Anyfesto

After getting the CHIP side of the house stable I spent some time over the last month working on the PI installs, both manual and scripted. Now it needs some else's eyes and hardware other than my own to test things out and report the bugs.

If you have the time and a Pi hanging around please head on over to

https://github.com/tomhiggins/anyfesto/blob/master/installPI

and see if thing work or if they break bad.

The next phase after this will be a clean up and a proper release most anyone can use to get one of these up and running.

After that? I want to create a few specialized builds to address Education, Privacy and Social Gatherings. Each one will be be an easy to run script that will install not only the services/apps but all the content needed to address those issues. The EducationBox will be my first priority.

So break and report and we can get that much closer to the goal.

Thanks in advance

Good news, if you are using the CHIP then Anyfesto has been getting near daily updates with new services, obvious fixes and a few typos corrected. The automatic base install scripts are working well enough to produce a working device and the manual install guide is covering all manner of services and CHIP foibles to make your install go smoother.

Not so good news, I have been so hunkered down on the CHIP that the PI side of the house has gotten bupkis. For that I will make amends, soon....thats the plan.

Is there any good news for the PIs? Much of the work done for the CHIP will be easy to slide on over to the PI, so there is that.

Whats working on the CHIP and soon on the PI?

• AP and Captive Portal no longer using PirateBox/Library Box. This will make things a bit less bumpy for upgrades and updates.
• Bootstrap is installed for the main landing web page. Those so inclined to work up their own pages will have Bootstrap to work with.
• Speaking of the main landing web page, the one the Captive Portal will be redirecting everyone at....I have set up a nice simple layout that scales well to mobile, links to many of the features (text chat, wikimedia, file section) are in place and spots for the features planned are in place.
• An audio player on the main landing page feed by an m3u playlist and javascript
• IRC with a Web Frontend via HybridIRC and KiwiIRC
• Wikimedia Server via Kiwix and wikimedia zims
• Mumble voice chat server is running, I just need to finalize the steps and configs
• Portable Khan Academy via KA-Lite is coming along but still needs some config work

USB Storage is still something I am deciding on. Given that i want this to be able to be run by non tech folks I am working up a script that allows folks to insert a blank USB storage device and it will format it, set up directories and even give the option to auto populate things like KA-lite data, Project Gutenberg, Wikimedia zims, etc etc. Also add in the automount stuffs for good measure.

I am shooting to wrap up this phase of work on the CHIP side in the next week or so. I will make an announcement that it should be all clear to install and know it wont change drastically in 12 hours.

I will then start the slide over to the PI side. When I am done with that I will also send up an announcement.

As always follow along over at https://github.com/tomhiggins/anyfesto/ and send any corrections, feedback and typos...oh the typos... my way here or there.

And if you have been , thanks for following this project.

-tom

"...which one is the current build?"

First full day I had to gather my notes and get things in code. So far so good. I expect a stable release sometime this week. If you head up to the github (https://github.com/tomhiggins/anyfesto) you can check the progress. Any idea, typo corrections or thoughts are welcome.

Done

• Simplified the setuo to work with no pull from Piratebox[1]
• Captive Portal, web server, vlc and the infrastructure for that is all working
• I checked with two tablets, a phone and my desktop, all got connected to the ssid, got an IP and were able to be redirected to the web page
• File Section in place, need to add the USB stick
• VLC is streaming the test msg over and over

ToDo when I wake and and grab coffee

• Mount and Document the USB stick
• Hook in IRC and Irc Web Interface
• Hook in Mumble
• Hook in Kiwix
• Work up the autoinstaller bash file, test it.
• Make a Video Walk Thru to document all that is working

[1] I love Piratebox and all the folks who work on it. For this project though I need something that when changes wont stop other parts from working. Captive Portal is handled from dnsmasq. Text Chat is being handled by Qweb, a web browser based irc front end and HybridIRC on the backend .

Winter time means some free time to look back over things and see what needs doing. The PIFold Project has a more detailed post about this push but the short version is Anyfesto needs a good code clean up, a set of install scripts to make it easier to install in PI, PI0 and CHIP as well as some much needed reworking of bodges that at the time worked great but now are stumbling blocks for new users.

If you have aby suggestions along these lines or idea for Anyfesto please post them up here.

Here now is a pic of the CHIP based Anyfesto build that has been in my go bag for the last few months. It is a rock solid bit of gear that shows some of the PROs in using the CHIP over the PI's ; built in battery charging circuit, wifi and bluetooth being the big items.

After a long time in the todo pile I got around to working on it this weekend.

These steps will walk you through setting up an AnyfestoBox on a CHIP http://docs.getchip.com/chip.html Anyfesto on a CHIP 9$ computer. N.B. This set up will use CHIP's wlan1 for the captive portal,dnsmasq, etc etc. wlan0 is left free to connect to backhaul, the intertubes or whatever network you may want. No bridge has been set up by default. Lots of ideas for use of this.

Parts List
   CHIP - https://getchip.com/pages/store - $ 9.00
   USB Stick 32GB or Bigger - Many Sources - $20.00 - upward
   LIon Battery 3.7V 2500mA - https://www.adafruit.com/products/328 - $29.50
   5V 2.4A 6' MicroUSB Cable - https://www.adafruit.com/products/1995 - $ 7.95

The up to date full set of instructions is housed over on the Anyfesto GitHub

I entered the recent PiZero Contest here on Hackaday with a moded version of Anyfesto put onto a PiZero stuffed inside a wallet complete with battery and charger. yep, Anyfesto in any pocket. I call it the PiFold.

The big upside for the parent project here is the changes, mods, additions and fixes I made while hammering it into a PiZero will be folded back here in a few weeks.

We now have a much nicer looking set of install instructions, the inclusion of Mumble server for VOIP, some new ideas on the FM Transmitter aspects of this project (PiFM is a great idea but wonky as all get out in heavy use), and some new cases.

Another change, I have started toying with getting this to run on Next Thing's CHIP. New scaled down Anyfesto Tower Case has been printed to remind me to do this. Nothing says reminder like a 3 hour print job:)-

So changes, soon.

Seen here.... My current test rig. Pi2, Battery and Charge Circuts, Wifi, SDR Radio with Antenna out the top (this is for repeating the FM broadcasts from the other Anyfesto Box and occasional some freq scanning)

In the last few month I have worked on the RPi 2 hardware solution. The parts are listed here.

I have two cases for the project, the first a cardboard box that fits all the pieces and can be tossed into a back pack and the second a 3d printed tower shaped box for perm or semi perm installations.

Both are working out well.

02/02/2016

Stop, start, restart, restop, restart.

The multicore RPis do not work well or at all with the PiFM code. Some folks are attempting to fix this. I nthe mean time I have moved the FM section of the project to a less mobile solution but one that works for what I am using it for.

The PiZero seems to run PiFM fine. As I have just one and it is on use on another project it might be a while before I get to reintergrating PiFM into Anyfesto.