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Burning Man Goes Open Source For Cell Phones

Posted by Soulskill on from the new-meaning-to-the-term-hot-spot dept.

coondoggie passes along this excerpt from Network World: "Today I bring you a story that has it all: a solar-powered, low-cost, open source cellular network that's revolutionizing coverage in underprivileged and off-grid spots. It uses VoIP yet works with existing cell phones. It has pedigreed founders. Best of all, it is part of the sex, drugs and art collectively known as Burning Man. ... The technology starts with the 'they-said-it-couldn't-be-done' open source software, OpenBTS. OpenBTS is built on Linux and distributed via the AGPLv3 license. When used with a software-defined radio such as the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP), it presents a GSM air interface ("Um") to any standard GSM cell phone, with no modification whatsoever required of the phone. It uses open source Asterisk VoIP software as the PBX to connect calls, though it can be used with other soft switches, too. ... This is the third year its founders have decided to trial-by-fire the system by offering free cell phone service to the 50,000-ish attendees at Burning Man, which begins today in Black Rock City, Nevada. "

7 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. Bummer by joebok · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I haven't been to Burning Man in a few years, but when I did go it was nice to get away from it all. I suppose I could choose to not use/bring my cell phone - but if other people are still tethered to the ordinary world...? Well - bummer!

    1. Re:Bummer by Radres · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, if this project does what it says, there won't be any place left in the world where you won't be tethered to the grid.

  2. Re:I may have read that one wrong by bertoelcon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There's certainly a lot of overlap between the techie crowd and the hippie crowd. Steve Jobs, for example, experimented with LSD.

    Jobs never has been been really a techie though, he is more of a hipster businessman.

    --
    Anything can be found funny, from a certain point of view.
  3. Re:watch out for cops by TheRaven64 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I fear the burning man festival may soon flame out, or at best, morph into an anemic lame-o semblance of it's former self

    I think I've been hearing that it's already done that from people who have attended it every year in the last decade. People were probably saying the same thing before then, I just wasn't paying attention.

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  4. Burning Man: Disneyland for Marketing Suits by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Burning Man had its brief, shining moment, but when was that...? Circa mid-90's? Now it's a staged pseudo-event the very promotion of which cuts against the grain of what it was supposed to be. I see the jowly middle-aged Marketing Suits queuing up for their Burning Man tickets and I am reminded of the giddy tourists in and around Woodstock, NY paying $25 for a tie-dyed peace-sign T-shirt.

  5. Re:Wait. by stephanruby · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Couldn't they just have said it Slashdot style? The people being photographed at Burning Man own the copyright of their own image. And please, since we can not determine who is sober and who is not during the event, for any non-personal publication of those photographs, do not make anyone sign any model release form until well after the event has ended. Get their email address, or contact information instead.

  6. Re:I may have read that one wrong by node+3 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not a techie? He worked as a technician for Atari, and worked on the design for the motherboard for Breakout. You also don't successfully manage a technology company like Apple without having a grasp of technology.

    Of course, Woz was far more adept at hardware, which brings a lot of people to make the claim that Jobs is just a businessman.