Albert: Linux

Sunday, January 03, 2016

RBox: Lightweight Linux Distro for IoT Devices

RBox (RemoteBox) is a lightweight Linux distribution built with Buildroot, designed for IoT devices that need reliable connectivity over the public internet. It runs on low-cost hardware and uses XMPP chat messaging for remote control — no cloud services, port forwarding, or dynamic DNS required.

The Raspberry Pi image provided here works only on Raspberry Pi B+.

Key features

Runs on Raspberry Pi B+, BeagleBone Black, and BeagleBone Green
Small update image — under 20 MB for Raspberry Pi, under 10 MB for BeagleBone
Over-the-air updates with dual-boot failsafe against power outage or network failure
Always-on XMPP chat-bot keeps the device accessible via any Jabber server
Remote GPIO read/write via chat messages
Health monitoring commands
GSM SIM management with Huawei E173 USB modem — read/send/delete SMS, dial USSD codes, voice dialling
Open source — hosted on GitHub

Applications

Home automation — control relays and sensors via GPIO
Remotely deployed GSM SIM management — SMS gateway, balance checks, etc.

Deploying RBox on Raspberry Pi B+

Create two XMPP accounts on a public Jabber server (tested with jabber.de, xabber.de, ubuntu-jabber.de) and authorize them to chat with each other
Download the RBox SD card image
Decompress with 7-Zip or your preferred tool
Write the image to the SD card using Win32DiskImager
Remove and re-insert the SD card — a boot drive appears
Create xmpp-login.txt on the boot drive using this template — replace the sample credentials with your device's XMPP username and password
Insert the SD card into the Raspberry Pi, connect an Ethernet cable, and power on
On your phone, open Xabber and log in with the master XMPP account
The Raspberry Pi should appear online — send Help to see the list of available commands
Send Sysupdate;reboot to update to the latest RBox image — see the full command reference

RBox is in active development. Contributions and feedback are welcome — leave a comment or open an issue on GitHub.

SOURCE CODE

github.com/hackboxguy/brbox — RBox sources and build instructions

Monday, October 11, 2010

Spice MI-300 Review: Budget Android for Linux Hackers

A review of the Spice MI-300, a budget Android phone (~10,000 INR) that doubles as a Linux hacking platform. Internally it is the Commtiva Z71 / Vibo A688, sold under different brand names worldwide.

Pros

Excellent touch response — better than many branded phones at this price
Compact size and thickness comparable with branded devices
Decent camera quality at good distance with good ambient light
Android 2.1 official update available from Spice
Active community providing custom ROMs (Android 2.2 already in testing)
Plenty of hacking resources available in the Android community

Cons

Poor build quality — plastic body
Poor battery life — 1 to 1.5 days at best
Camera cannot focus at short distances (e.g. document scanning)

Hardware — same device, many brands

The phone is known as Vibo A688 / Z71 in the Android community. It is manufactured by Taiwan-based Commtiva and sold under many names:

Apanda A60 (China)
ChinaVision Excalibur
Cincinnati Bell Blaze f800
Commtiva Z71
Muchtel A1 (Taiwan)
Nexian Journey A890 (Indonesia)
Orange Boston
Spice MI-300 (India)
Vibo A688 (Taiwan)
Wellcom A88 (Thailand)
Videocon Evolve V7500

Even Motorola sells similar hardware as the Motorola Quench XT502.

Rooting

After the official 2.1 update, Spice reduced the CPU clock from 600 MHz to 480 MHz (to improve battery life). Rooting the phone and flashing the FiretrapSugar 1.1 custom ROM from Boston Mania restores full control.

Rooting or flashing a custom ROM may void the manufacturer warranty. Do not attempt this unless you understand the risks.

With root access you can:

Set CPU clock profiles to balance performance and battery life
Use the camera flash as a torch
SSH into the phone's Linux shell
Use 3G tethering over Wi-Fi
Run scripts in Ruby, Python, Perl, or JavaScript
Cross-compile C programs with an ARM toolchain and run them on the phone

Recommended apps

Root Explorer (paid) — file manager with root access
QuickSSHd (paid) — SSH server for shell access over Wi-Fi (use PuTTY/WinSCP)
SetCPU (paid) — CPU clock control
Cache Cleaner (free)
Alarm Clock Plus (free)
WebSharing (paid version has more features)
Astro (free file browser)
Skype — VoIP calls over Wi-Fi
Lookout — phone tracking for lost/stolen devices
Barnacle Wifi Tether — turn the phone into a Wi-Fi router