Sneakernets: Bringing the Mountain to You

Sneakernets: Bringing the Mountain to You Sameer Verma, Ph.D. Professor Information Systems Department San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA 94132 USA http://verma.sfsu.edu [email_address] @sameerverma Seminar Department of Computing University of the West Indies, Jamaica Unless noted otherwise

Content Store Transport Use

sneakernet Walking data across buildings on a storage device from one computer to another. High bandwidth, high latency. “ The theoretical capacity of a Boeing 747 filled with Blu-Ray discs is 595,520,000 Gigabytes, resulting in a 245,829 Gbit/s flight from New York to Los Angeles.” – Wikipedia

~ 70% http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

Internet Access http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Internet_Penetration.png

Can information flow like water? http://ltse.env.duke.edu/files/ltse/images/India%20Persian%20wheel%20irrigation%20Ganges%20Plain.jpg

A water “battery”. Can we build information batteries?

Viva La Revolución Can we spark a paradigm shift by providing equitable access to information all over the world?

Somebody is finally thinking of the children! To create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning. — OLPC Mission Statement, It's an education project, not a laptop project. — Nicholas Negroponte

in the beginning...

ooh! laptop! (July 2007)

Give 1 Get 1 – Nov 2007

Next thing I know... De facto founder of OLPC San Francisco http://olpcsf.org

Then I run into this guy... Click here to learn more...

Next thing I know... De facto founder of OLPC Jamaica! http://olpcjamaica.org.jm

A tremendous “Thank you!” to the UWI community for making this happen. http://olpcjamaica.org.jm Providence Basic School, Kingston, Jamaica August Town Primary School, August Town, Jamaica

Mission OLPC's mission is to empower the world's poorest children through education We aim to provide each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop. To this end, we have designed hardware, content and software for collaborative, joyful, and self-empowered learning. With access to this type of tool, children are engaged in their own education, and learn, share, and create together. They become connected to each other, to the world and to a brighter future.

Worldwide 40+ countries, 30+ languages, 2.2+ million laptops, 350+ applications

Where no computers have gone before...

School Galadima, Abuja City, Nigeria See http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Galadima

Samkha village located in the suburbs of northern Thailand See http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Thailand/Ban_Samkha

Khairat school is India's pilot site. See http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_India

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Ulaanbaatar

Ethopia http://www.reactivated.net/weblog/archives/2008/10/olpc-ethiopia-updates/

Ghana http://www.flickr.com/photos/olpc/2921143251/

Cameroon http://www.flickr.com/photos/olpc/3110907018/in/set-72157611290673682/

Afghanistan refugee camp, Pakistan http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Pakistan/Atlas_School

Colombia http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Colombia

Peru http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Peru

Rwanda http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Rwanda

Iraq http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Iraq

Haiti http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Haiti

Solomon Islands http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Solomon_Islands

Nepal http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Nepal

Uruguay: Every primary school child has an XO. http://olpc-ceibal.blogspot.com/

postage stamps too!

2.2 million XO laptops and counting See Google Maps Deployments worldwide Also see: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Property:Number_of_manufactured_laptops

Learn more... http://laptop.org

XS: OLPC School Server The Internet in a Box (unsung hero too!)

What does the XS look like? Fantasy View

What does the XS look like? Reality View http://www.flickr.com/photos/popcorncx/149706221/

What does the XS look like?
Any x86 box with requisite memory, crunch and storage can be the XS.
It could also be a ARM machine in the near future...
Ideally, we want a machine that
Consumes very little power
Has the necessary crunch
Portable
Pocketable, even?
Very forgiving for power brownouts, heat, dust, etc.
Kinda like the XO.

Services that the XS runs
Networking
DNS
DHCP
NAT/Masquerading
Bridging
Identity management
Seamless XO login
Single One Time Password (SOTP) on server
Activation
Theft deterrence

Services that the XS runs
Collaboration
XMPP via ejabberd
Storage
Files and attachments for courses
Backup files
Other media
Backup
Journal/Datastore backup
XO Software updates
Push updates including firmware and OS images
Activity server
Pushing activity bundles

Networking
Provides networking infrastructure for the school.
Acts as an Internet gateway (if backhaul exists)
Includes HTTP proxy (optional)
Content filter (optional)
Supports Wi-Fi:
Ad-Hoc
Mesh (IEEE 802.11s draft)
Infrastructure (Access Point)

Identity management
Single One Time Passwords (SOTP) for maintenance.
Remote ISP maintenance, etc.
OLPC XO Browse
authenticates seamlessly with Moodle
Moodle talks to ejabberd for permissions, etc.
First XO to access Moodle
This XO becomes admin.
This XO can assign other teachers, course creators, and other such roles

Collaboration
XMPP-based collaboration via ejabberd.
Ejabberd is a XMPP (jabber) server written in erlang.
Uses gabble mode under telepathy in Sugar.
Gabble allows for server-based collaboration
XOs switch to salut mode in case no XS is found.
Salut allows for peer-to-peer collaboration
Activities such as Chat, Write, Memorize use XMPP to collaborate.
http://xmpp.org/ http://collabora.co.uk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepathy_software

Storage
Much of the storage lives in /library partition.
Mount /library on external USB disk or other media and expand storage.
Run rest of the system off a CF or SD card (solid state)
Files can be served as
links via Moodle
links via Apache (add Apache config)

Backup
Three processes:
Traffic control
provides basic "traffic control" to manage load.
Backup-complete script
Creates links for latest snapshot.
Daily cleanup
enforces a per-user "soft" quota.

