a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

everyone who crosses paths with DaKahuna should consider offering him head... or at the very least a free drink. with his over-generous paypal offering, i've now been able to order the last items required to pull this all together. i had the drives and the enclosures... shortly i'll have the power adapter and the pelican case, as well. it's all coming together, people! w00t!

btw, my other friends in real life are consistently astounded at how much people in our community do for each other...

"someone whom you've never met face-to-face is letting you crash in their hotel room?"

"someone whom you've never met just sent you a shotgun to play with??"

"someone whom you've never met just paypaled you a hundred dollars for a project he's never seen?!?"

the answer i give to all those questions and more often includes the caveat "they're simply someone i haven't met yet. our paths will cross in time." the fact that we're all separated by geographich boundaries or cultures or other rather meaningless factors doesn't even compare with the degree to which we're united by common ideals, values, and knowledge.

"you've got all kinds of learning and you made me look the fool without trying... and yet here i am with a gun to your head. that's because i've got people with me, people who trust each other, who do for each other and ain't always looking for the advantage."

- Cpt. Malcom Reynolds

[Thorn]

Re: a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

everyone who crosses paths with DaKahuna should consider offering him head... or at the very least a free drink. ...

A drink! Definately a drink!

... the answer i give to all those questions and more often includes the caveat "they're simply someone i haven't met yet. ....

It's all very true. I've said the same before.

"you've got all kinds of learning and you made me look the fool without trying... and yet here i am with a gun to your head. that's because i've got people with me, people who trust each other, who do for each other and ain't always looking for the advantage."

- Cpt. Malcom Reynolds

Nice Firefly/Serenity quote. I've not yet had the pleasure of seeing any of the Firefly episodes, and just saw Serenity, but the Firelfly Season One DVD set is on my list of definate buys.

[DaKahuna]

Re: a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

everyone who crosses paths with DaKahuna should consider offering him head... or at the very least a free drink.

Oh --- Do I get my choice ??

Again, I am only happy to be able to help out.

[Twigman]

Re: a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

Ok I have kept quiet up until now, but its getting to the actual sending stage.
So how are you going to decide who to send this to? I mean I would love to recieve it, but not having ever met any of the regulars on this forum, and never having made it to defcon I very much doubt you will be willing to risk sending me a package worth hundreds of dollars with no guarantee of ever seeing it again. This has been touched on, but I think it would be worthwhile you making it clear, before you get hundreds of PMs requesting it. Obviously people you know do get it, but at what point does it stop? And who will decide? Obviously this is for you to decide but I was just wondering how you were going to manage it?

Possibly a webpage with its current location, and predicted path where you could sign up to recieve it? Or will it strictly be only people you know, in which case a public webpage is unecessary.

PS. If it is open to anyone add me to the top of the list ;)

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

So how are you going to decide who to send this to? ... Obviously people you know do get it, but at what point does it stop? And who will decide? Obviously this is for you to decide but I was just wondering how you were going to manage it?

not a bad question to ask, man. essentially, i had more or less the following ideas knocking around my head...

this whole thing sort of started out as a way to keep our friends connected to the community during times when they were obligated to not be around for DefCon. mostly, this has made the list geared towards people serving in uniform right now or people obligated by jobs to be overseas (a lot of this has had to do directly with the war, as well)

once these individuals have received the TTB package, then it will obviously open up to others, specifically people in our community. my basic notion as to how we handle the drives' travelling to parties unknown focuses on possibly some sort of paypal or money escrow method. the hardware for this project, all told, cost about $700. it seems like a hugely steep thing to ask people, but for individuals whom we do not know to be touched by the TTB archive, they might have to temorarily transfer that amount of dinero into an account somewhere... once the drives make it back to home base (or to the next person) the amount gets transferred back in full to the individual. if the whole project dissapears, the person who last had it becomes responsible (all the more reason for people to use insured FedEx shipping) if one piece is broken, the person who broke it gets refunded all except the value of that piece.

