TomHiggins - Personal Telco Project

Tom Higgins and Family

tom at personaltelco.net
owner operator of NodeWSMF

PTP Related Files Created

PTP Projects

* Jun 09 - Far from being under served the hood seems to have plenty of home nodes...all closed. The one open node , NodeWSMF , was quickly shut down from hyper enthusiastic torrenting. Reassessing projects for this hood and in the Portland area in general. Mischief needs to be afoot.

* Mar 08 - Moved back to Portland. SE 92nd and Duke this time in a big old (1890) house with three (3) chimneys This hood is way way way under-served, it needs the PTP luvin.

* Jul 07 - Since Caleb has moved on to high degrees of learning I am once again taking on Director Of Education..and Outreach it seems though I am not so sure i am the right person for that last part. I will make a go at it and see if I can be the best person for that dual title. They are closely related as Education without Outreach is going to make echoes in empty rooms. All help is not only appreciated but needed.

Education event, How To Better Use Wireless Networks

* Jun 07 - Time slides around and perhaps some can be used for things PTP. what?

* Jan 07 - Annual "Remembered I had this page, should be used more often." entry. Given that I am a stay at home dad with two kids its sometimes a wonder I remember things that are not about diapers, phonics or Bob The Builder, who by the way would make a great addition to the NOT as he has the coolest damned tools..they talk and no lsd is required. The group seems to be going thru a cyclitic rumbling, maybe I will think of something useful to do.

* Nov 06 - For reasons beyond the scope of this page or reason I have moved to Vancouver WA. Comcrap is the only option for connectivity so node236is in mothballs until I build a local content node or find a legal way to share under comcast.

* Jun 06 - Official handover of the Director of Education to CalebPhillips . Will help out when I can but life pulls the priorities.

* Feb - March 06 - Working with JasonMcArthur and AaronBaer to learn about and help with the ArborLodge mesh/network. This could well be the very thing ThePlan speaks to. OLSR is working out well. RoofNet was tried at first but ditched due to its inability for clients off aps to see each other.

* Feb 06 - Things need doing. CalebPhillips and RussellSenior, amongst others, have been kicking ass and taking names. Their action is reawakening some of the goals I have not reached in the group. Time Time Time... Top on the hit list ... PTPUdvd MeshNodes ZeroConf and other autodiscovery methods. AS always PTPEvangalism.

* Jan 06 - Remembered I had this page, should be used more often.

* Jan 05 - Helped with the installation of Node674 . PtpPodcasting idea, basically record the monthly and various folks before and after the meeting, maybe during hacknights as well, to put out for folks to listen to. Spreading the ptpmeme and all that.

* Dec 04 - No Monthly, No Newletter. Hacknights, a few but less because of holidays.

* Nov 04 - Got laid off, missed the monthly, the Newletter got out though thanks to BrianC. Can ya tell I wrote this entry 2 months after the fact?

*Oct 04 Education Month includes the restart of weekly HackNights , the EwrtShop , PlaydateSeven and The joint DC503/PTP workshop . Announcement of November Is Network month.

* Sept 04 - Planning for October is Education Month

* Aug 04 - FreeGeek donated 50 PCs for PTP use. 25 were hauled to the BatCave for assembly and workout.

* July 04 - The OpenSource Con (OSCON) was a smash hit. Lots of folks came by the booth to support what we do, many more to learn what it is we do and why. Picutres and movies of the event await your viewing. PlayDaySix went off better than I planned. The users took the flow and it became more of what they needed and less of the glitzy PTP showcase I had planned. folks walked away educated, and that was the goal. From it the screaming need to do more enduser focused playdates is obvious, so more will be planned. The slideshow was well liked and helped me keep on topic.

* June 04 - The Hawthorne hostel gets its planned make over turning this into a obernode splattering wifi goodness for blocks around. All the fun was captured for latter amusement. The World Wide War Drive 4 was engage by three PTPers. I came in 92nd while Musashi placed 6th and Jason 20th.

* May 04 - Switching gears, moved from SE Area Captain to Director of Education. Playdates, lit, learning.

* April 04 - The EarthDay PTP booth was fun though we needed our much missed BigBanner. Folks who did stop by the booth either knew of us or walked away wanting to know us better. Its always good to see the folks who are our day in day out users.

* March 04 - More fun with working up a more generic QC card that says who we are, how to connect and where to go for more information. Not wanting to overload the reader its a good thing to get them connected, read a little about the PTP and then give them the url to find out more on their own pace. The InstallFestMarch2004 was a nice low key sort of thing that helped not only get some press done up but helped get more knowing into my head on all manner of issues. More of these are going to be key to keeping the group growing. The Innotech Trades show was another chance to get our name and mission out to the corporate culture as well as convention hardened isle walkers.