Updates
Pushing updates to OS image and firmware via rsync.

Layout (Access Points)

Hardware vs Load Benjamin Tran's Master's thesis : jmeter to load and and nmon to record the load

Hardware recommendations
Schools with less than 40 laptops:
use XS-on-XO: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS-on-XO
Requires a SD card (4GB, preferably class 6)
External USB hard drive (may need own power)
USB-Ethernet for backhaul.

Fit PC and Fit PC2
Fit PC works well and is comparable to the XO-1 in performance.
More configurable than the XO-1.
Replace a SSD in the FitPC to make it cooler and more power efficient.
http://www.fit-pc.com/fit-pc1/
Fit PC2 has heat problems.
Intel Atom runs too hot
Surprise, surprise.
Maybe glue on a large heat sink?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ndevil/3535934684/

Schools with up to 100 laptops:
1GHz CPU, 1GB RAM,
at least 2GB disk storage per laptop.
Something in the mini ITX form-factor works well.
Fanless units are better

For up to 500 laptops:
dual-core 2GHz CPU
2 to 4GB RAM
This type of a machine usually works in environments with good power resources.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/popcorncx/149706221/

More than 500 laptops
Server-class dual CPU
4 to 16GB RAM
Data center hosting is also an option.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamisonjudd/2433102356/

School Server

Screenshots XS Moodle Screen Shots

Main page

Front page settings

Front page roles

List of users

Roles and permissions

Presence service

Antitheft controls

Add a course

Site files

Question bank

A zip file, which includes content and structure for the entire course! Moving courses ...deploy in Madagascar! Create in San Francisco...

XS: Internet in a box No Internet? No power? No problem :-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLPC_XS http://wiki.laptop.org/go/School_server

Pathagar: A Book Server Open Publication Distribution System Pathagar : Path + Agar पाठागार : पाठ + आगार A Practical Hindi-English Dictionary http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/caturvedi/

Problem: Dissemination of Media in remote places
Books
Portable Document Format (PDF)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pdf
Electronic Publication format (ePub)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB
Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html
All digital “media” are a collection of bits. So we can also disseminate
Music
Video
Images

Internet Access http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Internet_Penetration.png

How do we get books to here ?

OPDS: Open Publication and Distribution System
OPDS Specification
The Open Publication Distribution System (OPDS) Catalog is a syndication format for electronic publications based on Atom RFC4287 and HTTP RFC2616.
Catalogs enable the aggregation, distribution, discovery, and acquisition of electronic publications.
OPDS Catalogs use existing or emergent open standards and conventions, with a priority on simplicity.
http://code.google.com/p/openpub

Book Server
Book Server = OPDS Server
Repository
Add books, along with title, author, language, description, etc.
Serve
Atom-based OPDS feed (XML)
HTTP-based web pages that allow searching, listing, download, etc.

Pathagar (पाठागार)
Written in Python
Requires python-django as a framework
Creates a website for managing and accessing books
Allows you to add books + metadata on books
Catalog allows for listing
Search feature
OPDS Feed, which is Atom (XML) based.
Books are served books via HTTP to:
Browsers
Get Books activity
Written by Sayamindu Dasgupta http://sayamindu.randomink.org Get it at http://github.com/sayamindu/pathagar

Accessing Pathagar from Sugar
Get Books Activity
http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4194
Browse Activity
http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4024

Bookserver vs Schoolserver
Schoolserver
Course-based taxonomy (School)
Courses, teachers, students, assignments, assessment
Based on Moodle
Bookserver
Catalog-based model (Library)
Books, catalog, searches, description.
Based on OPDS

Catalog

Add a book

OPDS feed

OPDS feed – source view

Get Books Activity

Pick a repository

Searching for Gulliver

Found Gulliver

Get Book

Downloading Gulliver's Travels

Pathagar
Work in progress
Fits deployment models where a curriculum isn't a central theme
Library or media access center approach
Easy to replicate and scale/federate

Pathagar OPDS Book Server Get it at http://github.com/sayamindu/pathagar Pathagar : Path + Agar पाठागार : पाठ + आगार

Some day this part will be fast and cheap Until then, we sneakernet it!

Slides made with the “free stuff” http://libreoffice.org

Sneakernets: Bringing the Mountain to You

by Sameer Verma

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