Tag: Community

GSoC 2011: Videochat for Diaspora with Vittorio

Posted on by Mario Behling

I’m writing about the results achieved with my Google Summer of Code project, for the Ninux community, under the umbrella of Freifunk (I thank them both for the opportunity they gave me).

Briefly it consisted in developing a video chat feature for Diaspora*, a distributed social network.

This project has received a very big feedback and appreciations from the entire Diaspora community, including the core team, who helped and supported me during the development.

Basically, it provides two new functionalities to the Diaspora engine:

  • Textual chat, based on XMPP signaling protocol
  • Video chat, using Jingle XEP
Both have been developed in Javascript, with some Rails code. It usesStrophe.js library for the textual chat, based on XMPP Over BOSH standard, and a self-made extension of it to realize Jingleprotocol.
The project includes a custom ejabberd module in Erlang for the integration of ejabberd/diaspora databases, an Actionscript part for the video chat stuff and an external authentication script written in Ruby used by ejabberd to authenticate users from Diaspora.
The project has been split in two pull requests, and we’re currently fixing them before merge with master repository: [1],  [2].

Source code can be found at https://github.com/vcuculo/diaspora, under “jabber” and “video_chat” branches.

Setup instructions here. Some screen-shots: [1], [2], [3].

I hope it will be soon merged and improved by me and the community, to make it available on every Diaspora* pod!

Vittorio

**This article appeared first on the website of Ninux, our friends from Italy: http://blog.ninux.org/2011/08/30/gsoc-2011-videochat-for-diaspora/

GSOC 2011: RadioMate

Posted on by Mario Behling

The Ninux community, under the umbrella of Freifunk, developed four awesome open-source projects for the Google Summer of Code program 2011: a front-end for RadioMate, a new mapserver (called nodeshot), a video and chat extension to the social networking engine Diaspora* and a new tunneling tool.

In this post I will write about RadioMate, the project I was involved in. Then posts on the other projects will follow!

There are many web-radio projects that are closely involved in the world of Community Networks: in Rome Fusoradio and Radio Sonarare an active part of the community and relay on the ninux network for their streaming, in Leipzig Radio Blau (which transmits also in FM) gives big spaces to the Freifunk project, or RadioCona in Ljubljana, where the Wlan Slovenija project is based.

Often these web radios have to relay on closed-source software platforms as the available open-source solutions don’t fit their needs.

RadioMate is a free (as in freedom) community-wise Web-radio management system. Some of its features are:

  • support of multiple users with different privileges (roles)
  • easy radio schedule management
  • handling of audio files and playlists
  • extendable with new types of transmissions
  • interface with the icecast server
  • takeover of the radio streaming in case of “special editions”

While last year the RadioMate engine was developed, this year our efforts focused on a Web frontend. You can find a demo atradiomate.ninux.org. The username is “foobar” while the password is “secret”. Point also your player (e.g. VLC) atradiomate.ninux.org:8000.

For the techies, the engine is based on liquidsoap, written in Python, and easily extendable through liquidsoap scripts. It exports a JSON API which is exploited by the Javascript (jQuery) based Web frontend. Source code and documentation can be found at radiomate.org.

Of course there is still work to do, but I hope that this software will be soon used by our friends running webradios!

As we say in Rome:Daje!
Clauz

This article appeared first on the website of Ninux.org:

http://blog.ninux.org/2011/08/29/gsoc-2011-radiomate/

Freifunk Wireless Community Weekend 2011 in Berlin

Posted on by Mario Behling

Starting Friday June 3 till Sunday June 5, 2011 freifunk.net, c-base and the German community invite you to the “Freifunk Wireless Community Weekend” at the c-base space station in Berlin. 

where

inside locations

  • e.t.i is near cbase – in alley towards the street
  • main hall
  • seminar room

ad hoc workshops

all the ad-hoc workshops will take place in the seminar room

hacking

mainhall hackcenter (Irgendwo an einem Tisch)

social

  • Evening Get together, BBQ and creative commons music

Hardware Basar

Many wifi activists has lockers and shelfs full of wifi equipment, boards, enclosures, wifi cards, antennas, cables and pigtails. A lot of wifi stuff just sits there and wait to be used or just gets dusty. If this equipment still works and can be used better, lets re-use it and share it to the wifi community.

So bring it with you to the wireless community weekend and gift it to a big live moderation stage auction. All parts starts at one euro, the collected money goes back to the community as a donation to give a financial support the wireless community weekend event.

Freifunk Google Summer of Code 2011

Posted on by Mario Behling
Freifunk has been is again a mentoring organization for Google Summer of Code.
We are looking forward to more people joining
development. Please propose ideas for the program on our idea page.
Students wishing to apply, please check out the Student Check List
in the wiki and join us on irc://irc.fu-berlin.de/#freifun and freenode.net #freifunk.

Our mailing list is here: http://freifunk.net/mailman/listinfo/wlanware

You can also use the OpenWrt mailing list for discussing Freifunk specific plugins and tools with OpenWrt devevlopers: https://lists.openwrt.org/mailman/listinfo/openwrt-devel

The application period starts on March 28, 2011. Please use the time to discuss your ideas beforehand already.

