[TriLUG] Penguins in the desert

[Douglas Ward]

I am working with a few people on a project involving setting several
computers at one of our missions in Liberia. Since I have never tried
operating computers in the desert before I thought I'd see if anyone had any
experience with this environment. Details are below:

Why do they need computers?
Our mission has a grant from the United Nations that pays for minors who
used to fight in various armies. They are given tools and land to start
raising their own food. The UN requires accountability on this grant in
electronic format. They also operate a small hospital as well as shelter
there.

Locational difficulties:
The mission is a full day trip (one way) from the capital city of Monrovia.
There are no telephones, electricity, paved roads, running water or any
other things we would call "modern conveniences." They are located in the
desert so it is VERY hot. There is a large generator that they run during a
portion of the business day to provide electricity to the buildings
(including the computers). When they are finished working the generator is
shut down and everything goes dark until the next time they are going to
work. In order to communicate with the outside world someone travels to
Monrovia and checks e-mail/makes telephone calls. Any files they need from
the UN is downloaded to floppy disks and then transported back to the
mission. There is no mail service for the entire country.

Current problems:
They have one printer with no network. The machines they have are Windows
machines and fall prey quite often to the latest virus outbreak. They have
computers sitting in a closet because viruses have infected them and no one
there knows how to fix them. With no internet access they cannot stay up to
date with the latest Windows security updates and antivirus definitions. At
least they don't have to worry much about sypware!

Solution (in progress):
We have several older computers that have been donated for this project. We
are planning to purchase a cheap cable router and set up all of these
computers with some distribution of linux. Since the processing requirements
are very basic (only spreadsheets and word processing) we intend to train
the end users on OpenOffice.org and run it all on linux. We will network the
printer onsite and set up file sharing and all of the networking stuff that
we take for granted here. We will box up all of the equipment and travel to
the mission to set it up. We'll take multiple copies of the
OpenOffice.orgmanual with us so they will have hard copies onsite.

Questions:
If you have made it all the way to the end of this message, thank you. Here
are our questions:

1) We are leaning towards Mandriva (primarily because I am the most familiar
with it and prefer it over other distributions). Any reasons why we
shouldn't use Mandriva? Is there another distribution better suited for this
work?
2) We are trying to visualize the unique challenges of operating computers
in the desert without air conditioning. Has anyone ever done this before? If
so, would you care to share any lessons learned?
3) Does anyone know if we can legally install linux here and export it to
Liberia? Any issues with exporting encryption technology? Should we wait and
install it over there?
4) How does a white guy from Raleigh survive for two weeks in Liberia?
Anyone have any travel experiences to share?

I think linux will serve the mission well. We'll get rid of illegally
licensed copies of Windows and go with all open source software. I'll sleep
better at night because their computers won't be taken down by the next big
virus. Lots of young Africans will be able to have better lives. The UN will
have its accountability. Everyone wins.

Any advice you could offer would be most appreciated. Thanks!