Hesfes 2005

Hesfes link

This is a list of links recommended by the users of the ltsp setup at hesfes in Chalmouth Dorset 14 May 05.

• Multi-player game runescape
• Bulletin board albinoblacksheep
• Name generator cyborg name
• Humorous pictures funnyjunk
• Source of computer graphics weebl and bob
• Encyclopedia on the web wikipedia
• Open source art site deviantart
• Games news games workshop
• BBC site for young adults bbc teens
• Artificial intelligence girland
• Mobile games source global fun
• German lyrics site lyricsworld
• Web animation yogyog

Writeup

Hesfes 14 May 2005

Bristol Wireless, in collaboration with Psand, set up a satellite internet connection with a site-wide wireless network topped off with a twenty terminal, laptop based, LTSP suite in a field at the hesfes (The Home Educators' Seaside Festival).

The internet tent was a great success; our clients were mainly kids who queued patiently and then stampeded the moment the door opened. Main activities were runescape, hotmail, yahoo, checking webstats on their websites and - remarkably - the local chat client (twenty kids in a room saying nothing but chatting to the person literally sat next to them through the chat window).

The Pentium1 client laptops performed far better than we expected; every client booted and ran with very few hiccups. The only technical issues were the occasional unplugging of a network lead or an accidental pressing the off button.

We were open for about 5 hours a day and about 150 people a day came through. The tent operated more like a cyber creche than a cafe because the vast majority were kids. On Wednesday afternoon Psand delivered a satellite VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) conference to other home educators around Europe so we cut internet access during that time. We also had a network gaming session. Some people were playing interactively and others on their own. Interestingly, we attracted a few adults to the gaming too. The suite was full and functioned really well.

Due to the popularity, we set up a table for email, what's on guides and public transport times; this helped enable a faster turnover. At the end of the session when we shut down the thin clients remotely, there was a groan of despondence from the users. Some kind of time restriction is required; after such a time users would be required to rejoin the queue to continue.

Psand has taken lots of pictures and video that we will be editing and distributing. The footage includes a 40-minute interview with the kids that really catches the atmosphere. Psand's Hesfes05 photo gallery.

A write up of the more technical aspects of implementation is being prepared in collaboration with Psand and will be available at flakey.info soon.