HACKS :: Not too long ago I managed to get my
EEEPC to run the Arduino IDE by installing Ubuntu Netbook 10.10. I'm always on the lookout for added functionality for my old netbook. With its cramped keyboard and sluggish response time (compared to my other computers) it would be ideal to give it a job it can quietly do on its own in the corner somewhere. That's just what the PirateBox lets it do.
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| An old EEEPC learns a new trick :: now serving files wirelessly. |
What is a PiarateBox? A file sharing and chatting device that uses WiFi to connect any users in range. While the term "PirateBox" makes it sound illicit, I assure you it has found a most "legit" use here at Helios Labs. We teach students a wide variety of subjects and occasionally this involves computers. Especially with younger students, allowing them to connect to the Internet during lessons can become a distraction. When students need files, they can access them instead, wirelessly, via the PirateBox.
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| A student's Android tablet connected to the PirateBox. |
It looks like the project has a lot of momentum and buzz around it, so hopefully it will gain new features, and new potential in the near future.
You can see
the installation process here on the PirateBox forum.
I used my Windows laptop to download
UnetBootin and
the PirateBox .ISO. I wrote the disk image onto an old USB thumb drive, and tested it first on my laptop, then on my EEEPC.
For the EEEPC, I didn't have to do anything at all to it except hit F2 during start up, go to
Hard Disk Drives and make sure my USB device was selected, then make sure it was set as the first option under
Boot Device Priority. After that, it worked perfectly and on the very first try. Very rarely does any project like this go so smoothly -- it is a true testament to the skill and thought put into it by the developers of this project.
