Minimal Viable Product

“We want a portable, resilient server for activist groups.”

To define this, one must be clear about the requirements:

• Low energy; when necessary, self-powered and charged by phone charging infrastructure like powerbanks.
• Low cost;
  
• Compact & lightweight.
• Able to function with or without an internet connection; to serve numerous clients at decent range/through obstacles.
• Reliable.
• Able to interoperate with other mesh nodes (with or without internet connectivity)
• Hosts own resources & services
• Easy for novices to learn to operate

At this stage we are looking at an R. Pi 5 rigged to boot from, and store to an integrated SSD, and coupled with a small UPS, a USB cellular modem and a USB WiFi dongle/antenna. The next level of capacity will be to incorporate an OpenWRT router instead of the dongle/antenna. First & foremost this increases the number of clients that can be supported, and secondly, it starts a mesh.

Alternately, if greater range is the priority, external antennae (either omnidirectional or sector) should be able to be powered by the compact UPS via PoE. Such antennae use as much or more power than an R. Pi, so a UPS upgrade might also be needed.

As for software, I am now tending back towards Internet-in-a-Box (IIAB) after a long flirtation with its fellow Debian suite Yunohost. The decisive factor is control of network mode. More on all that later when the hardware is ready.