Shared Community WiFi Networking Blog From A Toronto Co-op ISP

Monday, July 31, 2006

Wanted Immediately: Web Developer for Contract Work on WiFi Sharing Software

Wanted Immediately: Web Developer for Contract Work on WiFi Sharing Software

Who: Wireless Nomad ISP Co-Op and the Community Wireless Internet Research Project (CWIRP).
What: Develop a Web-based control panel for WiFi mesh (OLSR) connection sharing
When: Application deadline Wednesday, August 9, 2006, 8 p.m. EST; work to be completed during August and September of 2006.
Where: Preferably Toronto, Canada; will consider other candidates
Why: To help bridge the digital divide, make Internet access affordable, and put users in control of their Internet connections.
How Much: Contractor will receive $2500.00 CDN upon successful completion of project.


SEND APPLICATIONS BY 8PM, AUG 9 TO: damien-at-wirelessnomad-dot-com


Project Background:
Wireless Nomad, a user-owned ISP sharing connections with WiFi mesh + WiFi LANs, has received funding from the Community Wireless Internet Research Project to develop a user-friendly mesh Connection Sharing Kit. The CSK will enable users to reliably share connections without wires, within buildings, between neighbours, and across public spaces.

This project is a chance to be involved with developing part of a system helping users control their Internet connections and their online communications -- if you care about open source software and a free Internet, this is your chance to really make a difference. Easy mesh network configuration could cut the cost of Internet access in half, really improving access to online resources. All code developed by this project will be licensed under the GPL.


Task:
Design a web interface/control panel for the OLSR wireless mesh software to run on OpenWRT.


Required Skills:

Must have:
Previous web development experience
Experience with Linux
Familiarity with awk
Familiarity with shell scripts
Understanding of wireless networking

Nice to have:
Previous experience with OpenWRT
Previous expereince with haserl cgi wrapper
Understanding of mesh networking with OLSR

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Awesome Local Computer Shop


If you're looking for a used computer you probably can't do much better than Byte Me Computers, Toronto's only non-profit computer shop.

The friendly and knowledgeable staff (for affordable repairs, ask for Ivan!) sell complete systems, parts, and do repairs, all at great prices and with all the profits going to support ReBoot computers, a non-profit that has refurbished more than 60,000 computers and donated them to schools, charities, and community groups across the country.

Most of the computers are PCs, able to run Windows and Linux, but they also get a decent number of Macs in as well (I just picked up a PowerBook G3 a couple of weeks ago, it's amazing how much computers you can get for $125 these days).

Byte Me Computers
136 Geary Ave, Toronto
416-534-8473




byteme-computers.com