a short history of ambient.wireless / stage 1

 

Ambient is delighted to announce that, after much brrr-ing and zzzt-ing, the first phase of development of the Ada building (Regent Studios) wireless node is complete. Huge thanks to Darron Broad, Tenyen and Vortex; also, thank you all those who donated scrap computers ‹ these have now been recycled into routers, gates, and heaters for the wireless broadband network that is even now radiating harmony over the roofs of the East End.

Favourite boxes of the moment:

* "PANTS": ftp and streaming audio server
* "GASWORKS": gate from free2air.org
* "LTDEPOT": consume router for bandwidth distribution
* "BOGUS": network admin box & audio encoder

 

…> 07.1998 information about the "DIY potential" of wireless networks brought to us by Oskar[silverserver.co.at], who attends Art Servers Unlimited 1 in London.

…>11.2001 Architectural Association hosts workshop on wireless networks. Manu and Ilze filmed the construction of a directional antenna and the set-up of an omni-directional antenna on the roof of the AA. video clips are accesible on the antennaa-site.
Manu summarized the proceeding in a German language radio programme for MATRIX (O¨1 Austria).

…> 11.11. 2001 ­ The very first meeting between ambientTV.NET and wireless network experts Vortex, Kim Hawtin, Alex Blinov, Gio D¹Angelo. The Intention is to set up a wireless network node in order to share/distribute the access to ADSL available at Ambient Shacklewell Lane studio.

…> 23.11.2001 Darron Broad joins AmbientTV.NET as wireless network developer on the occasion of TELEJAM 02/FRO 03

…> Dec 2001 ­ AmbientTV. NET moves to new premises in London Fields. Consequently, we lose the ADSL connection. The new location on the top floor of Regent Studios allows us to access the internet via the nearby free2air access point ­ if laptops are equipped with wireless cards and placed on the window sill.

…> Ambient emails out a call for Œoutsourced¹ PCs. A couple of institutions reply and offer equipment they had written off. We manage to collect about 30 Pentiums, which will now see an after-life as network routers.

…> 25.01.2002 ­ router ³GASWORKS² is set up to route the data between ambienttv.net and free2air.org; developers: Darron Broad and Tenyen

…> 20.02.2002 ­ Issues around the network compatibility of consume.net and free2air.org have to be solved. The launch of ambients wireless sub-network was made possible with the installation of PC ³LTDepot², which serves as the consume router for bandwidth distribution.

…> 16/17.02.2002 ­ In order to stabilize the connection between free2air.org and ambient.wireless the set-up of a directional antenna is planned. We produce this antenna during the 1. Wireless Antenna workshop, where a group of interested people from other diverse East End locations join in. 7 directional antennas are produced and 3 new designs discussed

…> 10.03.2002 ­ functional ambient.wireless node configuration is announced on consume.net data base

…> 12.03.2002 ­ By the beginning of March, 8 units in the Regents Studio building are accessing the internet through ambient.wireless and free2air.org. One night the network breaks down due to a faulty peer2peer client, used in one of the studios. This triggers discussion about the necessity to use bandwidth economically since it is a shared infrastructure, and secondly to establish a server to make data accessible on the London wireless ³intranet²

…> 18.03.2002 ­ PC ³Bogus² is set up to administrate ³Gasworks², ³LTDepot² and ³Pants², as well as to encode audio [sound card installed]

…> 23.03.2002 - META4 concert at ambient space is our first live event streamed over the wireless-network-only server ³Pants². birth of ambient.radio on the wireless East End Net

…> 29.03.2002 ­ 2nd Wireless Antenna workshop is set up to discover the signal properties of DIY Omni Antenna constructed during the first workshop as well as to install point2point directional antennas between the ambientTV.NET and Raylab in Kingsland Rd. Unfortunately the signal strength of the DIY A2.4Ghz Vertical Collinear Antenna for 802.11 is too weak for its intended purpose.

…> 04.04.2002 ­ stage1 of ambientTV.NET wireless network project is completeŠ and featured in Surfing as free as a cloud. by Sean Dobson. in Guardian Online [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4436681,00.html]

…> 17.05.2002 - the network address translation on Gasworks is switched off in order to open up the visibility between free2air.org and other EEN users.

 

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>>index ambient.wireless

[Darron & Tenyen]