Portions of Laos (yet to see power or phone) now see Linux based Frankenstein PC's operated by pedal-powered generators, which deliver wireless connectivity to the region. In rural Cambodia (likewise disconnected), five modified Honda motorcycles wander a village acting as cyber-mailmen, downloading and uploading e-mail from area schools. Both projects are due to American benefactors trying to improve quality of life in the region via technology.

In Laos, one of the goals of the Remote IT Village Project is to design system that would function well in a region without telephone lines or electricity, while withstanding torrential rains, sweltering temperatures, and choking dust clouds the rest of the year. They found their solution in some pedal-powered generators, a few wireless antennas and some rugged, Linux-powered Frankenstein PC's.

Villagers in the remote jungle hamlet of Ban Phon Kham, Laos, had long lived without telephones or electricity, relying on word of mouth to receive news from other areas.

Enter the Jhai Foundation, a San Francisco aid organization founded by Vietnam War veteran Lee Thorn, who's driven by self-imposed karmic debt, hoping to reconcile some of the damage he himself helped cause in years past.

Thorn was a bomb loader for Navy warplanes that flew missions over Laos during the U.S. government's secret war in the region. Stationed on the aircraft carrier USS Ranger in the Gulf of Tonkin during the campaign, Thorn would load munitions during the day, and then thread the projector at night to show the bomber crews the effectiveness of their raids.

Many of the residents of the villages his foundation focuses on were one time residents of the Plain of Jars, which according to the Jhai foundation website is "per capita the most bombed place on earth."

Critics often wonder why Thorn chooses to help such a region with Wi-Fi before tackling more simple needs. According to Thorn, who has been helping develop the area's educational system, irrigation, and economy for many more years as well - the villagers specifically requested it as part of a greater communications overhaul. Thorn turned to tech guru Lee Felsenstein, moderator of the Homebrew Computer Club and designer of the Osborne 1, to help design the system. His solution was ingenious but simple.

Felsenstein began with five computers built with discarded microchips and assorted parts (most of which are taken from automatic teller machines). These machines, which draw only 20 watts in normal use, and less than 70 watts when the printer is printing, are in turn connected to 802.11b hardware, which then broadcasts the signals to a server located at nearby Phon Hong Hospital and out into the big bad world.

The entire Terry Gilliam-esque contraption is powered by fairly massive batteries, which in turn are attached to stationary bicycles imported from India and at least in part funded by Canada's International Development Research Council. One minute spent pedaling the machinery yields five minutes of power. A Lao-language version of the free, Linux-based KDE graphical desktop runs on the machines.

In an e-mail update from Thorn last year, he notes "the odd thing is that over the last few days I have gotten new inquiries from places like Zambia and Indonesia and two documentary crews." Images from the project are available here, and are worth a look.

This week's New York Times explores a similar effort underway in Cambodia. There a group dubbed "American Assistance for Cambodia" operates the Motoman project; a modern day "Pony Express" where motorcycles outfitted with wireless gear roam the village downloading and uploading e-mail for transmission to the outside world. Many of their stops have PC's and antennas powered by solar-panel. The project offers connectivity for schools, hospitals, and others in a region where the average income is roughly a dollar a day.