Tech in Cuba, before the thaw

Heh, this quote brought back memories:

> They use a hack to break the countdown timer just before it expires, creating an open-air LAN party.

I lived in Cuba from 2000-1, and back then the only way online was to buy cards granting a limited amount of dial-up access. I figured out that their accounting system restarted each day, and that if you stayed on over midnight, only the time in the second day was counted against you. So I was online every night from 8 to 12:01, losing only a minute of time. I also figured out the card didn't truly expired until the day after you used it up, so on your last day, you could be on and off as much as you wanted.

My honest guess is that these "hacks" are not only known by the workers but quite possibly created by them, so that they can get around the restrictions themselves. There's a tremendous amount of theft from workplaces in Cuba. How bored does an internet cafe worker have to get before they figure out a way to get online as much as they want. And if others figure it out, who cares?

I visited 4 years ago as a tourist from México, our mid-level hotel had a PC however we didn't bother to try going online. If you get the chance, do visit soon. It's a special experience, when coming from a very different modern world. Seeing a place for yourself that you have heard so much about gives a healthy perspective. Plus they can use the CUCs, pronounced cuuk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_convertible_peso).

Nova Linux 4

http://www.nova.cu/

Seems to be based on a Gnome Shell UI from a recent Ubuntu and would suggest reasonably recent hardware because Gnome Shell based UIs need acceleration (lvmpipe is dreadfully slow).

I'm guessing that is what the official cyber cafes are using.

Side note: In UK, cyber-cafes and Internet centres are found mainly in less affluent areas.

At least visit. It will be an eye opening experience.