http://flakey.info Technical articles on wireless, satellite, free software and other tech-related things. Everything you needed to know about, but were afraid to ask. en-gb Copyright 2002-2005 Psand Ltd. Release under GDL. Psand.net articles@flakey.info Technology, free software, mobile Internet, wireless and other articles 2005-06-07T06:00+00:00 daily 1 1970-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://flakey.info/flakeylogo.png http://flakey.info http://flakey.info/hesfes05/ In May 2005, Bristol Wireless and Psand.net ran a 20-terminal suite of open access computers all running Linux and LTSP software at the Hes Fes home education festival in Dorset, UK. This is an article describing the set-up and our experiences. http://flakey.info/finance/eurovat/ If you're selling goods to other European Union states and would like to know how VAT (Value Added Tax) works and how to prepare your invoices, then this article will help. Is written from a United Kingdom perspective, but should apply to any of the 25 European Union member countries. http://flakey.info/antenna/omni/quarter/ Step-by-step instructions on how to build your own quarter-wave omni-directional antenna for 2.4GHz / 802.11b / WiFi / WLAN networks. This is a great little home-brew antenna, fondly known by all as the "spider omni". http://flakey.info/biab/ Using a durable plastic box for outside mounting and Power-over-Ethernet, this article describes how one might overcome the problems of mounting ones access point in the rain. http://flakey.info/antenna/waveguide/ Step by step instructions on how to construct your own "cantenna" antenna for 802.11b/g WiFi/WLAN networks. Includes diagrams, full list of materials, JavaScript calculators for working out construction and results. http://flakey.info/antenna/biquad/ Step by step instructions on how to construct your own biquad sector antenna for 802.11b/g WiFi/LAN/2.4GHz networks. Includes diagrams and full list of materials, tips and results. http://flakey.info/airport/ So you have an Apple Airport base station but you need to get your signal further afield? This article provides step-by-step instructions on how to dismantle your Aiport or Airport Extreme and attach an external pig-tail connector to it for adding your own home-brew antennae too. http://flakey.info/plinth/ Details of a project to build a 2U rack-mountable web and DNS cacheing and proxy server using Debian Linux and built upon the Mini-ITX form factor motherboards. Includes details for constructing power-coverters to run on low-power and battery back-up. http://flakey.info/pricing This page contains part numbers on prices for the components you'll need to build your own home-brew antennae. http://flakey.info/wirelesstools/ Lots of handy on-line utilities for calculating free space loss, ranges at 2.4GHz, effective radiated power and fade or system operating margin. There's also conversion tools to go from dBm to mW, inches to milimetres, etc. http://flakey.info/mailserver/ In-depth article on putting together a modern mail server from scratch on Debian GNU/Linux. The set-up uses MySQL for its back-end with Exim as the MTA and Cyrus-IMAP as the MDA, both of which authenticate against MySQL. It explains how to set-up SASL and TLS as well as a complete installation of IMP for providing web mail services. http://radiovague.com/listen.xhtml Help on how to connect to Icecast, Icecast2, Quick Time and Ffmpeg streams from UNIX, Mac and Windows platforms. http://psand.net/itrike/ iTrike: Solar powered Internet rickshaw http://psand.net/green/ Solar powered satellite Internet http://psand.net/chill/ Media streaming over wireless and satellite http://psand.net/clan/ How to start a community wireless project http://psand.net/coac/ Multisensorial transmissions between Barcelona and Venice http://psand.net/watershed/ Wireless bridge over the river Frome http://flakey.info/pedal_to_metal/ How do you get people to stay on the cycle generators to power the Internet terminals at an eco-friendly event? This article should shed some light on the problem. http://flakey.info/fadaiat/ 802.11b wireless link across the Strait of Gibraltar