CALL: Saturday, January 8 at 14:00 UTC

Announcements
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Call Reminder : Saturday, January 8 at 14:00 UTC

The FreedomBox community’s upcoming progress call is this Saturday, January 8 at 14:00 UTC. We aim for our calls to last no more than one hour, although sometimes the core team stays on the call past one hour to discuss additional items.

As always, our team will discuss the latest issues in our software development and community. All are welcome to join the discussion or listen!

How To Connect :
We are using Mumble. Please connect to server mumble.freedombox.org port 64738.

  • We use Mumble for voice communications to allow residents outside of the United States to participate without running up a phone bill.
  • You do not need to create a username before hand (just make one up).
  • No passwords are required.
  • You can join the call using desktop or mobile apps. There is a client package in debian (mumble) and an app for Android phones (Mumla).
  • We recommend you use headphones (or half-duplex mode) to avoid any echo.

Notes will be taken at pad.riseup.net. A link to the collaborative document to be posted in chat before meeting.

Comment agenda items here! If you can’t make it to the call but want to put something on the agenda, please feel free to comment in this thread. We’ll get to it if time permits.

Hope to see you there!

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I have two ideas I’d like discuss:

Firstly, about the Raspberry Pi (RP). RP is one of the most popular single board computers out there, especially among newcomers. However, the installation of FreedomBox (FB) is rather difficult on these devices. Users have two options.

The first option is that they go for the arm image and take the struggle to install the additional UEFI.
The second option is that they choose the Debian tested images. The tested images don’t require the additional UEFI and they can be transformed into a FB using the command line method. This method is complicated too.

  • The RP has to be connected to a monitor and a keyboard.
  • The HDMI connector is not the standard one, and most people don’t have a Micro HDMI cable at home.
  • These steps are unavoidable, as the Debian system comes with an empty password, so there is no way to connect to it using SSH.
  • The NetworkManager has to be configured.
  • After installing the system and compliting the First Boot Setup, the server has to be restarted, otherwise installation of apps fails.

Apart from these, the system with the second option (at least for Bullseye, which I use at home), works very well. If we had a FB images based on the tested Debian image, that is modified, so it eliminates all these difficulties, we could win a lot of new users. FB could be available from the RP Imager and retailers would be happy to sell RP kits with FB preinstalled, the same way they sell them with LibreElec SD cards.

The other thing is less lengthy: what do you think of Gerbera? Do you think it could be part of FB?

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Relevant freedom-maker issue

1 Like