Reticulum/Networking/Linux walk-in hours
A locker cabinet has appeared in Petteflet. Our own space to store all the hoarded electronics/educational aids we need. It's pretty ugly, should we bedazzle it? I'd like to extend a warm welcome to all the artsy kids and craftspeople of this city. Bring your own materials and ideas! The shelf is steel, about 50x50x100 and painted something like RAL6000? The paint is chipping off in many places and there's plenty rust.
Also we're gonna do this every week from now on.
Last event was a small and cute one that brought One More Linux User to this world! They came with a laptop and we installed Linux Mint - a beginner friendly distribution that Just Works™. Also gave a little bit of advice on how to start with it.
Additionally 3 access points were freed from the dirty claws of Ubiquiti. We cast computer spells together sitting by the faint candlelight upstairs. The spells have worked and the access points are running openwrt now. It was the first time doing that for one of the folks that showed up and they found it a pretty okay process. If they can do it, you can too! We also yapped about reticulum and why it's cool and shared software recommendations with each other.
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1. The city
We plug in the ethernet cable into the wi-fi antenna we just set up and watch the LEDs light up. Six blue lights, full troughput. We sense the data pouring trough the fiber veins of the city. A digital mycelium network of pulsating light, information exchange - right under our sidewalks, houses, roads. Data flowing trough undersea cables, copper wires, and the ether, finally terminating in a small box attached to the roof of the squat. Data - immaterial, untouchable, abstract and immune to the cold December wind that's been bothering us for the last hour.
On another roof down the street an identical wi-fi antenna senses a new presence. The loneliness is over, time to say hi, perform a handshake and begin a quiet radio conversation. Six blue lights.
Do you dare to take control of the infrastructure you and your communities rely on? To float through the rotting arteries the information superhighway? To tune into the repulsive control exerted by the 'smart' city, by the neoliberal sanitation of the old joyous internet? To make it your playground? Abandon your human senses and become the machine?
2. The n00b
Or maybe you just want to play and figure out what a router does, how it works, and how you can use it for your own goals? Or better yet, finally say goodbye to the surveillance-packed dumpster fire called Windows 11/Mac OS and take back control over your devices?
Either way, come to Petteflet on a wednesday evening to discover the freedom of hacking software and hardware and reclaim your digital autonomy. All skill levels welcome and no previous experience required. Bring a funky gender and sprinkle some social awkwardness on top. This is your walk-in hours for everything remotely computing related. Except issues with Windows/macOS. That shit's beyond repair.
3. The SNOT
A Squatter Network Operations Technician breaks more things than they fix. They cut the wrong cables, freestyle configurations and drop their laptop in a pond. They release magic smoke from devices in an attempt to bring them to life. Use the wrong tools for the job all the time. Eventually though a SNOT arrives at an answer to the question they themselves posed and sometimes even understands how they got there. And occasionally they come up with something useful.
Join the ranks of highly 31337 Squatter Network Operations Team and bite the technofeudalist hand that disciplines us. This is your moment to get into networking and build the infrastructures of tomorrow.
If you want to get in touch you can use one of available messaging programs that communicate over reticulum such as https://meshchatx.com (on desktop) or https://github.com/torlando-tech/columba/releases (android) or https://apps.apple.com/us/app/retichat/id6762225314 on iPhone (iOS 17.6+). the QR code contains an LXMF address that will print out a message in my room and i'll get back to you in due time :)
No matter where you go, everybody's connected.
