[Freedombox-discuss] [ask] booting and configuring
Jonas Smedegaard
dr at jones.dk
Tue Mar 15 04:32:24 UTC 2011
On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 07:03:23PM -0700, Thomas Lord wrote:
>
>Opinions and speculations requested, please.
>What is our group vision about this:
>
>I mail off a headless freedombox to some non-hacker
>friend (who, let's assume, has a computer
>and Internet connection at home already, but
>who isn't a sysadmin or anything close).
>
>He opens it up. Plugs it in / turns it
>on. The package, I hope, has one page of
>instructions about how to configure the
>freedombox and start using it.
>
>What does the process look like?
>
>Does my friend have to have wifi?
>Or a spare ethernet cable and a router
>with a spare slot? What if his wifi
>is password protected? Does he
>telnet to the box? Use a web browser?
>Or does it include a (possibly tiny, minimal)
>display and my friend is supposed to plug
>in a keyboard?
>
>What is a realistic and desirable "vision"
>for the "first 10 minutes" experience?
I imagine something like this:
* Initiate personalization mode in one of these ways:
a) Plug a USB keyboard into the box while turned off.
Turn box on, and when light changes to slowly blinking
(approx. 1 minut) type in a temporary passphrase (yes,
blindly, there is no screen) and unplug the keyboard.
b) Hold down reset button for 5 seconds while turned off.
Turn box on while keeping down reset button, and when
light changes to slowly blinking (approx. 1 minut)
release the reset button.
* Notice how light blinks double now, indicating pairing mode.
If not then repeat above step.
* connect the box and your own computer one of these ways:
a) connect directly with an ethernet cable
b) connect directly with a USB cable - showing as a usb-net at
your computer
c) connect your own computer to wifi network "freedomnet"
offered by the box.
* connect to web address http://freedombox.local/ or connect
to DLNA device "freedombox".
* Enter your passphrase (if using reset button, enter 1234).
* Select the Freedoms you want enabled, and select "OK".
* If your selection included personal freedoms then enter your
nickname (you can add more later), and save the WebID you
are then being given.
NB! Very important that you keep this WebID and keep it
private - it is your key to personal data on FreedomBox!
I want activation to be possible even in a somewhat hostile environment.
I want to support Zeroconf of most types of personal computers in common
use today - both Mac and Linux (mDNS/DNS-SD) and Windows and e.g. some
TVs (SSDP part of UPnP).
I guess DLNA style interfaces are unable to store a WebID so cannot
support personal freedoms. They can instead be presented with a notice
that personal freedoms needs a more capable computer because simple
passwords is too weak to provide adequate protection.
I tried hard to imagine alternative ways of interaction (e.g. call it
with a SIP phone and interact with it through voice and phone digits).
I am sure design folks are more creative here, and I would be more than
happy to help find technical ways to support non-web-style interfaces!
Anyone knows which interfaces (plural - I assume not one is ideal for
all) most ideally support blind, deaf or differently challenged people?
I strongly believe that initial setup should consist only of a list of
enable/disable style choices and (if needed at all) a single personal
identifier and/or a single box identifier - all services should have
sensible defaults and be ready to go (any tuning is optional and done at
later reconnect). This helps keep initial setup to a minimum and helps
ease ability to provide vastly different kinds of interfaces (like
voice-controlled or even clapping-hands-by-certain-logic).
- Jonas
--
* Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
* Tlf.: +45 40843136 Website: http://dr.jones.dk/
[x] quote me freely [ ] ask before reusing [ ] keep private
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