Re: [silk] Internet access for senior citizen in special care facility
On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 12:11 PM, rene wrote: If i bought an off-the-shelf antenna how easy is it to hook it up with a standard dlink, linksys type wifi router ... ? Linksys Router (I only know the WRT54G series) have a somehow unique Antenna connector, it's called TNC-RP (stands for reverse polarity TNC). See an image at http://www.i-tec.it/catalog/images/rptnc.jpg (Most of other available routers have a SMA-RP connector, which is smaller.) Thanks for this and all the other advice... i have a working setup now similar to what is described above. Some issues related to legality are still pending from the local council authorities... but its a small town so shouldnt be a major problem. thanks ashok
Re: [silk] Internet access for senior citizen in special care facility
Hi Ashok, (yeah, I'm now on the list, a personal introduction will follow) ashok _ wrote: but most of the instructions seems to talk about homebrew antennas : http://www.instructables.com/id/WiFi-Directional-antenna-fix--from-Aluminium-can./ actually if you are able to work precise, (which is not that easy), than a selfbuild one is a good alternative. you know what you get, if you buy one you have usually no idea. If i bought an off-the-shelf antenna how easy is it to hook it up with a standard dlink, linksys type wifi router ... ? Linksys Router (I only know the WRT54G series) have a somehow unique Antenna connector, it's called TNC-RP (stands for reverse polarity TNC). See an image at http://www.i-tec.it/catalog/images/rptnc.jpg (Most of other available routers have a SMA-RP connector, which is smaller.) Regards, Rene
Re: [silk] Internet access for senior citizen in special care facility
On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 9:11 AM, rene [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi Ashok, (yeah, I'm now on the list, a personal introduction will follow) Hi Rene, wassup with the wi-fi group ? -- || vid ||
Re: [silk] Internet access for senior citizen in special care facility
On Wed, Feb 13, 2008 at 9:19 PM, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: Does this sound feasible ? Is there a better way of doing this ? What you've outlined seems unreliable without someone to support it, is there skilled help available? the senior citizen's son (no young man himself) lives in the house mentioned 250 metres from the facility... but he is not very clued up about fixing problems, though he is able to use a computer reasonably well... If the ADSL goes down he can call some technical personnel to fix it (as he uses it himself). A more reliable solution wouldn't use a PC or flaky connectivity. Inexpensive and reliable however don't seem to co-exist yet in the video conferencing world. Yeah :-( but they cost a lot and require specialized equipment at both ends... Anyone recommend a wifi signal booster that does the require range through old concrete and stone walls ?
Re: [silk] Internet access for senior citizen in special care facility
If you can buy an old WRT54G that can use DD-WRT firmware, signal can be boosted or two of them can be used for repeating forming a kind of mesh if u know someb ody who lives between the two places. I understand WRT54G-L can be used similarly. Tons of info about this on the Net. On 2/14/08, ashok _ [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Wed, Feb 13, 2008 at 9:19 PM, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: Does this sound feasible ? Is there a better way of doing this ? What you've outlined seems unreliable without someone to support it, is there skilled help available? the senior citizen's son (no young man himself) lives in the house mentioned 250 metres from the facility... but he is not very clued up about fixing problems, though he is able to use a computer reasonably well... If the ADSL goes down he can call some technical personnel to fix it (as he uses it himself). A more reliable solution wouldn't use a PC or flaky connectivity. Inexpensive and reliable however don't seem to co-exist yet in the video conferencing world. Yeah :-( but they cost a lot and require specialized equipment at both ends... Anyone recommend a wifi signal booster that does the require range through old concrete and stone walls ?
