Topic: [Offer expired] Do you want a PirateBox? (Read 3109 times)

This box arrived for me today - playing with it now, feels good to be delving into linux again Thanks, Distribution. Will give it a proper test this weekend.

I thought about changing the SSID and the picture on the front page, but I didn't have time to figure it out. It was going to be an American flag with the SSID RepubliBox.

You should change the title, as I got a bit excited for a sec....

A Pirate Box....

Excellent, can't wait to get it sent through :-) will be interesting to see what kind of use it gets.

My main aim is to take it along to hackdays, geek meetups and other day-long conferences and advertise it as a open social stuff box for all the people with documents/pictures to share.

I had it down on the floor also, but didn't get a picture. I'll try to get a picture of it down on the floor today.

I used to think so. Their current state is really limited. When they get meshing down, it might be a different story. But even as it stands, I think they serve several purposes. Or rather, I thought of a couple uses which motivated me to complete it. The first thing that really got me going on it was learning that governments are willing and able to keep people from communicating through centralized means, such as cell service and the internet. With the PirateBox, while limited in area, people can communicate electronically and relay information over a distance anonymously, and to people who may need the information more than someone across the country. But the information will be disbursed to people who will be able to disseminate it further. A second use I discovered while running the PirateBox at a meeting. Our speaker was talking about a document he had that multiple people wanted. His solution was, "Give me your email addresses and I'll email it." But instead, he could've uploaded it to the PirateBox, and everyone could've retrieved it from there. In addition, Max Cho wrote about it as a social tool, which i thought was pretty interesting: http://maxcho.com/piratebox/.

I have a Piratebox. Little things are fun. Useless as hell, though.

Cool, have fun!

Ready to go.

I had two takers, and I'll be building these and have them taken to the RNC later this month.

That suitcase looks like a bomb!

I like this stuff but I prefer the low tech deaddrop method of gluing a USB stick into a public place.

I'd like to see the Android method done into a single neat application, could work alright when plugged in. Might need a 1m solar charger to keep it decentralised though

The only problem I could see would be in the power plug. But the good thing is that it has a USB which plugs into the power plug. So if you get the power plug part from the UK, you should be in business. Unless of course you just build a battery pack. Other than that, it should be good.

I love the idea of these things, will see if anyone wants to co-sponsor with me though. Would they work just as well if shipped over to the UK/Europe?

I can only offer this the next couple of days, let's say until the 14th. I'll be out of town later this month, and the parts can take a while to ship, so if anyone wants one, I want to make sure I have enough time to do it.

The most portable one is the TP-Link MR3040. I haven't personally worked with it, but it looks about the same to set it up and it's only about as big as an iphone. It looks like the cost on it is about $54 with the shipping to me, and then of course the jump drive (an 8gb is about 7 dollars). I'm just going by Amazon prices, because that's where I'll be getting everything and just passing on the prices. Unless you find something cheaper. The only problem with this one is that, according to the manufacturer, the battery lasts "up to 4 hours." However, you could get something like this to get a few more hours out of it. I don't know what kind of range this has. I suspect it's about the same as the router I have, which is very good when you consider its size. I was in a store and had my PirateBox on in a cigar box in my car across the parking lot and I was still getting two bars signal. So in wide open spaces, I would say you could get a couple hundred meters range. But even inside, my little router will cover the whole house.

The router I have is about half the price. It's under 30 dollars and is really small. But like I said, it has to be plugged in or you have to have a separate battery pack. Something like this would be great. I built my own battery pack that uses ten AAs. It should last a couple days, assuming it's always on. There's a tutorial on how to build one. If I built it, it would be the only thing I couldn't do at cost, because it was just too much work.

So to simplify it, you would be good with an MR3040 router, 8GB USB, and extra solar battery pack. At cost, it comes out to about 89 dollars. Then whatever it costs to ship it to you. If you want to go cheaper, the WR703N (the one I have), with an 8GB USB, and extra solar battery pack (unless you just want to build your own), is about 65 dollars. Like I said, unless you can point me to lower prices. The WR703N definitely has good range. You can get better, but you'll lose the portability. So let me know.

My father has been Constantly telling me "go build a DYI pirate box for me so i can---" so im thinking of just buying one... And your prices are really nice, Considering that it's all assembled, functional, and i just need to "plug and play" with it...

I'll speak with him, Please post some details about one of the Portable ones, My father is looking for LongRange and decent battery power (4.5-8hrs time) of active "full load" usage.
 

The most basic one is a TP-Link WR703N router (29.97) and an 8gb USB drive (around 7 dollars). So rounded up, 37 dollars plus whatever it costs to ship it to you. This one has to be plugged in or you have to have a battery pack. If you want one that's portable, the TP Link MR3040 has an internal battery and is about the size of an iPhone.  It costs 50 dollars plus 7 for the 8gb USB. That one is cool because its self contained and portable. The battery is supposed to last 4-6 hours.

How much for the cheapest one?

That's really cool. Also kind of complicated. I'm sure it's a lot more effective, but in this case I'd like something that is as easy to carry as a cellphone. The one I've built now has really decent range, especially if it's wide open and up higher. But it's also small enough that I can put it in my pocket. I like where they're going with that though.

Here's some info from The Free Network Foundation which deployed this suitcase-based "Freedom Tower":



 - http://www.commons.freenetworkfoundation.org/?title=MayFirst2012NYCCrateDeployment