[Powerstation-discuss] Internet Kiosks For Occupy

Mon Dec 5 21:11:52 UTC 2011

So, here's what I have been thinking.

These laptops run on 18v.  That sounds like 3 x 6V SLA batteries.  I have a
bulk source for these I am working with.  I am hoping to get 9, 6v, 12ah
batteries (3S3P, 648WH of power, or easily 20 hours of run time) for < $150
so I can get it paid for by the org.

What I can do is weld a Kiosk for 3 to 4 terminals.  Embed the devices
inside of this, stuff the batteries inside of this.  Stuff the application
server inside of this.  Wire the terminals to the application server
directly, put wifi on the application server (since it's handling the
browsing, no fancy routing or proxy needed.)  That way, the throughly
modern ITX system would be the only real intrusion vector.

Maybe we can put all of that on a bike trailer and it can be ridden to NB
everyday for a recharge.  Recharge, based on the chargers I have at my
disposal, might take up to 10 hours depending on the drain.

The kiosks, themselves, won't have a history.  All the history will be
stored on the application server, and we can Live USB that easily enough.

On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 12:50 PM, rachel lyra hospodar
<rachelyra at gmail.com>wrote:

> Re power- honestly the overall power needs of the camp far outstrip the
> ability of the bike to provide, and it is too chaotic for that to relly be
> gettin used much anyway. Can we comandeer the bike genny and dedicate it to
> this project?
>
> Re wifi- I have an ancient pcmcia wireless card if that helps
>
> Re packing away during raids- psh. Portable is good as camp movs and
> expands. I think having something to rally around and protect if a raid
> comes, rather than disassembling the camp for them, is better.
>
> mediumreality.com
> On Dec 5, 2011 12:20 PM, "Rubin Abdi" <rubin at starset.net> wrote:
>
>> More emails to catch up on while on a flight with no net.
>>
>> Corey McGuire wrote, On 2011-12-04 14:37:
>> > So, I've been working on turning some old, 486 laptops in to xterms for
>> > Occupy.  They are uniquely suited because they have detachable
>> keyboards,
>> > meaning the brains, peripherals, and cabling would all originate from
>> the
>> > "screen".  They also have two PS2 ports making for easy use with-in a
>> kiosk.
>>
>> I hate those machines. Glad someone's doing something with them, awesome.
>>
>> > The user experience, I would like to limit to a single "tabbed"
>> browser, or
>> > more accurately, a non tabbed browser limited to one window.  Who has
>> seen
>> > this?  What can we do, here?
>>
>> More or less did this for the touch panel netboot image. Have X just
>> dump into Firefox with a couple plugins preloaded...
>>
>> * Tab Mix Plus to force single window mode
>> * One of the kiosk plugins
>> ** Restrict tampering with settings
>> ** Force a home page, return to that page after an idle time out
>> ** Prevent exiting out of the browser (which'll make X barf)
>> * HTTPS Everywhere to force SSL on common sites (Gmail, Facebook, etc)
>> * One of the private browsing plugins, hopefully with a clear
>> history/cache button
>> * Something else to do a private browsing garbage collection after a set
>> idle
>>
>> > Networking...the eternal question.  I think wired locally so they are
>> hard
>> > to disrupt, but after that?  I don't know what you've got.
>>
>> Wifi there is pretty awesome, totally works when the Noisebridge
>> internet box has 12V power. Also it's less hardware to deal with, tho
>> these machines are fairly old right? Doubt they'll have any built in
>> 802.11bg.
>>
>> If you can feed your box 2 wifi cards, drop one into access point mode
>> and the other into client, that would be most optimal. Additionally you
>> can burn some money and buy one of those CLEAR Wimax USB dongles, use
>> that for internet access, all built into your server's box.
>>
>> > Installation...how and where?  I am thinking about getting a sheet of
>> > steel, plasma cutting some bezels, bending it in to shape, and throwing
>> a
>> > pad lock on it.  But that's just one idea.
>>
>> The main concern here is providing them with something that can be
>> package away easily and quickly due to raids. Sticking a bunch of these
>> machines together would kind of suck, or making theme extremely
>> klunky/heavy, etc.
>>
>> > security, what unobvious things should we think about?
>>
>> Software security:
>>
>> I wouldn't bother with encrypting anything on your X server as that
>> would problematic to debug later on and you would have to setup a key
>> within a partition that machine can hit. I would say create a bootable
>> live image, dump that onto a CF card as read only (USB drives tend to
>> walk away) and use that. If shit gets broken the machine can be rebooted.
>>
>> We can push all traffic through Tor but I honestly don't feel like
>> that'll be any helpful. Running HTTPS Everywhere is key.
>>
>> Care should be taken to wipe privacy data when the machine has figured
>> out that there's been an idle timeout (or even at 30 minute intervals
>> and have the users deal). Having the machines boot a live image that's
>> read only helps since all personal data quickly disintegrates after the
>> power is pulled.
>>
>> Physical security:
>>
>> Good luck with that.
>>
>> One major problem I would recommend attending to first before working on
>> anything else is power. There really isn't much of it there. Batteries
>> tend to run dry fast there while people are plugging in their cell
>> phones, other laptops, dead air wifi gear, lights, sewing machines. It
>> would also be in your best interest in looking how to power your stuff
>> directly from 12V DC instead of using a power inverter.
>>
>> It would be great if you didn't actually have to depend on occupy power
>> for any of this. What if you took your terminals and the server, a car
>> battery and a nice high gain antenna, strapped it all to a bike trailer
>> or Bikefaust/bike cart) and we pedaled the thing out there every night
>> for a bunch of hours. Hurm, writing another email about this.
>>
>> I'm kind of really strapped for time before the end of the year, but
>> what little of it I do have free and if you're around I wouldn't mind
>> hacking on some live boot stuff. This would be a good project to be very
>> public about, a simple live boot image that provides everything you need
>> to netboot other machines as internet terminals.
>>
>> Got a name for this?
>>
>> --
>> Rubin
>> rubin at starset.net
>>
>>
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>>
>>

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