File Sharing In Your Pocket

The idea of a pirate box is pretty simple. All you need is a tiny Linux system with a WiFi adapter, a bit of storage space, and the software that will allow anyone to upload a few files to the server and an interface that will let anyone on the network download those files. In practice, though, a pirate box is a mess of wires and power adapters – not the pocketable device a WiFi file sharing box should be.

[Chris] came up with a much smaller file sharing beacon. It’s not based on a router; instead, [Chris]’ build uses an ez Share WiFi microSD adapter. It’s a device meant to push pics taken by a digital camera up to the Internet, but by configuring the software just so, up to five users can connect to the adapter and pull files down from a microSD card. The build only requires putting power to the correct pins. A LiPo battery and charge controller takes care of this problem.

There are a few shortcomings to this project – [Chris] doesn’t know how to upload files to the device. Maybe someone sufficiently clever can figure out how to make that work. Still, if you’re ever in a situation where you’d like to share some files with people in the same building, this is the device you need.

Thanks [Jake] for the tip.

PirateBox, For All Your Wireless Dead Drop Needs

piratebox

Here’s an interesting idea: get a router, Android device, or Raspberry Pi, put it on its own wireless network, and allow anyone to upload and download files. That’s a PirateBox, a small node in the web of digital culture and also a really great way to distribute files at a LAN party.

We’ve seen these type of things before, but now, thanks to [David] and [Matthias], and a bunch of other people, there’s now an easy way to turn a Raspi, Android, or anything that runs OpenWrt into a wireless dead drop. Also included in the software is an image board (think chan) a chat room, UPnP media server, and a browser-based file sharing system. Want to share a “linux distro”? Just upload it to the box over WiFi and it’s available to anyone in range.

Installers are available for devices you probably have sitting around in a junk drawer. Great for that Pi you’re trying to find a use for, and figuring out how to run one of these completely off the grid is an interesting challenge, to boot.

 

 

A Pirate Box For Sharing Files

This is [illwill]’s Pirate Box, the newest addition to the network over at NESIT, the Meriden, CT hackerspace.

A pirate box is a completely anonymous wireless file server, kind of like a wireless version of a dead drop. It’s the perfect device for transferring files at a LAN party or hackerspace. The guts of [illwill]’s portable server comes from an old Fonera router NESIT had lying around. After installing OpenWRT, connecting a few batteries, and finding a wonderful lunch box / treasure chest enclosure on ebay, [illwill] had a portable file server perfect for sharing files.

The pirate box isn’t connected to the Internet. Instead, users can connect to each other and the 16GB USB drive by simply connecting to the router’s WiFi and opening up a browser. All web page requests are redirected to the Pirate Box page, where users can chat and share files. The folks at NESIT uploaded a few public domain files to their pirate box, but they’re anxiously waiting to see what files other users will upload.XVID.AC3.HQ.Hive-CM8.