Today, Ram and I setup and tested the solar panel. While we paid for a 20W solar panel, the electrical output on this panel in direct sunlight is actually 20.4V with 1.13 amps, or around 23W. We have the solar panel plugged into the “panel” leads on the charge controller, with the battery plugged into the “battery” leads. We also stripped a wire, connected the positive and negative leads to the battery, and successfully powered the computers running directly off the 12V battery output: the power LED on the motherboard lit up, and we successfully booted up. Success! Our next step in terms of setting up the solar panel is to get a longer wire, so that we will be able to leave the solar panel, charge controller and battery on the roof as one waterproof unit, and have a wire running into the room with the computers carrying the 12V current. We are very close to completion on the electrical side of this project.
In terms of software running on the computers, I have successfully setup Nepali fonts on Ubuntu. Using a phrase book and online translations, I managed to change a lot of menu bars and other system-level features of Ubuntu into Devanagari script. I showed Muni what I had done, and he was mostly happy with the quality of the translations, although some of them should be replaced with colloquialisms and more common language.
Finally, I’ve had email contact with representatives of One Laptop Per Child and Open Learning Exchange Nepal. OLE Nepal is using computers based on the 945GC chipset, which was the chipset I was originally using: when I switched to the slightly more expensive 945GSE chipset, power consumption was cut in half. They are currently getting their computers retail from MSi. The representative seemed interested in the computers I brought to Nepal: perhaps I can provide them computers at lower cost compared with the computers they receive from MSi, with the same specifications, at half the power consumption. We’ll see.
Shyami and I also went out to get some momos (Nepali: рдордо), which are traditional Tibetan dumplings which are popular in Nepal. I’ve become a total addict over the past few days, as we’ve been having them for lunch every day. They have a variety of fillings, usually buffalo, goat or yak but also vegetarian dishes like potato or various vegetables. There are also two kinds of hot sauces, mild and strong (buffalo momos and the strong hot sauce is down right amazing, today I had 20 and it was only US$0.80).
The momos are made on the spot and then steamed in large containers, maybe a hundred or more at a time. The momos are either eaten on the spot (as we did, today) or taken home in black plastic bags (which we have been doing every other day).
After work, I prepared to watch the LCROSS impact, and was disappointed to see that the moon wasn’t visible. Around this time (around 5:15PM, the time LCROSS was to hit the moon), my neighbors appeared on their roof looking in the direction the moon was to rise. They saw the telescope and the 1000mm lens setup on the camera, and were obviously interested. I naively assumed they didn’t speak English, so I broke the ice by saying namaste. One of them responded, “No luck seeing LCROSS tonight, eh? The moon is still below the horizon, I read that you’d need to be in Australia to see it. Better luck next time!” He then laughed, turned around and went inside, leaving me all alone on my roof with a aluminum body reflecting telescope, a dSLR and two lenses, a chair, and nothing to look at. Ouch.
That’s all for now.
Charles
I was born in London, England. At the age of ten, I moved to Hong Kong, which opened up a whole new part of the world: Asia. Since then, I have enjoyed traveling to different locales around the world. Having graduated from High School, I am taking a gap year to work on a computer project in Nepal, and later a cultural immersion trip in Ghana. This is the blog I am using to keep the world notified. 