Timeline: http://www.google-melange.com/document/show/gsoc_program/google/gsoc2011/timeline

  • March 28:19:00 UTC, Student application period opens.
  • April 8: 19:00 UTC, Student application deadline.
  • April 25: 19:00 UTC, Accepted student proposals announced on the Google Summer of Code 2011 site.
  • May 23: 1. Students begin coding for their GSoC projects; 2. Google begins issuing initial student payments provided tax forms are on file and students are in good standing with their communities.
  • July 11: 19:00 UTC, Mentors and students can begin submitting mid-term evaluations.
  • July 15: 19:00 UTC, 1. Mid-term evaluations deadline; 2. Google begins issuing mid-term student payments provided passing student survey is on file.
  • August 15: Suggested ‘pencils down’ date. Take a week to scrub code, write tests, improve documentation, etc.
  • August 22: 19:00 UTC, Firm ‘pencils down’ date. Mentors, students and organization administrators can begin submitting final evaluations to Google.
  • August 26: 19:00 UTC, 1. Final evaluation deadline, 2. Google begins issuing student and mentoring organization payments provided forms and evaluations are on file.
  • August 29: Final results of GSoC 2011 announced

Links

* Idea Page: http://wiki.freifunk.net/Ideas

* Student Check List: http://wiki.freifunk.net/Student_Check_List

* Mailing List http://freifunk.net/mailman/listinfo/wlanware

* Freifunk GSoC Page http://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/org/show/google/gsoc2011/freifunk

* Google Open Source Programs: http://socghop.appspot.com

Freies WLan in Berlin mit Freifunk – Veranstaltungsinformation

Posted on by Mario Behling

Wie angekuendigt findet am 31. Maerz eine Veranstaltung zu Freiem WLan in Berlin mit Freifunk im Radialsystem in Berlin stat. Der Ablaufplan ist wie folgt:

18:30h Einlass
19h Beginn

Vorträge

  • Begrüßung & Einführung: Wulf und Stefan Ziller
  • Was ist Freifunk? Jürgen Neumann
  • Netz- und Dienstleister-Trennung: Ulf Kypke
  • Wichtige Punkte bis dahin:
  • Freifunk auf dem Kirchendach: Sven Ola-Tücke
  • Freifunkhain: Ulf Kypke
  • Beuth-Schule und Freifunk in der Wissenschaft, Afrika:
    Alexander Morlang
  • OLPC & VillageTelco: Elektra Wagenrad
  • Recht: Dürfen, aber Haften?: Jochen Bokor
  • Wirtschaftlicher Nutzen: Iris Rabener, Ingo Rau (via cven)
  • Szenarien zur politischen Umsetzung: Stefan Ziller
  • Offene Diskussion: Statements gern von allseits gesehen

Ab 21h: Ausklang im Foyer & Empfang mit Speis und Getränk

Ort/Datum

Mittwoch, 31. März 2010, 19 – 21 Uhr
Radialsystem V GmbH – www.radialsystem.de
Holzmarktstraße 33 – S-Bhf. Ostbahnhof

Wireless Battle of the Mesh V3 – June 2-6, 2010 in Bracciano, Italy

Posted on by Mario Behling

The next ‘Wireless Battle of the Mesh’ will take place from Wed 2nd till Sun 6th of June in Bracciano (near Rome), Italy. The event aims to bring together people from across Europe to test the performance of different routing protocols for ad-hoc networks, like Babel, B.A.T.M.A.N., and OLSR. This third WBM will be improving the testbed conditions for mesh protocols with standardized testing procedures that will be reported after the event for the wireless communities.

On the development side, a flashing tool will be presented to simplify the deployment of such wireless networks based on OpenWrt stable release and packages for each protocol.

If you are a mesh networking enthusiast, community networking activist, or have an interest in mesh networks you have to check this out!

Informations about the event are gathered at: battlemesh.org

The Wireless Battle of the Mesh is an event that
aims at bringing together people from across Europe to test the
performance of different routing protocols for ad-hoc networks, like Babel, B.A.T.M.A.N., OLSR, and Static Routing. It
is a tournament with a social character. If you are a mesh networking
enthusiast, community networking activist, or have an interest in mesh
networks you might want to check this out! The goal of the WirelessBattleMesh
events is to set-up hands-on testbed for each available mesh routing
protocol with a standard test procedure for the different mesh
networks. During the different WBM events, similar hardware and
software configuration will be used based on the OpenWRT BoardSupportPackage
and packages for each protocol implementation. The WBM events are also
a great opportunity to develop testing tools for PHY/MAC radio layers
(drivers, scripts and PHY analyzers). 

Google Summer of Code: The event will also offer opportunities for students and mentors participating in Freifunk Google Summer of Code to meet up and work on projects.
 
Date
========
The "tournament" will take place from June 2-6, 2010.

Location
========
The event will take place in the camping Porticciolo in Bracciano, Italy. along the border of the lake of Bracciano, just North-West of Rome.

