Release Notes: 25 unit pilot - ConnectBox/connectbox-pi GitHub Wiki

Thank you for participating in the first pilot of the next generation ConnectBox platform.

For an up-to-date changelog and list of open issues, see Changelog: 25 unit pilot

Aims of this Pilot

The ConnectBox aims to be a an improvement to the LibraryBox project running on the TP-Link 3040. The project has been driven primarily by the loss of the TP-Link hardware as a platform in response to changes in government regulations of wireless devices, and secondarily by the desire for a lower cost and more flexible platform.

The primary focus of this pilot is to determine the suitability of the hardware, software and operating system to this end. This project brings together both off-the-shelf and custom components to form the ConnectBox product.

Hardware Components

For this test, we have combined the following hardware items:

  • FriendlyARM NanoPi NEO (256M RAM Model) (Vendor page)
  • External USB WiFi Adapter (Ralink RT5372 Chipset) with high-gain antenna (Vendor page)
  • Custom built daughterboard for the NanoPi NEO (named the NEO USB HAT) for adding an additional USB port and a voltage stabalizer for powering the board through the GPIO pins instead of the through the standard microUSB port. NEO USB HAT GitHub Page

Software Components

The ConnectBox runs Armbian Linux, a distribution based on the Ubuntu Xenial Long-Term Release. The ConnectBox runs the Armbian “mainline” kernel, a current (4.11) linux kernel which has battery life and performance improvements over their “legacy” kernel.

Device Security

The images for this pilot are not locked down. The device ships with the following Unix user accounts:

Username: root
Password: connectbox

These credentials should be changed if the device is being operated in a public area.

The Operating System was fully patched when images were created (14-18th July 17). Consider further updates (apply with standard Ubuntu tools) depending on your situation.

The intended listening services on this device are:

  • ssh (ethernet and wifi interfaces)
  • http (ethernet and wifi interfaces)

Getting a ConnectBox Image

This project has created a microSD card image which provides the operating system and software. This image is designed for use with the Ralink RT5372 WiFi Chipset.

You can burn your own image by downloading from here: https://connectbox.technology/ConnectBoxImages/

We recommend you use Etcher to burn the *.img file to a microSD card. Warning: all data on the target microSD card will be erased! Use the program 7Zip to uncompress the *.img.7z file into it's *.img file.

Interface Modes

The ConnectBox can be configured to serve media using an Icon-only interface or to serve a static web-site. Both modes are available, and the administrator can switch modes at any time through the Admin interface (see below for instructions on accessing the Admin interface). The ConnectBox defaults to Icon-only mode.

Icon-only

The icon-only interface is a Finder/Explorer file browser (demo) supporting UTF-8 directory and file names. The presentation of files and directories within the interface can be changed. See: Administering content . Presentation and playback of files is performed using built-in browser capabilities e.g. browser audio and video controls and PDF plugins.

Static-site

In static-site mode, the ConnectBox serves a website using it's nginx web server. The nginx configuration is quite minimal - no dynamic server-side capability (php, cgi etc) is active. As this is a standard nginx v1.10 instance, it is possible to change the nginx configuration by directly editing the nginx configuration under /etc/nginx

Putting Content on the ConnectBox

Media content can be accessed by the device in two ways.

  1. External USB storage: When using external USB storage (connected to the NEO USB HAT), place your files at the root level of the storage. If you are using the Icon-Only web interface, you can create subfolders under the root directory and they will be shown in the interface. If you are running in static-site mode, place your index.html file in the root directory of the USB storage. Example:
USB1:
|
+-Video
| +-HD-Video
| +-SD-Video
|
+-Books
| +-Fiction
| +-Cooking
| +-Particle Physics
…

or

USB1:
|
+ favicon.ico
+ index.html
+-assets
| +-header.png
| +-logo.png
| +-large_funny_cat_sitting_in_tiny_box.jpg
+-css
| +-site.css
+-js
| +-jquery.js
…
  1. Internal MicroSD: Place the content under the /media/usb0 directory, using an equivalent structure to the external storage described above e.g. in static-site mode, put your index.html at /media/usb0/index.html

Administration

The ConnectBox has a separate administration interface. Once you have joined the wifi network, it can be accessed as http://<connectbox-hostname>/admin/

Username: admin
Password: connectbox

The admin interface can be used to change the WiFi SSID and channel, the system hostname and perform operations like system restart and ejection of external USB storage. Reference Documentation is available.

A Word about the Stats

The ConnectBox software comes with a service that periodically parses through the log files and collects information on what files the users are downloading. This information is collected each hour and displayed on the lower half of the home page. The raw stat files in JSON format can be obtained from the Admin menu. If stats are not displayed, please remember that they are collected on a hourly basis. You can either wait for the hourly service to run or you can SSH into the unit and trigger the script yourself. From the bash prompt, run /usr/sbin/logrotate /etc/logrotate.hourly.conf which will trigger the latest stats to be collected.

Known Issues

see Changelog: 25 unit pilot

Reporting Bugs & Submitting / Suggestions

Submit your bug reports, feedback, and suggestions to: http://feedback.connectbox.technology/

Updating to the Latest Version

Our team is constantly making improvements to the software. To get the very latest version, you will need to flash your microSD card to the newest version of our OS. Go to this webpage: ConnectBoxImages and download the latest version of the images. Currently, the most current version is "NEO_mainline_170820.img.7z 338.70MB 2017-08-20 08:35:36". Download that file and then use the program 7Zip to extract out the "NEO_mainline_170820.img" file. Note: that the images are all dated using the following date format (NEO_mainline_yymmdd.img). It is recommended that you verify the SHA1 checksum with the one listed on the webpage to ensure that the file isn't corrupt.

Also on that same webpage is the Windows program Etcher. Download that program and run it. From Etcher, use the "Select Image" button to load in the image file that you just uncompressed and then insert your microSD card into your computer to write to it. The "Select Drive" button may be needed if you have multiple USB drives hooked up. Once the image file and the correct microSD drive are selected, click on the "Flash!" button which will start the image writing process. After Etcher writes and verifies the image to the microSD card, you can remove it and insert it back into the ConnectBox device and then power it up. You will now be using the most current version of the ConnectBox software.

Some notes about microSD cards - be sure that you use a high quality card from a known manufacturer. Also be sure that the card is at least a Class 10 card.