ANNOUNCING - "The AMV Wireless Network!" :-D

[Prinz Eugen]

For your AMV leeching pleasure I will have a wireless router:





and an IOmega 1TB NAS box (Networked Attached Storage)
which I am FILLING for you all now:



I will test this out at this weekend's staff meeting
Read-only access user names / pw are already set up.

User names: otaku0, otaku1, ...thru... otaku9
Password for all is kumoricon

Depending on the range, fans should be able to hit this and slurp on AMV sweetness ALL CON WEEKEND!
Backup material for the Iron Chef editors will also be stored there so they can access if they need, anytime while working their projects!

8-D

[superjaz]

wow....

like wow

thats awesome

thats more time in amvs then the entire length of the con

[Runa]

.....and what's on that box is still a FRACTION of what we've burned to disks.  I'm sure we'll be copying the content of the disks to this box as well, but that'll happen after it finishes copying all the files.

W00t

[Prinz Eugen]

I wish, but actually that's just about ALL of it.

Included are 18 DVDs worth of AMVs, sorted by DVD (which is roughly chronological,) then a number of "Best Of" directories sorted by genre, the contest and show playlists from 2005 ~ 2008, and one or more playlists (like the one I had set up for the Dragon Boat event.) Therefore, some AMVs may be duplicated in more than one directory. (But that's usually 'cuz they're just awesome.)

DVD #18 includes many works appearing in this years AMV contest & show, so that directory and the 2009 pre-show/contest/show/overflow directory will NOT be made available until AFTER the event.

[kylite]

EVER! and I do mean NEVER go into the folder "worst amv ever"....... just dont.   EVER... SERIOUSLY!.... ok good Iv had my say

*goes back to the sanitarium*

[Prinz Eugen]

Oh, THAT one.

It's not in solitary confinement. It's in a 2004-2005 directory somewhere so unsuspecting leechers will go "Whoa, that's an unusual title, I wonder what it's about."

<double-click> SCREAM. Retch. Thud.

Most people bail no later than 10 seconds into it.

[MichaelEvans]

If we're trying to push out 137 GiB of data there are a few numbers to consider.

137 GiB == 147 102 629 888 bytes  Rounding up to 1 million byte units 147103.

802.11g (typical wireless) transfers at up to 54mbps* (no odd configurations special channels/etc), let's presume 50mbps is data and not network overhead. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11#Channels_and_international_compatibility << check out the graphic about network channels.)
100base* '100megabit ethernet' Aprox 90% is usable when removing various normal network overheads.  90mbps.
1000base* '1000megabit ethernet' Aprox 90% is usable when removing various normal network overheads.  900mbps.

147103 / 50 / 3600 = .817238 hours
147103 / 90 / 3600 = .454021 hours
147103 / 900 / 3600 = .045402 hours

However, there is another number; the speed I was able to get at the meeting.  I was averaging approximately 1MiB/sec (during transfers), which is 8mbps.

147103 / 8 / 3600 = 5.107743 hours

Limiting factors: Typical laptop hard disk = ~5-10MiB/sec == 65 hours to write the data @ 40mbps =~ 1 hour.

Therefore the limiting speed for most users will be that of their storage media.  In such an environment resumable, selective, and collaborative transfers seem to make the most sense.  The only widely used and multi-platform solution that comes to my mind is bit-torrent.

It would not be difficult for me to provide a laptop with a bit-torrent tracker; in fact I was already trying to re-purpose an old laptop of mine for just such a role.

As an added bonus I'm reasonably sure that most of our users would already know how to select portions of torrents to save.

[rollthestampede]

this should be pretty sweet. looks like ill be filling up the new netbok i got.

[MichaelEvans]

Prinz Eugen, could you help me by providing some information about the network addresses?

1) What address will your router be setup as?  (Eg 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1; or maybe .127,.128, or .254)
2) What range of addresses will it be leasing? (So that I could setup my old laptop to lease the other range and keep things moving if your hardware is moved/offline for whatever reason.)
3) What subnet will it be using?  (The default is probably 255.255.255.0 AKA /24 .)

