Report for last night's workshop:
The wrestle with Breezy Badger's hostAP wifi networking, which worked
somewhat erratically (novice hands, apparent dhcp & firewall conflict,
dropped route) was finally overcome by the timely arrival of the Ubuntu
Dapper Drake release. We got the network up, firewall-managed and
robust, on a Compaq* *Presario 2566AP laptop platform.
In the Sydenham situation, solid control of a cardbus modem is the
bedrock of connectivity (until we achieve still more with wireless), and
the 'nearest' distros for the total range of functions required - that
were considered within our skillset - were FreeBSD 6.x and Voyage Debian
3.1.
We had six wifi-enabled systems connected to the host box: five
GNU/Linux and one BSD(?). A further BSD reinstallation was completed in
this time. One complete Dapper Drake upgrade was done, with two more
commenced. A good time was had by all, with overhead costs met.
Inspiration has resulted: for the next workshop, envisage a 'Wireless
Round Table' conference mode with X-switching to projected screen
through the host. Everyone would have the chance to present $WHATEVER
for five or ten minutes each, towards Saturday 16 September Software
Freedom Day <http://www.softwarefreedomday.org> and *nix education
generally.
The venue hunt is on.
Regards, and thanks for all the assistance I have had in and around CLUG,
--
Rik Tindall, SFD Chch team leader
