Can Etherpad be installed on PirateBox to make a "CollaborateBox"?

Hi,

I'm very interested by PirateBox but with a different use-case. I'm wondering if the "basic" chat functionality could be replaced or complemented by adding an Etherpad (Etherpad Lite actually) implementation to create a "CollaborateBox".

The idea is that you could come to any location (village square, meeting-room, classroom, etc...), without the need of an internet connection, turn on your "CollaborateBox" and seamlessly have all the WiFi enabled devices near it connected to a local collaborative editor.

[*] Etherpad Foundation: [etherpad.org]
[*] Source Code: [github.com]
[*] Demo: [beta.etherpad.org]

Ultimately my goal would be to use Apache Wave / Wave-in-a-Box instead of Etherpad to have an even richer collaborative environment, but the product isn't finalized yet (Current state demo: [waveinabox.net] - A closed source more polished version: [www.co-meeting.com]). For now Etherpad would be good enough.

Does that idea seems doable?

Thanks


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Because email is so last millenium...

Hi,
nice idea.
I can say one thing definitiv: It won't work out of the box.
I have no experience with js on sh, but I think there must be setup a few things to get this running.

edit: currently there is no node-implementation for OpenWrt machines (not equal x86 architecture) - So bad stuff.

Matthias



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2012 10:49AM by Matthias.

I've played around a little with Etherpad Lite and it runs nicely on Debian. I think we should plan to add it to future Debian releases of PirateBox (e.g. running it on the Raspberry Pi).

For anyone who wants to play around with Etherpad Lite, try out their beta demo site and check out this easy tutorial to get it up and running on Debian/Ubuntu.

Hi David,
for x86 / x64 yes. Rasperry is a ARM-based plattform, so (currently) you can't use node.js on ARM (or didn't I see it?!)

(few minutes later) .. I found this cross-build how-to for node.js [fastr.github.com]
So it is considerable.

Matthias

Hey Matthias,

I don't have my Raspberry Pi yet so I can't confirm but it appears possible to install Node.JS on ARM (v5-v7). Check out:

[blog.tomg.co]
[www.nodejs-news.com]

Oh very nice! Thank you! (Currently don't have much time to search and read carefully).

Now, please find a cross-build howto for MIPS based systems (MR3020)

kind regards Matthias

Found a MIPS port for node.js today

[github.com]

Nice work!

It would be SUPERB if it becomes possible to run Etherpad Lite or the full Etherpad on a MR3020!

I want that for my classroom!
the FING (french foundation) is working on it:
[wiki.openfing.org]
hope it will be released pretty soon, coz summer break is ending...
SylWil

This is actually a good idea

Hopefully 0.5.2 might have this released a script/
But we don't know the processing requirements of Etherpad. The WR703n and the MR3020 both only have 400Mhz CPUs and 32MB RAM.

Walkaround is Google's open source Wave
[code.google.com]

darts Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've played around a little with Etherpad Lite and
> it runs nicely on Debian. I think we should plan
> to add it to future Debian releases of PirateBox
> (e.g. running it on the Raspberry Pi).



Hi folks! Happy new year to you all ;-)

I come back to have some news on this idea: Has someone managed to get Etherpad-Lite running on its PirateBox?
If yes: how well does it work, how hard was it to install and are there written steps to reproduce?

Also, where can a non-coder like me read about the PirateBox new releases and new features?
I've quickly searched the Wiki and this forum but haven't found a "PirateBox News" section.

Thanks, Best regards

Because email is so last millenium...

I got it to work fine with PirateBoxLive and the Raspberry Pi image, you can count on at least having an option to have Etherpad on these versions. As a note, the Raspberry Pi image doesn't have a lot of memory so it was definantly something I felt.

It's very easy to put Etherpad on a PirateBox ! Just use a more powerfull cpu, like an arm cortex, and a cheap usb wifi dongle that work with hostapd. Don't bother with raspberry pi, it's mostly a maketing coup by broadcom. Instead use the nice Olinuxino Lime by Olimex which can work with LiPo battery.
Everything is detailed on CowoBox.net . Have fun !

2014? How are we looking? Any progress?

I had a go at using the scripts from [github.com] to build node and the required npm packages for etherpad-lite ..

When I tried to start it up it kinda worked.. or at least started too. But then just stalled. I'm guessing my router (WR703N) just didn't have the resources to run it.