* February 04 - More nodes than you can shake a stick at. Worked thru getting Node573 at the Red and Black Cafe a real thing. The backstory on this node gets all hot and heavy with community politics and real honest to goodness grassrootsisms. The area of Division this cafe is on is a hot spot of community projects so of course some one thinks a Starbucks would be just the thing to put in. Yea, nice planning. So the idea hits me and several other folks that a free wireless cafe there would be just the ticket to show folks what the alternatives are to 4$ mochcrapochinos and pay/hour net access. Red and Black is a lynch pin of sorts for many of the grassroots activities in the area, it was a real natural fit. We made some good links with FreeGeek's Richard who is the Red and Blacks Tech person. Along the way I picked up more learning on how wireless works, the best practices for the network so we can someday string em together and some hands on installation experience. Some rough spots with interpersonalfu but nothing calm heads cant route around.

* January 04 - InstallFestWinter2004 went off great even with a decades worst snowstorm a few days before. 15 or so NewCloneArmyBox es are humming now. New Year, New roles and so it is that I find myself the Captian of the South East area of Portland. CapitalFund drive is one and as part of the leadership crew I'm putting the mola where the talk is..PTP is a great thing that deserves support. More NuCab fun as the new nodes keep popping up across Portland. The rate of new nodes is amazing.

* December 03 - Busy month..the PTP scored a major haul of gear from CTI..added to the NuCAB boxes there is an impressive amount of resources to build the PTPnet up with. Of the NuCabs Keegan is perfecting an install method by which folks will be able to get a NuCab up and part of the PTPnet with out much fuss. InstallFestWinter2004 has been scheduled to do some of that installation and education. The WeeklyMeetings are picking back up and lots of stuff is swirling from them. I purchased a wrt54g and am learning all the fun that can be had with it. It really does look like a simple solution to setting up some types of nodes, being on the edge though means stability is still a feature in the works.

* Novemeber 03 - Maps maps maps . I have started using Radio Mobile to create theoretical coverage maps of the PTPs spread across Portland. As I get more data about other PTP the more detailed and inclusive the maps will become. Its my hope to have coverage maps for the next monthly meeting.The only thing stopping me is data. If you can fill in the blanks either head to the datasheet or email me.

* October 03 - Enter the NewCloneArmyBox . From the 90 dontaed PCs to a fleet of ready nocat sporting PTPnet nodes these boxes are on the path to usefullness. NewCloneArmyInstallMethodology. Nearly 1 year after buying a new house, getting the gear and starting down the road to learning of community networking from the masters of the PTP I think Node236 is ready for prime time use. InstallfestFall2003. A gathering of folks wanting to build PTP nodes and others willing to help them do it. Images of the day can be found on theNode236 Gallery Pages

* August 03 - The first PTProactivism Lunchbreak..hand out flyers to the populace around the PSCarea and educate justplainfolks about the PTP and hte wifi services they are walking through.

* May 03 - Short intro to BootableOS such as Knoppix at PlayDayFour.

* April 03 - FundRaising ideas for PTP. Simple grassroots ideas for raising the nickles and dimes that could build up to cashito to grow the network.

* March 03 - NewbieWorkshop03 was a hoot. The house was full of gears and good times. The back deck finaly got some good use.

* Februrary 03 - NewbieWorkshop02 went off amazingly well. 5+ hours of tech, wireless and getting to know each other. Grassroots all the way. Check out the link for some pictures.

* January 03 - NewbieWorkshop01 (yes this means there will be others). The outcome, a group of folks got to know one another and help each other out with wireless tech and other needed to know info. Read NewbieWorkshop01 for all the deatials

* December 02 - QuarterlyZine time, wifi style. PTP has enough action packed stuff going on to not only warrant a zine, it will be a great way to show off other talents as well. WarStrollering -The act of searching for hotspots via a wifi rig mounted,howerver flimsily, atop an infant stroller. Great for nieghborhood walk about, nights out on the town with the family and as yet another excuse to go out with the younguns.

Examples can be viewed in the PTP Gallery

* Novemeber 02 - Node236 - The WSMF Compound

Having found ptp about a month or two ago I have spent much of that time reading up on the particulars and moving into my new house. The new house has, of course, a new roof from which many of the ideas I have read up on will be put to use.

(the following was written in novemeber 02) Some of the things I find most interesting about wireless community networks so far...

Network clouds - The idea of a mesh or cloud type network seems to be the best fit for forming community networks. They allow growth from small beginings and scale up nicely.
Internet independence - Not everything need go thru, on or into the internet. I think community networkclouds can, and should, be used to house lots of the infromation and resources folks are currently paying usage fees to get to or to make avialble.
Clouds merging with clouds - Connecting the various community networks togther , at first over the internet and over time thru non internet connectivity, seems the best way to utilize the power of localized netowrking over a global scale
Using gnutella / freenet over the clouds - These apps have proved themselves viable methods to both offer up and retrieve items across a dynamic network structure. Its a damn near perfect fit for the clouds.

PTP activities I have stuck my nose in: