Software installation

We have been careful to ensure that the KioskNet system can be installed and deployed with the least possible effort. We assume that the deployment will be conducted by a non-governmental organization (NGO) that has an Internet-connected central office, and that the NGO has a team of field technicians who would do the actual deployment in the field.

To minimize costs, the installation process is designed to take place mostly at the central office. Here, a few trained personnel can carry out the following installation steps on behalf of a large number of kiosks:

• Planning: Deciding the number of kiosks, vehicles, and gateways of the system. We have developed a deployment guide to help NGOs in this process.

• Ordering appropriate equipment. The deployment guide gives detailed instructions on the equipment compatible with our system.

• Software installation and configuration: This step requires loading hard drives with software images from our distribution. We ship our softwarein the form of a LiveCD DVD. A technician can boot any PC from this image into live Linux. The installer then attaches a USB-to-AT2500 IDE connector and an external 2.5" hard drive to the PC. The installation software copies modified Debian Linux images onto the drive through the USB interface. After this copying process, which lasts approximately 12 minutes, the installation software applies user-specified configuration parameters (e.g. IP address, and wireless channel) to the disk image. The disk image is now ready to be deployed in the field. The same process is used to create disk images for kiosk controllers, ferries, gateways, and the proxy.

In the final step, non-expert field personnel physically install the equipment in the villages and ferries. Field technicians do not need to have any knowledge of Linux.