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Internet in a Box

internet-in-a-box.org

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Re: Internet in a Box

#101

Post by mftrhu »

krm01 wrote: post #59

I wonder if something like a locally run LLM would be a 10X better (and viable) solution? You could frankly use a chatGPT like UI to have even the illiterate part of the community converse and learn about any topic with tts and stt.

No, a locally-run LLM would not be a 10x better solution than having a copy of Wikipedia - plus StackOverflow, the other StackExchange websites, and a lot of other wikis - thanks to Kiwix, a copy of Khan Academy's educational content, of the relevant OpenStreetMap data, of Project Gutenberg, and of dozens more GB in textbooks, reference material, and entertainment.

The illiterate part of the community would be better served by interacting with the community - by fostering connections between people, improving literacy, and giving them tools - rather than with any sort of LLM, let alone one that has been cut down enough to run on cheap, under- (and often intermittently-)powered commodity hardware.

Re: Internet in a Box

#102

Post by kangalioo »

moffkalast wrote: post #49
mytheory wrote: post #4

This is a fantastic project, and we need more of those. Let's keep in mind that 50% of the world's population did not connect to the internet in the last three months (last un UN starts). On my end, I worked on an Android version since getting & maintaining a Raspberry Pi or a Linux machine is difficult in remote communities - where finding reliable access to a network or electricity can be tricky. Still, you will se…

Yeah a Pi is a completely terrible solution for something like this because it doesn't really play to any of its strengths. Android phones are cheaper, more reliable, have a built in battery, touchscreen, GPS and compass (so you can navigate with one too), and have you know... actual power management so you don't run out of said battery. Sometimes they're even dust and waterproof which is probably good in a tropical…

Where do you get Android phones for cheaper than a Raspberry Pi (e.g. $35 for a Pi 4)?

Re: Internet in a Box

#103

Post by moffkalast »

kangalioo wrote: post #102
moffkalast wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah a Pi is a completely terrible solution for something like this because it doesn't really play to any of its strengths. Android phones are cheaper, more reliable, have a built in battery, touchscreen, GPS and compass (so you can navigate with one too), and have you know... actual power management so you don't run out of said battery. Sometimes they're even dust and waterproof which is probably good in a tropical…

Where do you get Android phones for cheaper than a Raspberry Pi (e.g. $35 for a Pi 4)?

> $35 for a Pi 4

Lol, if you have them at that price I'll take 5. More like $80-120 at current market rates, and then you still need to buy everything else that's already included in a phone.

Re: Internet in a Box

#104

Post by ChuckNorris89 »

kangalioo wrote: post #102
moffkalast wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah a Pi is a completely terrible solution for something like this because it doesn't really play to any of its strengths. Android phones are cheaper, more reliable, have a built in battery, touchscreen, GPS and compass (so you can navigate with one too), and have you know... actual power management so you don't run out of said battery. Sometimes they're even dust and waterproof which is probably good in a tropical…

Where do you get Android phones for cheaper than a Raspberry Pi (e.g. $35 for a Pi 4)?

Second hand market? Samsung, OnePlus, HTC, LG, Nexus, Nokia, Pixels, with quad core CPUs and RAM >2GB can be had dirt cheap depending where you live.

Choose a popular, old flagship that's well supported by the community, and can be flashed with a de-Googled ROM and you're gold.

Old OnePlus devices are still supported today by the community.

Re: Internet in a Box

#106

Post by embedded_hiker »

hammyhavoc wrote: post #95

I find the name to be misleading. By the same logic, could you describe '90s encyclopedia CD-ROMs as "the internet in a box"? It's content that was hosted on the internet. The actual internet is infrastructural, not content. Is a DVD box set thus "Netflix in a box"?

There was a product in the 90s called "Internet in a Box". I remember seeing it at a store. It appears to be a way of selling Compuserve. https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/the-web/20/408/20...

Re: Internet in a Box

#107

Post by Robotbeat »

HlessClaudesman wrote: post #19
CrampusDestrus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LLMs are not magic. If wikipedia takes up 100GB of space and your model trained on it is only 5GB big, there is NO WAY it will hold all the original information.

Furthermore, LLMs are good at condensing information, but terrible at knowing which information will actually be important or true. This is an obvious problem in a life or death medical situations.

…which is also unsolved by any other system or by humans. It’s a fundamental constraint of reality.

Re: Internet in a Box

#109

Post by doodlesdev »

fbdab103 wrote: post #94
doodlesdev wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the way, note that is the Wikipedia in English which AFAIK is the largest one. For instance, Wikipedia in Portuguese weighs about 13gb with a few pictures in my Kiwix install.

Has Kiwix gotten any better? I tried to use it a few years ago, but the user experience was super rough. Fantastic idea, but there were lots of UI stalls and glitches that soured my trial.

Honestly? The UX is dogshit lol, at least on the Android app, when you go and download something to find out if it has downloaded or not is a chore and there is no progress notification or indication it's doing anything at all.

I'm considering sending some contributions whenever I have time again for OSS contributions.

However, I find it usable enough that I've been using it quite a lot recently when I don't have internet access to read Wikipedia, StackOverflow and a few other things I downloaded.

Re: Internet in a Box

#110

Post by asynchronous »

moffkalast wrote: post #103
kangalioo wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you get Android phones for cheaper than a Raspberry Pi (e.g. $35 for a Pi 4)?

> $35 for a Pi 4 Lol, if you have them at that price I'll take 5. More like $80-120 at current market rates, and then you still need to buy everything else that's already included in a phone.

I’m so tired of people citing $35 for a Pi. Maybe for a Pi Zero (non W). But $120 is standard at this point.
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