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 directional or sector) should be able to be powered by the compact UPS via PoE.

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.