered via POE.  Can these radios also be powered via POE?  If so, the solution would be in the form of a POE switch.  I know that netgear, f'rinstance produces an inexpensive 24 port switch that features 12 POE ports.  This greatly simplifies installation.  As for the use of the Lenovo Q150, I see that the selection of a net top unit probably had something to do with being able to cram all this stuff into the enclosure, but since we can actually have all this other gear in the rack, instead of up on the mast, a 1RU embedded server solution can be built for less than the cost of the Q150.  I have been developing a line of Asterisk based business phone systems.  Initially, I was using a foxconn board, but because I wanted to be able to offer a good system replacement warranty, I felt I needed to go with hardware that I knew would be supported and available for RMA for at least three years. I settled on the Intel D525MW mobo.  I had to do a workaround to make the network adapter work, but now I have integrated that module into my master install image, and it works great.  It was pretty easy to get an Intel reseller agreement, and I quickly earned "Gold" level partnership by just taking a bunch of certification tests.  The advantages are that I get good pricing on parts, Intel has pledged to support their current line for seven years.  Not to mention that Intel still does a majority of manufacturing in the US (except for the D525MW lol), and my conscience is clear that I am not feeding Chinese slavery.  I have a foxconn board running in one of my servers, and as soon as I can afford it, I plan to replace it and smash it with a hammer.  Another advantage is that if you don't think the Atom processor is robust enough for this application, low power versions of all the current line of quad core processors and boards featuring the 6 series chipset are available for embedded applications like this.  If you really want to get fancy, the Intel line of SSDs, while more expensive, can greatly reduce system failure, while at the same time, running way cooler and requiring less power.  I have several of these running very stable in production environments.  Of course, I'm sure you've already devised a plan to preconfigure the tower gear for deployment at volunteer locations, so hopefully, some of these tips will help make it easier for these volunteers to install and maintain. 

Just a few thoughts from a noob.

-Vegatyme-