My home network happens to use 192.168.0.X / 24 for it's addresses, but all of my systems are Linux based, so I can easily add virtual interfaces to talk to/on other network addresses.

It would be easier to test things if they were closer to the final configuration.

[Prinz Eugen]

Yes - Router will be 192.168.0.1

It's a D-Link 1GB, and I will also have a second 8-port hub for direct Cat-V leeching.
Why not stop by the AMV Editor's Meet-up and we can pound on things there?

I will probably wear my T-shirt that says, "No, I will not fix your computer" just for the occasion.

[MichaelEvans]

2 main reasons, I'm currently a 3 hour car ride north of Portland, and I'm not sure when the meeting is.

[Prinz Eugen]

M: Let's switch to e-mail for this conversation rather than essentially memorializing a one-on-one conversation by posting on a forum.
(This is kind of like recording and archiving a CB radio conversation.)

[murder_of_raven]

Yes - Router will be 192.168.0.1

It's a D-Link 1GB, and I will also have a second 8-port hub for direct Cat-V leeching.
Why not stop by the AMV Editor's Meet-up and we can pound on things there?

I will probably wear my T-shirt that says, "No, I will not fix your computer" just for the occasion.

You have mentioned these things many times on the forums and I must say that I am /very/ interested in having access to your huge library of AMVs... however that description might as well have been in German for me. In addition to my newish laptop and it's built-in wireless internet, what exactly would I need to physically bring for this? Is there something I'd need to do software wise to prep? I would ask you these questions in a PM but other people seem just as confused as me.

Basically I'm saying I'd like the bottom line requirements list because I doubt you have the energy to actually get me to understand how all this stuff works. =D

[MichaelEvans]

Need to bring:

Laptop
Power adapter

Should bring:

Laptop lockup device of some kind (though there may be a shortage of points that those cables can be snaked around to lock it up).


I will be bringing -several- ethernet (network) cables (hardline == no interference and faster than ideal wireless)... which I'll make tomorrow afternoon.

I've not yet heard what length to try and target for them though...

[murder_of_raven]

Should bring:
Laptop lockup device of some kind (though there may be a shortage of points that those cables can be snaked around to lock it up).

....What is that? 

[MichaelEvans]

It's like a bike chain for your laptop:

http://www.google.com/products?q=laptop+lock

[Prinz Eugen]

A couple of notes:

Kumoricon is growing, and if only 2/10ths of 1 percent of people are warped enough to try to walk off with my electronics this STILL works out to 12 members who are likely to give it a try (like how other people had stuff disappear last year, too.) Yes, the Hilton is a nice hotel, but it's in a CITY, and only a number of blocks away from some 'possibly rough' hangouts. (aka 'Concealed Carry Country,' or 'the Blood-bourne Pathogen Display & Exchange Zone.') As is, the hotel staff has to card-lock the lobby level restrooms to keep trolls out.

So, I although I will try to offer periodic physical access to the machine, I cannot guarantee where it will be located or when it will be available to hook into its router by cable. I also have a small number of Cat-V cables and an 8-port 1GB hub which I will bring, so it's possible I might turn the machine off at its unspecified location, move it to a publicized Leeching Event (maybe at the Creation Station?) the move it elswhere when I need to let my own eyes off it.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

[murder_of_raven]

It's like a bike chain for your laptop:

http://www.google.com/products?q=laptop+lock

Oh, so basically I only need that if I don't plan to be standing right next to my computer at all times. No problem then XD

[rollthestampede]

you could just not broadcast it. give the info here and we judt connect blindly, just let us know when its in the area

[MichaelEvans]

I'm going to be donating (for mulit-convention AMV sharing) cables of the following lengths (in feet):

4
6
6
11
14
21
36
43

I also plan to bring some of my own stuff that might/might not work for extending things, like an open torrent tracker.

[MichaelEvans]

Guy, last night I was stuffing swag bags until about 2am.  I managed to find a free Internet connection so I could load the staff page, however I think the phone number you provided was your home phone, since your wife put down the same number.

