This is an old revision of the document!
====== MediaBox project ====== Wireless Toronto's MediaBox project is a derivative of [[http://ilesansfil.org|Ile Sans Fil]]'s [[http://halproject.net|HAL project]]. The two projects may have slightly different goals (or our goals might be the same -- we don't know yet), but we intend to share the same software platform, and similar hardware platform. ====== News ====== **February**: The February WT hacknight will be to work on the MediaBox. [[http://upcoming.org/event/146918/]] **January 2007**: MediaBox was incorrectly called "Mediashop" in the Globe & Mail article about the [[Roach Coach]]. ====== Planning ====== ===== February Hacknight ===== At the hacknight, we'll work on: * pick up the project again after a few quiet months, reviewing what it is, how it works, why we're doing it, and reviewing the decisions we made in the past about its ongoing development [Gabe] * checking on the status of the three existing MediaBoxen [Michael & Andrew?] * discussing other storage options [Gabe?] * discussing and agreeing upon functionality for phase 1 and beyond [everyone] * etc. ====== Meeting notes ====== ===== early October 2006 ===== Michael P, Andrew and Gabe met at Gabe's house 1) Where: * First at Yonge-Dundas Square and Concord Cafe * Next at 401 Richmond and Cameron House? 2) Future tech: The current boxes have only 1.5GB storage. Multi-gig USB keys are available now for pretty cheap... for future boxes, we could use these, or go with full-on 300+GB USB drives. It depends on what we intend to do with these boxes. 3) Content: In Montreal, ISF has two major content partners, who will be producing playlists (is that right?) for their HAL boxes. In Toronto, we haven't done this, and realistically, probably won't. So what do *we* want to do with these boxes? We discussed it, but nothing was conclusive... we came up with two ideas which we'll implement on a trial basis: - an arbitrary collection of music content, available via iTunes - a quota-enabled, world-writable samba share, to see what people do with it 4) To-do: Music: * rsync with content repository on auth server, every 3 hours * get permission from podcasters to put their stuff on our boxes * technically, since these files can't be downloaded, we don't need to be careful about copyright issues Samba share: * if the slug can't do quotas at either the linux or samba level, we're going to have to rethink this * email ops list each time a file is added, removed or edited * no sync-ing with content repository Both: * as this is a trial, we need full logs of if/how people are using the service. Our rsync setup is one-way, so logs will be emailed to the ops list nightly. * we're not going to bother installing an openvpn client on the boxes; instead we'll use Andrew's clever dual-ssh method 5) Naming: * each box will be named SLUG1, SLUG2, SLUG3, etc. For now they'll all have the same iTunes content, but eventually we'll want to keep track of which is which. Something on the server-side will keep track of that for us: which slug is at which venue. * we're not fond of the name "HAL", which stands for "Hub des Artistes Locaux" -- "local artists hub". We'll call them "MediaBoxes" instead, which gives us more flexibility in terms of how we use these boxes. 6) Next steps: * Andrew will work on the tech stuff. * Michael will pursue content. * Gabe will work on text & design for the web site and portal pages.
