[Ipg-smz] nest app for Linux?

[Tom Henderson]

The point is really addressed to your statement:

"My area is having fires. Internet is going out. If my friends didn't
have cell phones - and the towers didn't stay functional, there would
be no way to reach them to see how they were - or, worse, for them to
pick up their VOIP phones and call for help."

There are folks like Wayne (et al) and I that enjoy learning how to 
persevere when there are emergencies.

That PG&E and the lack of CA government oversite (coupled to obvious 
climate change and its sources) let this happen to you and yours, 
putting you in danger, is crazy to me. But it happens.

Tornadoes ripped through my area in June. A fellow ham's family's assets 
were ripped up, trees flattened along with barns, roofs, and more. I 
listened to it in realtime on the radio as it came across the county. We 
had the "ground truth" into NOAA in Indy in realtime. Were others able 
to take advantage of our radio networking and message passing skills? 
Maybe- I'd like to think so. The net control operator saw the biggest of 
six tornadoes go right by him just after it had sucked the roof of a 
business and before it crossed the highway into the hills and woods to 
take my friend/operator's family stuff into the cloud. Some of their 
stuff was found more than 60mi away. That's just my little swath of S 
Central IN.

The hams that rallied for PR, Houston, FL, NC/SC, not to mention SE 
Asia, they're all the last resort and the first place one turns to. Some 
of us volunteered when that huge Alabama hurricane passed through (they 
turned towards Pensacola somewhere along the line, ignoring presidential 
info-- fortunately).

And while I can whip together complex data networks, I also use networks 
in the sky where Layer 1 is made of oxygen. It's challenging. And I'm 
one of about 700K licenses operators in the US, more in Canada, etc. We 
all took up the hobby for many diverse reasons, but a commonality is 
that we can communicate when towers go offline or run out of backup 
diesel.... or when it's been turned into metal toothpicks, flooded, etc. 
We pride ourselves in being able to spontaneously gin-up and execute 
communications ---====>>>> for grins <<<<====---.

Hope the winds die down, Mark. PG&E totally sucks. Energy security 
public policy has been controlled by the vendors for far too long. Don't 
get me started on telcos and their evil cousins, the ISPs and carriers.