this can open up a huge mess of logistical problems and difficulties, really. perhaps other doors will be opened whereby people whom you know and trust can go in with you on a pair of 500 giggers which you could send to TTB central where they'd have the archive mirrored and sent back to you. then you'd be free to share the content (and the drives) among your own circles of friends.

all in all, we must keep technological growth in mind and keep time lines in perspective. the cost of physical storage is dropping all the time, making the above-described option ever-easier. i wouldn't be surprised if 1 TB of space becomes available on a single hard disk costing under $350 or $400 in a year's time. hell, between a half dozen friends you'd have to put in maybe $75 to cover the hardware and the shipping.

also, the speed of the 'net is ever-increasing. a friend of mine, EricM (one of the guys from Toool-USA whom you'll meet in the lockpick village) has Verizon's FIOS service (fiber op to the home) available in his area, and he pays about $39/month for something like 10mbit down / 2mbit up. this will ultimately make physical data exchange groups like this obsolete (much as it did to older FedEx clubs like DT mentioned)

still, it will be a real hoot to be a part of one before the era passes us by. hell, maybe this will be the last one many of us ever see... we're on the verge of door to door hyper-speed internet or global apocalypse within the next couple decades.

[astcell]

Re: a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

We need a logfile on the drives and maybe online as well, tracking where the drives go, any user comments, file additions, and so on.

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

We need a logfile on the drives and maybe online as well, tracking where the drives go, any user comments, file additions, and so on.

i thought about actually just including a ruggedized notepad to act as a guestbook. people can write in their own way what they think of the project, where it has gone, etc. stickers or emblems of receiving parties could be affixed, etc. as long as lat/long coordinates are marked down somewhere, we'll maintain a map online for people to see where it's been and where it's going.

[Gobniu]

Re: a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

Deviant - If you are starting a list of people in the community that would to recieve the TTBP I'd like to be added to it as a "non-priority" person. Also I think it would be cool if you made up some kind of index of stuff that is on there.

[astcell]

Re: a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

When will this box be ready to be shipped off do you think? I was thinking if it is ready by Defcon I can get it then ship it to Prez98 right off.

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

When will this box be ready to be shipped off do you think? I was thinking if it is ready by Defcon I can get it then ship it to Prez98 right off.

oh, i'm rather certain that the whole kit will be 100% functional before even HOPE. after that, it's a matter of transferring the data (both from my collection and from a few other people who will be contributing content)

can anyone speak to the details of mail and packages going to people in deployment situations? how much variation in turnaround time does one see? is there any sort of tracking function possible for lost/delayed packages? what about insurance on things being sent in case they get lost/stolen/blown up/siezed for no reason/etc.

[astcell]

Re: a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

Tracking will go as far as the APO, then it is out of the system where it can be viewed online. You can still insure it right to the end user, but frankly I have had claims denied by the USPS that were 100% proper. You have to prove so much that I use UPS many times for that reason. UPS will pay your claim if the damage is evident, with the USPS you have to prove what you paid for it, show today's cost, and so on. I would opt for extra packaging if going USPS.

[Deviant Ollam]

it's all coming together, people. woo-hoo!

so, the last bit of hardware arrived at my place just now. well... not just now, really. it arrived when i was up in canada and i came home to find it just now. the pelican case is here and i spent the afternoon cutting the foam, giving the enclosures a final coat of paint (the drives and case match, all in OD green), and fitting it all together. here are some photos (links go to larger images, beware my slow cable modem upstream bandwidth)...

[renderman]

Re: it's all coming together, people. woo-hoo!

so, the last bit of hardware arrived at my place just now. well... not just now, really. it arrived when i was up in canada and i came home to find it just now. the pelican case is here and i spent the afternoon cutting the foam, giving the enclosures a final coat of paint (the drives and case match, all in OD green), and fitting it all together. here are some photos (links go to larger images, beware my slow cable modem upstream bandwidth)...

Very nicely done. Any expected ship date/destination yet?

[Thorn]

Re: a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

Well done!

[astcell]

Re: a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

That looks AWESOME! Will you put any padding in between the drives for shipping? I think any folks who get these drives ought to add stickers to the case or the drives to show where they have been. I'll even toss a challenge coin into the box.