Please send a text or call my cell phone (from the card) sometime this afternoon when it'd be a good time to exchange cords and update on the network situation.  I'll try to check back here in the morning when I wake back up (but with a connection this weak I might not be posting again the entire convention).

[Prinz Eugen]

Now that the contest and show events are over, the 2009 AMV contest and show directories have now been moved onto the public access section of the AMV Wireless Network.

ENJOY!

[murder_of_raven]

*Sigh* Unfortunately I could not ever get this to completely work for me. For one thing, I couldn't ever seem to get better than 1 bar of connection. I also couldn't find anywhere that seemed safe to stick my power cord so I only ever had my 1h30min battery life. Oh well, it seemed like a really good idea and I wish I'd been able to download stuff...

Maybe it'd be a total pain but could somebody set up a torrent? My computer torrents very successfully and I definitely would seed at least a large portion of it, for a very long time.

[MichaelEvans]

Another issue other had was establishing a connection to the device.

I had to reboot in to windows (Vista... *shiver*) to connect to it.  I kept having this issue where it would just lock up partway through.  I inadvertently avoided it the first time, and also learned something interesting from the network view.

Guy's router was actually connected to a NAS which wasn't being used as a USB drive, but which was instead used as a standalone device.

That critical piece of information also came with what I needed to make Linux talk to it: a real IP (or entry on the DHCP assigned DNS server (IE the router)).

Rsync worked nicely, if still at that glacial pace, for the rest of the files.

[Prinz Eugen]

We just need to iron things out and improve the basic infrastructure, and also find out where is the line of generic (OS independent) information we need to make available - without me having to be an expert on how each flavor (Vista, Win-7, XP, win-2K, Ubuntu, Red Hat, Mac flavors, Gentoo ....) connects to a generic, unsecured wireless system.

I do know that many people were successful at logging in and grabbing large swatches of stuff.

I wouldn't mind at all setting up a list of torrents people could hit from and parking them on the top level of the public-access directory.

[MichaelEvans]

I should have taken some screen-shots of how to get the IP of your storage device from within vista home.  However that is probably a moot point if the general ideas in the back of my mind actually work out.

At the convention, your NAS unit happened to get the IP 192.168.0.199 which was the information we needed.  Your router is likely able to 'statically' assign the leased address so that such information could be known in advance.

Alternatively, a DNS server which could have told my computer 'AMV' was (IP) would also have worked, however that would still have required similar preparation (or an integrated solution that adds DNS entries based on DHCP leases, a Windows Server (Domain Controller/Active Directory whatever they renamed it) is one such example).

I personally prefer static IPs for any network resource (routers, servers, printers), even if a DHCP lease is used to deliver those assignments.

[MichaelEvans]

Originally I was planning on setting up an AMV wireless network during the elections to try out torrent-based distribution of the files.  However the laptop I'd intended to run that on is having some 'odd' issues while running the only Linux distribution that I know of that fulfills several desirable criteria:

1) Runs on X86 hardware
2) Can be easily used headless (Most do but...) (Also due to the GPU/GPU memory being corrupt, likely via tin-whiskers give the hardware's manufacture date. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisker_(metallurgy) )
3) Easy to remote administer all, or most, services.

OpenWRT boots, and almost works, but there's some strange network issue that manifests as missing or wrong ARP entries on the openWRT system; I'll have to very carefully investigate it and/or hope future updates fix the issue.

[Prinz Eugen]

BTW - I'll have the NAS box with me at elections, so bring wireless devices and slurp away ...

[MichaelEvans]

I've figured out what I need to do in order to run a torrent server on my own laptop, including re-writing the announce URL on the spot when I get an IP address from Guy's router.  Hopefully he'll also be able to communicate the IP of his server to other non-windows users.

The torrent in question will have the the 40gb that represent the shared Kumoricon Contests and some of guy's 'best AMVs' collection, since the full archive won't fit on my laptop.

I don't mind hardlines hooked up to my laptop and will bring a 10/100mbit hub (no spare cables), but don't want anyone else trying to login to it directly.  (Physical access could allow many things I would rather dislike.)

If you want to hook up via an ethernet cable please bring your own.