Registration
============
Registrations will be available at different hackerspaces (Fusolab, HSBXL, /tmp/lab, metalab, CCC, …) and on the official website for the event at http://battlemesh.org

Fees
====
Every participant needs to donate 50 EUR (this should cover the costs for the camping, and the infrastructure). To finance this event, we ask you to pay when subscribing (paypal, bank transfer or cash).

Contact
=======
* Web: http://battlemesh.org/BattleMeshV3
* Email: contatti@ninux.org
* IRC: irc.freenode.net
#battlemesh

Freies WLAN für Berlin / Freifunk für Berlin!

Posted on by Mario Behling

[via Cven (rebroadcasted)]

Viele wollen es – viele reden darüber – wie kann’s gehen?

Der Gedanke eines stadtweiten, drahtlosen Internetzugangs wurde lange hoch gehandelt, haber bis heute nicht umgesetzt. Ungeachtet dessen haben sich im Freifunk-Projekt zahlreiche Menschen selber per Wireless-LAN WLAN) vernetzt.

Berlins freifunk.net und die Abgeordnetenhaus-Fraktion der Grünen laden ein, diese offene und freie Struktur kennenzulernen, bzw. Möglichkeiten und Handlungsoptionen für die digitale Zukunft Berlins zu diskutieren. Ziel der Veranstaltung ist die Debatte für ein "freies WLAN für Berlin" zu qualifizieren.

Lange gewollt, aber vorerst gescheitert: Der politische Wille Berlin flächendeckend den drahtlosen Zugang zum Internet mittels WLAN zu ermöglichen fiel auf unfruchtbaren Boden. Drei Jahre versuchte der Senat vergebens ein Unternehmen zu gewinnen, ein solches Angebot umzusetzen.

Seit rund acht Jahren vernetzen sich in Berlin viele Bürgerinnen und Bürger selbst miteinander – unabhängig von politischer Förderung oder wirtschaftlichen Interessen. Das Projekt freifunk.net entwickelt technische Verbesserungen und ermöglicht den Netzzugang selbst in Internet-technisch sonst unerschlossenen Gegenden.

In mehreren Kurzvorträgen werden Freifunk, die dahinter steckenden Prinzipien und Techniken, wissenschaftliche und wirtschaftliche Seiten sowie der den rechtlichen Hintergrund erläutert. Im zweiten Teil soll die Frage wie wir einem "Freien WLAN" in Berlin näher kommen können, im Mittelpunkt stehen.

Mittwoch, 31. März 2010, 19 – 21 Uhr
Radialsystem V GmbH – www.radialsystem.de
Holzmarktstraße 33 – S-Bhf. Ostbahnhof

und um das genug Schnittchen geordert werden können, bitten wir um eine kurze Mail an netzpolitik@buero-ziller.de – aber auch spontan ist jedeR herzlich eingeladen.

Links:

Originalmeldung: https://cven.crew.c-base.org/serendipity/index.php?/archives/41-Freies-WLAN-fuer-Berlin-Freifunk-fuer-Berlin!.html

Freifunk Google Summer of Code 2010 applications

Posted on by Mario Behling

Freifunk is again applying as a project for the Google Summer of Code 2010.
For students it is a good way to get deeper involved into Free and Open
Source Software and freifunk specifically. During the summer students have
the chance to code on freifunk and get paid by Google.

Some other projects also offer freifunk related work. Check out the GSoC site after March 18 when the info on participating projects is released.

We are already gathering project ideas, as a way to
start for applicants here.
If you are interested to join freifunk at the summer of code and would like
to discuss project ideas, please join us on IRC at #freenode on irc://irc.freenode.org
and on the mailing list: http://freifunk.net/mailman/listinfo/wlanware

If you have already an idea about a project you would like to do, please also leave your idea here as well: http://wiki.freifunk.net/Ideas

Background info on Google Summer of Code

The most common question we get from students is “How do I prepare for Google Summer of Code?”
The simple answer is not to wait for the program to get involved in
open source. Start checking out projects now: take a look at
documentation, check out their source code and idle in some IRC
channels to see what interests you. The projects who have been past
participants in Google Summer of Code are a great place to start; use the categorized list of mentoring organizations (e.g. projects listed by programming languages) from 2009 to help you get started.

About Google Summer of Code

Google Summer of Code
(GSoC) is a global program that offers student developers stipends to
write code for various open source software projects. We have worked
with several open source, free software, and technology-related groups
to identify and fund several projects over a three month period. Since
its inception in 2005, the program has brought together nearly 3,400
students and more than more than 3,000 mentors & co-mentors from
nearly 100 countries worldwide, all for the love of code. Through Google Summer of Code,
accepted student applicants are paired with a mentor or mentors from
the participating projects, thus gaining exposure to real-world
software development scenarios and the opportunity for employment in
areas related to their academic pursuits. In turn, the participating
projects are able to more easily identify and bring in new developers.
Best of all, more source code is created and released for the use and
benefit of all.

* Frequently asked questions: http://socghop.appspot.com/document/show/gsoc_program/google/gsoc2010/faqs

* Freifunk Project Ideas: http://wiki.freifunk.net/Ideas