Re: [Gnumed-devel] GNUmed deployment in Yei Sudan

[Karsten Hilbert]

> Imagine my surprise when I was contacted just 4 days ago by someone who
> was 
> trying to deploy GNUmed in Yei Sudan.
> 
> > This work is being done for Matthias Rossow, M.D.
...
> >It would be better for his operation to be able to function via the
> server so 
> everyone can have access.  All of the Microsoft machines are laptops.
...
> > We have it running.  Wish you were here, 

This is most brilliant and one of the moments in GNUmed that can make
us proud. Credit goes to Sebastian who's handled all the direct
communication with the people in Sudan (and even built custom packages)
and to Greg who's done the on-site work.

I should like to reinforce (and hope Greg or Sebastian can forward
this to Matthias) that he can email me anytime should there be any
technical problems with GNUmed showing up. This makes us more dedicated
than ever to strive for excellence in what we deliver.

> Here are just a few problems they face down there:
> 
> - Internet speed is 300baud per second. there is just no way to download
> large 
> files. There is just no way to connect to a webbased server hosted in some
> cloud in Europe or the US.

That's great to know. It immediately swayed a decision I had to
make for GNUmed 0.9: How to handle reference data sets during
bootstrapping/upgrading or updating from within the client. We now
know that we cannot rely on the internet to download files from at
the point of care but rather have to follow the proven path of
separation of concerns:

1) get the files onto your machine (whichever way)
      in the above case this might even happen
      via USB sticks or CDs being snail-mailed
      to them

2) process the files

> - electricity is shut show every night and available for a few hours
> during the day

One would be well advised to employ a small UPS device to protect
clean shutdowns in the case of intermediate power loss. Someone
might put a bit of research into determining a UPS able to survive
the climate for a significant amount of time (yes, slashdot.org can
actually help in this).

I would also strongly recommend to have cron take daily backups and
moving them to an external USB drive and/or USB stick. Greg, Matthias,
please do contact me on how to set this up. We'd be slapping our heads
no end should we experience data loss. We've got provedly restorable
procedures for that.

Karsten
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