Installfest: FreedomBox Turns 10 Hackathon

Community Hackathons
1

Installfest information:

  • What: Learn how to install FreedomBox on your hardware of choice
  • When: 1:15pm-5:00pm on Saturday, November 16, 2019
  • Where: Jerome Greene Hall Room 103, Columbia Law School

Instructions: What to know before the hackathon

  • You can install FreedomBox on a single-board computer, virtual machine (host can be GNU/Linux, Windows or macOS), or a laptop running Debian. We recommend installing it on a single-board computer.
  • Before attending the hackathon, decide if you want to install FreedomBox on your hardware during the hackathon or after the hackathon. If you want to install FreedomBox on your own hardware after the hackathon, then simply attend the hackathon to learn the steps and prepare yourself for your own installation process.
  • If you decide you want to install FreedomBox at the hackathon, bring the following hardware
    • For single board computer installation (learn more about that in this video
      • Single board computer (learn your options here)
      • Power supply
      • A mirco-SD card (at least 8 GB)
      • Ethernet cable
      • A laptop or mobile phone to interact with FreedomBox web interface
    • For laptop installation
      • Your laptop
      • Power supply
      • USB stick
      • Ethernet cable
    • For VirtualBox installations
      • Install VirtualBox on your operating system (GNU/Linux, Windows or macOS)
      • Ensure that VirtualBox is working well
    • Optional: Android phone with Google app store or F-droid app store (so you can download the FreedomBox app)

Installation steps (we will explain these steps at the hackathon):

  1. Download Etcher for your OS (Windows/Mac/Linux)
  2. Download correct FreedomBox image for local server using the URL provided
  3. Read FreedomBox Quick Start page: https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/Manual/QuickStart
  4. Write downloaded image
    - Write image to SD card using Etcher
    - Write image to USB stick using Etcher for laptops
  5. Insert SD card/USB stick or create VM
    - Create port forwarding for VM 4430/tcp to 443/tcp.
  6. Start the machine or VM
  7. Open browser and visit URL
    - For VMs use https://localhost:4430
    - For SBCs and laptops find the machine in the network? TODO: How?
    - Use FreedomBox app on Android app store or F-droid app store.
  8. Setup domain name if you have one
  9. Install apps

Resources: