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IIAB 7.2 Release Notes

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A Holt edited this page Feb 6, 2022 · 529 revisions

Internet-in-a-Box (IIAB) 7.2 was released December 31, 2021 and refined January 1, 2022.

Use it to "steal" the Internet's crown jewels and craft your own LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA with a $35 Raspberry Pi computer, or an old laptop.

Install Internet-in-a-Box (IIAB) 7.2 using its 1-line installer to transform an old PC/laptop into a "learning palace" for a developing world school, that urgently needs this today! Learn how easy it is to DIY an amazing digital library for any school, clinic or community on this planet:

Drag-and-drop the very best of the World's Free Knowledge (Wikipedia in any language, thousands of Khan Academy videos, zoomable OpenStreetMap, E-Books, WordPress journaling, the new Sugarizer 1.5, Toys from Trash electronics projects, RACHEL Content Packs, Kolibri, Nextcloud, ETC) for those who are burning for learning — but just happen to be offline.

The crown jewels are all free, liberated — and open source too! Internet-in-a-Box is now used in schools, libraries and medical clinics in more than 20 countries. Why not DIY your own LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA with a $35 Raspberry Pi computer, starting today?

About

Internet-in-a-Box brings the Internet's crown jewels and the very best of the World’s Free Knowledge (Wikipedia, Khan Academy, OpenStreetMap, E-Books, etc) to those who are burning for learning — but just happen to be offline.

Use drag-and-drop to craft your very own "learning hotspot" with local gems too — tailored to the needs of your school, your library, your clinic, your prison, your region and/or your very own family!

Why not build your own LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA with a $35 Raspberry Pi 4 computer, starting today?

What's New?

What's Upgraded?

What might future versions bring?

  • "Fieldback" Community Analytics
    • (1) Friendly for village librarians, (2) Actionable for IT implementers, (3) Thorough for education/medical researchers #1268
    • Charts showing usage hourly/daily/weekly/monthly PR #2511
    • Matomo for usage analytics, alongside some careful re-thinking of how IIAB teachers and content contributors can learn from users' needs. #1762
  • IIAB out-of-box guided discovery
    • Automatic installation of "Learning Bouquets" during IIAB installation (up to 64 GB or 128 GB typically, "I want what she has!") so new implementers can pick a language — then hit the ground running. #1958
    • Updating & Versioning Infra for:
      1. Learning Bouquets, Content Packs, Kolibri Channels (and Student Portfolios?). Peer catalogs, relating to torrenting/mirroring below? #857 #2553
      2. IIAB Apps "Registry" (might coordinate with point releases?) PR #2533
      3. IIAB software (effectively point releases like 7.2.1?)
    • Torrent-like content interchange between IIAB's ("Maps might be enough for starters...possibly also including Satellite Photos?") as the Sneakernet-of-Alexandria grows more real! PR #2572
    • Better support for Raspberry Pi Imager for effortless installs of prefab IIAB images #2338
    • Enhanced HOW-TO Videos (old view) for enterprising implementers, teachers and students, with actionable subtitles in common languages. Building upon IIAB's YouTube channel. #1975
    • Out-of-box experience/guidance on our most popular OS (Raspberry Pi OS With Desktop) ? #1979
  • Local Search Engine across most/all IIAB Content #2429
  • For a more detailed list, see the Internet-in-a-Box (IIAB) 8.0 Milestone

Credits

Thank you e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e for building your own DIY Library of Alexandria. To serve One & All.

Building on this software and designs contributed by Nzolantima Swasisa, Nathan Koops, Shanti Bhardwa, Mir Rodríguez Lombardo, Mitra Ardron, Kurt Maier, T.K. Kang, Eric Nitschke, César López-Natarén, Joshua Kanani, Josh Dennis, Arky R., Matt Johnson, James Heilman, Sam Zidovetzki, Reno McKenzie, Anish Mangal, Mikko Kotila, Avni Khatri, Blondel Mondésir, Evelyn Fitzgerald, Denis Lafontant, George Hunt, Tim Moody, Jerry Vonau, Adam Holt — among many other contributors !

Not just in your own community — but by keeping in touch with our global volunteer community network (http://OFF.NETWORK) each of you are providing the lifeblood "fieldback" — that keeps us motivated enabling Internet-in-a-Box's quality content collaborations across ALL communities!

Join our Thursday calls if you too can help: MINUTES.IIAB.IO

Frequently Asked Questions: FAQ.IIAB.IO

Known Issues

  • If you connect your IIAB's internal Wi-Fi to the Internet over 5 GHz, you'll prevent older laptops/phones/tablets (which require 2.4 GHz) from connecting to your IIAB's internal hotspot, if wifi_up_down: True was set e.g. in /etc/iiab/local_vars.yml
  • Lokole does not work when installed on OS's like Ubuntu 21.04 or 21.10, until you apply the #2833 workaround.
  • If you're booting from a USB device (e.g. an external disk or flash drive) please set usb_lib_enabled: False in /etc/iiab/local_vars.yml prior to installing IIAB, so that your filesystem is not viewable at http://box/usb. You can also do this after installing IIAB, using Admin Console (http://box.lan/admin) > Configure > Services Enabled > USB based content libraries (uncheck the checkbox) > Save Configuration > Install Configured Options — give it 1-2 minutes and then check that this completed in Utilities (menu) > Display Job Status — and finally reboot. #2552
  • The 1st boot of an IIAB microSD card should NOT occur in a Raspberry Pi Zero W, as this can freeze or worse corrupt the microSD card, failing to expand (resize) the main partition. If you do need to resize: make sure the 1st boot of your IIAB microSD card happens in a Raspberry Pi 3, 3 B+ or 4. #2517
  • Node.js applications like Asterisk/FreePBX, Node-RED and Sugarizer won't work on Raspberry Pi Zero W (ARMv6) if you installed Node.js while on RPi 3, 3 B+ (ARMv7) or RPi 4 (ARMv8). If necessary, run apt remove nodejs or apt purge nodejs then rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list; apt update then (attempt!) to install Node.js on the Raspberry Pi Zero W itself (a better approach than "cd /opt/iiab/iiab; ./runrole nodejs" is to try apt install nodejs or try installing the tar file mentioned at #2082). You might also need apt install npm. Whatever versions of Node.js and npm you install, make sure /etc/iiab/iiab_state.yml contains the line nodejs_installed: True (add it if nec!) Finally, proceed to install Asterisk/FreePBX, Node-RED and/or Sugarizer. #1799
  • A few residual issues may remain at: https://github.com/iiab/iiab/milestone/7
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