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Internet in a Box

internet-in-a-box.org

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Re: Internet in a Box

#51

Post by ivansavz »

amelius wrote: post #19

They should include StackOverflow, but it's probably illegal to scrape it.

IIAB is just scripts for automating installing other software, so it doesn't include content — you download the content separately based on the app you need.

For StackOverflow content, the best way to get it offline is through the Kiwix ZIM files (compressed archive suitable for web content).

IIAB will install kiwix-serve by default, then you need to download the relevant ZIM files from here: https://wiki.kiwix.org/wiki/Content_in_all_languages (search for the ones with stackexchange.com )

Re: Internet in a Box

#52

Post by Balduran »

ThinkBeat wrote: post #42

When I read the headline, I had an alternate vision of this. A super hardened computer, drop proof, waterproof, weatherproof, sandproof, rated for at least 20 years of use. No moveable parts and everything stored on PROM. It would come with a kit to use any power source possible That should be able to survive in remote village with no supervision required for a long time. I did not imagine a PI with a plastic case an…

I also thought of this. What’s the max life of a device like raspberry pi? 5? 10 years? What could be the causes of their failure?

Re: Internet in a Box

#56

Post by ivansavz »

To clarify, the "box" is any UNIX computer (very well suited for Raspberry PI devices, since the wifi can act as a hotspot), and the "internet" consists of all the best FOSS apps and open content that get served from localhost, see full list here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/IIAB/FAQ#What_services_.28IIAB_app...

The use case is to make apps/content/tools normally requiring internet accessed work offline (either on localhost or local area network). In practice, using IIAB goes a little something like this:

   1. find device (the more storage the better)
   2. install free software on device using IIAB scripts
   3. download free content (various content packs)
   4. deploy device anywhere in the world to enjoy
      all the FOSS and free content on local network
The IIAB scripts make installation and download setup fully automatable (battle-tested Ansible scripts https://github.com/iiab/iiab/tree/master/roles ), which is exciting because you can provision "learning server" devices very easily.

Re: Internet in a Box

#57

Post by tyingq »

graderjs wrote: post #45
pronoiac wrote: post #10

It's an offline stash of free knowledge, such as Wikipedia, Khan Academy, and OpenStreetMap. It brought to mind El Paquete Semanal, Cuba's sneakernet culture drop: https://blog.cloudflare.com/the-cuban-cdn/

If you're interested in offline HiFi archiving checkout my project 22120 to create a personal offline browsing archive: Https://github.com/i5ik/22120

"An archivist browser controller that caches everything you browse, a library server with full text search to serve your archive."

Ah, wow, that's a very cool way to build up the content.

Re: Internet in a Box

#58

Post by foolinaround »

maybe there is already an internal search engine app that does the indexing of the local contents of the drive, to provide a quick search interface on the topic - with links to the actual material?

Also, based on trends, would'nt most of the populated world (even 3rd world) be covered by internet in the next decade? The prices may not come down enough to serve the needs of the population?

Re: Internet in a Box

#59

Post by pcdoodle »

Balduran wrote: post #52
ThinkBeat wrote: post #42

When I read the headline, I had an alternate vision of this. A super hardened computer, drop proof, waterproof, weatherproof, sandproof, rated for at least 20 years of use. No moveable parts and everything stored on PROM. It would come with a kit to use any power source possible That should be able to survive in remote village with no supervision required for a long time. I did not imagine a PI with a plastic case an…

I also thought of this. What’s the max life of a device like raspberry pi? 5? 10 years? What could be the causes of their failure?

A USB booting pi should last 30+ years if it's kept out of the sun and rain.

Re: Internet in a Box

#60

Post by myself248 »

ThinkBeat wrote: post #42

When I read the headline, I had an alternate vision of this. A super hardened computer, drop proof, waterproof, weatherproof, sandproof, rated for at least 20 years of use. No moveable parts and everything stored on PROM. It would come with a kit to use any power source possible That should be able to survive in remote village with no supervision required for a long time. I did not imagine a PI with a plastic case an…

There's absolutely nothing preventing you from building your IIAB into precisely such an enclosure with such a power supply. IIAB is a set of scripts to load the software onto such a box, and they also have a cheap hardware recipe that'll get you going for the 99.9994% of situations where being sandproof is not important.

But you can use those very same scripts to install the content on your sandproof ultramachine. What's the gripe?

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