Re: [silk] Internet access for senior citizen in special care facility
On Thu, Feb 14, 2008 at 05:52:15PM +0530, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote: If they are just 250m apart, string Ethernet or something across the rooftops. Contact your local cablewallah, he can do that without too many Uh, no galvanic separation. This will fry your end points in no time. Might string a thick copper cable along with it, and pull the end points to the same ground. Won't do a damn thing for lighting, though. issues, knows the right cops to pay off etc. -- Eugen* Leitl a href=http://leitl.org;leitl/a http://leitl.org __ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE
Re: [silk] Internet access for senior citizen in special care facility
On Thu, Feb 14, 2008 at 3:22 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote: If they are just 250m apart, string Ethernet or something across the rooftops. Contact your local cablewallah, he can do that without too many issues, knows the right cops to pay off etc. this is in a European country so the regulations arent as malleable as they ought to be :-)
Re: [silk] Internet access for senior citizen in special care facility
On 14-Feb-08, at 5:51 PM, Venkat Mangudi's Silk Account wrote: If you can buy an old WRT54G that can use DD-WRT firmware, signal can be boosted or two of them can be used for repeating forming a kind of mesh if u know someb ody who lives between the two places. I understand WRT54G-L can be used similarly. Tons of info about this on the Net. Rene Ejury over at the Bangalore WiFi Mesh project (and CCed) has experience setting up mesh networks in Germany. Rene, you may want to start here for context: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/silk-list/message/24313
Re: [silk] Internet access for senior citizen in special care facility
Hi All, (not sure if I'm allowed to post to the list, so cc to Jace) the right way was mentioned, just get yourself a cheap but good directional Antenna. Forget everything about signal boosters, they are usually crap and will damage the signal and the whole spectrum more than they will help. Use a directional Antenne, this will boost the signal in the sending and the receiving direction and filter the noise which is around you, than 250m should be no problem at all. Regards, Rene PS: Waiting since 16ht of Jan 08 of administrator approval to follow this list, any chance for [EMAIL PROTECTED] ? Kiran Jonnalagadda wrote: On 14-Feb-08, at 5:51 PM, Venkat Mangudi's Silk Account wrote: If you can buy an old WRT54G that can use DD-WRT firmware, signal can be boosted or two of them can be used for repeating forming a kind of mesh if u know someb ody who lives between the two places. I understand WRT54G-L can be used similarly. Tons of info about this on the Net. Rene Ejury over at the Bangalore WiFi Mesh project (and CCed) has experience setting up mesh networks in Germany. Rene, you may want to start here for context: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/silk-list/message/24313
Re: [silk] Internet access for senior citizen in special care facility
On Thu, Feb 14, 2008 at 8:10 PM, rene wrote: the right way was mentioned, just get yourself a cheap but good directional Antenna. Forget everything about signal boosters, they are usually crap and will damage the signal and the whole spectrum more than they will help. Use a directional Antenne, this will boost the signal in the sending and the receiving direction and filter the noise which is around you, than 250m should be no problem at all. Okay, understood I found some info online http://www.radiolabs.com/Articles/wifi-antenna.html but most of the instructions seems to talk about homebrew antennas : http://www.instructables.com/id/WiFi-Directional-antenna-fix--from-Aluminium-can./ If i bought an off-the-shelf antenna how easy is it to hook it up with a standard dlink, linksys type wifi router ... ? thanks ashok So primarily I want a point-to-point kind of system with good signal strength, since the idea is to make skype/video available over the connection...
[silk] Internet access for senior citizen in special care facility
I have the following scenario : 1) A senior citizen with alzheimers who has been confined to a special care facility. 2) Senior citizen's residence is about 250 metres from the special care facility 3) The senior citizen has a part of her family living in the residence mentioned in (2), there are other parts of the family living in other countries. 4) The family living in other countries want to communicate on a daily basis with the senior citizen, preferably via video chat. So the idea is to provide an EEEpc or similar compact laptop for the senior citizen's room in the special care facility room. For internet access : ADSL is available at the house 250 metres away, so setting up a WiFi access point, with maybe a Wifi signal booster. This would then be accessible from the PC at the special care facility. Does this sound feasible ? Is there a better way of doing this ?
Re: [silk] Internet access for senior citizen in special care facility
On Feb 13, 2008 2:11 PM, ashok _ [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have the following scenario : [...] Does this sound feasible ? Is there a better way of doing this ? What you've outlined seems unreliable without someone to support it, is there skilled help available? A more reliable solution wouldn't use a PC or flaky connectivity. Inexpensive and reliable however don't seem to co-exist yet in the video conferencing world. All things considered, what you say seems most viable considering the conditions. Cheeni
Re: [silk] Internet access for senior citizen in special care facility
Srini Ramakrishnan [13/02/08 23:49 +0530]: On Feb 13, 2008 2:11 PM, ashok _ [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have the following scenario : [...] Does this sound feasible ? Is there a better way of doing this ? What you've outlined seems unreliable without someone to support it, is there skilled help available? Arun Mehta and Vickram Crishna over on india-gii are probably the leading experts in India on ICTs for disabled people (they developed some software for stephen hawking, not that its been used by prof hawking yet..) arun at holisticit dot com
Re: [silk] Internet access for senior citizen in special care facility
On Feb 14, 2008 1:59 AM, Suresh Ramasubramanian [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Srini Ramakrishnan [13/02/08 23:49 +0530]: Does this sound feasible ? Is there a better way of doing this ? Might work if one can ensure that it's always on, and connected. Perhaps, some remote management software to keep things running might be useful. One of the relatives here or abroad could be designated sysadmin. -- Krish Ashok Blog: krishashok.wordpress.com GTalk: krishashok www.stage.fm/krishashok
