[FM Discuss] booki mobile makes its first trip

Thu Nov 11 00:40:28 PST 2010

On Thu, 2010-11-11 at 03:42 +0100, Luka Frelih wrote:
> heya!
> 
> 
> > so a booki mobile update.
> >
> > some photos here:
> > http://adam.engagetv.com/bookimobile_photos
> >
> >    
> 
> very cool! i even pictured it when you told me first as a bookswagen hehe
> 
> is the big thing the binder or cutter? looks impressive. just hope no 
> backs hurting from it. ;)

hee! well..actually that is the cutter and it is 70kg or so. its pretty
full on. getting it from the van to the table and back was ok but
getting it inside after we were back in berlin was hell ;)

> 
> > well...i have to say this was probably a crazy idea from the start. i
> > was motivated largely because a mobile book producing lab is just a
> > great idea and partly from frustration because we have been trying to
> > work with Drumbeat for some time and it was not going anywhere. i did
> > not and do not understand this since all the aims of drumbeat coincide
> > with what we do however we have had no support from them. in addition
> > there are groups that have not tried to work with drumbeat and have had
> > a huge profiling at the Drumbeat events. The Free Knowledge Academy is
> > one such example - they got major billing at the event where we were not
> > even initially invited.
> >
> >    
> that's sad to hear, especially given the free software roots of both 
> fm/booki and mozilla...

i think i might need just to relax a bit. im pretty exhausted by the
trip and not feeling 100%. When I look at DB I wonder if its just a
matter of time until we find the right way to work together. At the
moment I dont see it but I know there have been efforts by Mark to make
it happen. 

> the last part perhaps not so strange considering ftacademy's strong 
> catalan outpost.
> i mean all their books seem to have been written in barcelona :))
> > the equipment consisted of:
> > 1x Fastback 15XS binder (second hand from Munich)
> > 1x Samsung 2850 duplex lazer printer (black and white) (new)
> > 1x Ideal 3915-90 paper cutter (second hand from Berlin)
> > 1 x t4 vw van (second hand from berlin)
> > 2 x laptops (mine)
> > 1 x robocraft cutter (new)
> > heaps of paper
> > scissors, cutting boards, rulers, power cables etc
> >    
> i really want to try out one of the continuous ink systems in an office 
> inkjet.
> calculating the cost it seems to come well under even bulk laser toner.
> thoug this might be much more suitable for stable hacklab setups than a 
> van...
> 
> we need the hacklab printing points too anyway besides the vans i think! :)
> 

:) the van is pretty big tho...could fit quite a lot!

> 
> > we drove the van and all in it to the festival and set up immediately.
> > the first day was about setting up the site (the fest was 2 days) and
> > the second day was about producing the books. that was in the theory and
> > it worked except that it took a lot longer to test everything and refine
> > the workflow. essentially all worked (except an inkjet printer that I
> > managed to break by trying to set it up too quick) except we had a huge
> > problem with the duplex printing. duplex printing means a printer can
> > take a page print one side then suck it back and print the other side.
> > the big issue here was that the duplex printing did not print the front
> > and back pages in the same position. this was frustrating and we spent a
> > long time working this out. Janet was there trouble shooting and she
> > worked it out. essentially we had to use the printer as a 'normal' (sans
> > duplex) printer, print all the even sides take them out flip them over
> > and then print the odd sides on the back. this was a stupid way to do
> > things but the only way that worked.
> >
> >    
> 
> do you mind explaining in some more detail the duplex bug? is the shift 
> dependent on the format of the book?
> what you did with manual duplex, while heroic, is really something best 
> avoided in the future.
> i also have many doubts about duplex abilities of forementioned inkjets, 
> so we really need more experimental data...
> 
> 

I am researching gutters now and trying different drivers for the
printer. I think it can be worked out but its all a bit hacky for my
liking. I would prefer just a 'push the button and it works' solution
since the book mobile should be a simple solution

> 
> > we used the Booki User Guide as the example book although we also made a
> > few other books for those that came to the booki mobile and wanted to
> > make a book :)
> >
> > so. the feedback was tremendous. although we spent much of the time
> > working out the systems i actually spent a lot of my time talking to
> > people that were interested in the process, floss manuals, booki, and
> > the booki mobile. so much time actually that it slowed down the set up!
> > still, it was good to get people excited and involved so that was ok.
> >
> > in the end we made some books and they looked beautiful.
> > http://adam.engagetv.com/bookimobile_photos/book.png
> > http://adam.engagetv.com/bookimobile_photos/interior.png
> >
> > then we packed up, spent a tired day in barcelona and drove back to
> > berlin (it took 28hours + one sleep stop to get back).
> >
> >    
> +1heroic for the drive
> > so. the booki mobile did what it had to do in terms of actually making
> > books and also it inspired alot of people. it will also have a
> > tremendous future. those aspects i consider a success. however i dont
> > think DB cared and in my own mind i have given up on Drumbeat. its only
> > so long that we can knock at the DB door and be ignored before we get
> > the idea we are not wanted. i think it is worthwhile trying to win the
> > DB open web award for profiling reasons but apart from that i think its
> > not interesting anymore to pursue the DB channel.
> >
> >
> > so, the bookimobile lives and its a cool thing :) next i will blog about
> > it, send pr, send sponsorship reports and look for funding for running
> > costs...
> >
> > :)
> >
> >    
> this is really really good news. hope you can drive it down to our woods 
> soon...
> many venues here that could host it for a day.
> http://www.culture.si/en/M3C
> 
> perhaps via zagreb and in time to make it to debconf11 in banja luka?
> (za beograd firmom krstić hehe)
> 

ok...lets look into it.I might not be able to drive it there myself but
maybe we can find someone to do a tour...

adam

> best,
> LF
> 
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