Tom



On 10/11/19 8:06 PM, Mark Brownstein via Ipg-smz wrote:
> Tom:
>
> Sorry. I didn't scroll below your signature -- I've found all your 
> affiliations listed below.
>
> I now know that you've got plenty of power and the equipment to run on 
> it.
>
>
> On 10/11/2019 3:05 PM, Tom Henderson via Ipg-smz wrote:
>> I don't think Mark understands, but we'll give him some slack.
>>
>> I have two setups like this, based on four high capacity deep cell 
>> batteries that are charged when I write this:
>>
>> 1) 150W portable solar panel rig to charge the batteries
>>
>> 2) 4KW for 2hrs, + backup 5KW generator with 5gal of fresh fuel for 
>> 20hrs at 20% load located downtown
>>
>> 3) 42' aluminum mast w/tripod and inverted V antenna (good for 
>> 160-6M) + emergency 20'high 40M dipole
>>
>> 4) two HF base stations, one VHF/UHF base and a crappy backup with 4 
>> VHF/UHF antennas with four handheld transceivers each with two sets 
>> of batteries that are charged at this moment
>>
>> 5) a RP3 running APRS (go to APRS.FI and enter in my callsign to see 
>> my trails)
>>
>> 6) ten USB battery bricks, charged with an old Lenovo x120s laptop 
>> for controller
>>
>> And 100% of it can be in my van in just five minutes and on the way 
>> to a tall spot + with four days of food/water, porta, tools, with 
>> tent, air mattress, and more.....
>>
>> but civilians don't understand what this stuff is, how it's used, and 
>> how it will survive. I'm not a "prepper".
>>
>> My kit is representative of about a dozen in this county. ARES was 
>> last pressed into use when the City of Columbus flooded about a 
>> decade ago, taking out most of the downtown but also all 
>> cell/landline/fiber for about 50K people.
>>
>> Emergencies happen. Find out what the SF Bay ARES network is doing 
>> right now. The AREDN WiFi mesh is still up, i'm told. Take that, 
>> Verizon.
>>
>> Tom
>>
>>
>> On 10/11/19 5:43 PM, wrash--- via Ipg-smz wrote:
>>> Indeed, and what's equally important is that we specifically 
>>> practice using
>>> our radios for emergency communications. For example, we have an annual
>>> event in which ham radio operators set up a full-functional emergency
>>> communications facility in an area with little more than shelter 
>>> from the
>>> rain. We install temporary antennas, bring our own generators and solar
>>> power units, provide radios and even networking equipment so that we 
>>> can
>>> staff all of the radios at the same time. Then we send practice 
>>> messages to
>>> others in the US and globally.
>>>
>>> Because we do this, when an emergency occurs, we can use what we've 
>>> learned
>>> to be up and running in a couple of hours.
>>>
>>> We also practice other types of communications, including emergency
>>> communications networks, on a weekly basis.
>>>
>>> This is why ham radio is the one means of communications that always 
>>> works.
>>>
>>> Wayne N4HCR
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Ipg-smz On Behalf Of Tom Henderson via Ipg-smz
>>> Sent: Friday, October 11, 2019 5:30 PM
>>> To: ipg-smz at netpress.org
>>> Cc: Tom Henderson <thenderson at extremelabs.com>
>>> Subject: Re: [Ipg-smz] nest app for Linux?
>>>
>>> A slight correction: When all else fails, ham radio still works. 
>>> This is
>>> what ham radio is about for many licensees.
>>>
>>> Tom W9YW
>>>
>>> President, Bloomington Amateur Radio Club
>>>
>>> Member, Monroe County IN Amateur Radio Emergency Services/ARES
>>>
>>> Member, Radio Amateur Communications for Emergencies/RACES
>>>
>>> Member, AMateur-Radio SATellite group
>>>
>>> Member, ARRL
>>>
>>> Former member: IEEE
>>>
>>> Secretary of the board and volunteer, WFHB Community Radio
>>>
>>> etc etc.
>>>
>>> Other members of the IPG that are licensed amateurs include Wayne Rash,
>>> Lynne Greiner, Alan Zeichick, Curtis Franklin, and more.
>>>
>>> 73 Tom W9YW
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 10/11/19 5:06 PM, Mark Brownstein via Ipg-smz wrote:
>>>> At an Intel AI Developer conference that I attended last year, one of
>>>> the presenters made a comment that stuck with me -- 'it's amazing how
>>>> easily people will give up their privacy for convenience.' I guess
>>>> that I may be a victim of this, too.
>>>>
>>>> In the case of my Nest Thermostat, I got it, basically, for nothing -
>>>> $150 with a $75 rebate from the Gas Company and a $75 rebate from the
>>>> Department of Water and Power. What it cost me was, basically, the tax
>>>> that I paid on it.
>>>>
>>>> It may not be that big a deal to replace my Nest thermostat with an
>>>> Ecobee (now on sale at Costco - but no rebate). But I'll still have
>>>> the less-than-satisfactory Nest Hello, and a handful of Google echo
>>>> minis. I'm not sure I can replace them all at once (or want to spend
>>>> the money), but until I do, Google will still be listening for every
>>>> burp or other body noise, in addition to the 'Hey Google' stuff that
>>>> we shout at them.
>>>>
>>>> When our Internet went out a few times yesterday, our smart light bulb
>>>> stayed on -- 'Hey, Google' wouldn't touch it. Turning the knob on the
>>>> lamp did the trick.
>>>>
>>>> My area is having fires. Internet is going out. If my friends didn't
>>>> have cell phones - and the towers didn't stay functional, there would
>>>> be no way to reach them to see how they were - or, worse, for them to
>>>> pick up their VOIP phones and call for help.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 10/11/2019 1:49 PM, Tom Henderson via Ipg-smz wrote:
>>>>> I'm also not a fan of Nest.... but once invested, you either let it
>>>>> slurp or not. You can't even null-route the bad guys.
>>>>>
>>>>> Tom
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 10/11/19 2:04 PM, Lynn Greiner via Ipg-smz wrote:
>>>>>> I don't entirely trust Nest's privacy. Looking at the Ecobee
>>>>>> instead. Two of their models were PC Mag Editor's Choice this year,
>>>>>> FWIW.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>> From: Ipg-smz <ipg-smz-bounces at netpress.org> On Behalf Of Dennisf63
>>>>>> via Ipg-smz
>>>>>> Sent: Friday, October 11, 2019 1:40 PM
>>>>>> To: Christine Hall via Ipg-smz <ipg-smz at netpress.org>
>>>>>> Cc: Dennisf63 <dennisf63 at wildblue.net>
>>>>>> Subject: Re: [Ipg-smz] nest app for Linux?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 10/11/2019 01:02 PM, Christine Hall via Ipg-smz wrote:
>>>>>>> They both have the Linux kernel in common, but beyond that, my
>>>>>>> understanding is that they're pretty much completely different --
>>>>>>> but don't take my word for it.
>>>>>> Getting back to the Nest line of geek-dom, the thermostat is really
>>>>>> pretty cool. It can learn your patterns so it raises the temp and
>>>>>> lowers it in line with your habits, for example. It even senses when
>>>>>> no one is home and drops the temp to a pre-set lower level, then
>>>>>> "wakes up" when it senses people in the house. I walk by the one in
>>>>>> my hall and it lights up -- motion detector.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But, I think it emerged from the mind of uber geek Paul Allan, and
>>>>>> when a geek designs an interface to something that will be used by
>>>>>> the hoi poloi, well, the results are pretty, but confusing, and then
>>>>>> the documentation that's written for it only adds to the confusion,
>>>>>> and now Google has taken it all over (cameras, security systems,
>>>>>> etc., etc.
>>>>>> etc.) and they created an app that is supposed to interface with ALL
>>>>>> those Internet of Things gadgets via WiFi.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't out to get me.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -- 
>>>>>> Dennis Fowler
>>>>>> P. O. Box 70
>>>>>> Otego, NY 13825
>>>>>> dennisf63 at wildblue.net
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Tom Henderson
>>> ExtremeLabs, Inc.
>>> +1 317 250 4646
>>> Twitter: @extremelabs
>>> Skype: extremelabsinc
>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Ipg-smz mailing list
>>> Ipg-smz at netpress.org
>>> http://netpress.org/mailman/listinfo/ipg-smz_netpress.org
>>>
>>>
>
-- 
Tom Henderson
ExtremeLabs, Inc.
+1 317 250 4646
Twitter: @extremelabs
Skype: extremelabsinc