[mytheory]

This is a fantastic project, and we need more of those. Let's keep in mind that 50% of the world's population did not connect to the internet in the last three months (last un UN starts).

On my end, I worked on an Android version since getting & maintaining a Raspberry Pi or a Linux machine is difficult in remote communities - where finding reliable access to a network or electricity can be tricky. Still, you will see those inexpensive Android phones everywhere. If you are curious: grey-box.ca/uni Early stuff, but we managed to deploy and test in 12 countries, and we are looking for volunteers for some of our digital divide open-source projects.

[moffkalast]

Yeah a Pi is a completely terrible solution for something like this because it doesn't really play to any of its strengths. Android phones are cheaper, more reliable, have a built in battery, touchscreen, GPS and compass (so you can navigate with one too), and have you know... actual power management so you don't run out of said battery. Sometimes they're even dust and waterproof which is probably good in a tropical rainforest or a sandy desert.

[kangalioo]

Where do you get Android phones for cheaper than a Raspberry Pi (e.g. $35 for a Pi 4)?

[moffkalast]

> $35 for a Pi 4

Lol, if you have them at that price I'll take 5. More like $80-120 at current market rates, and then you still need to buy everything else that's already included in a phone.

[asynchronous]

I’m so tired of people citing $35 for a Pi. Maybe for a Pi Zero (non W). But $120 is standard at this point.

[ChuckNorris89]

Second hand market? Samsung, OnePlus, HTC, LG, Nexus, Nokia, Pixels, with quad core CPUs and RAM >2GB can be had dirt cheap depending where you live.

Choose a popular, old flagship that's well supported by the community, and can be flashed with a de-Googled ROM and you're gold.

Old OnePlus devices are still supported today by the community.

[ChatGTP]

I know this will get absolutely smashed but is this such a bad thing anymore ? If you can’t connect to the internet you’re immediately protected from a lot of garbage information, attention hijacking, scams and hacking, child grooming, IP theft, you’re job is probably a lot more secure etc.

I know there is access to information which is beneficial but at some stage I’m not convinced having internet access will necessarily be considered a luxury in the best future.

I know it’s an outrageous sounds claim but I still feel it could go either way.

[qsort]

Access to high-quality internet resources is absolutely a luxury. You can pick and choose what resources you want, it's not TV.

It's like saying that access to a well-stocked university library is not a privilege because most pop books that get published are crap. It's not even the same category of "book".

Negatives of the internet do exist but you're overstating your case. This is about getting basic resources to people who couldn't otherwise access them, I don't see how it can possibly be net negative.

[zamnos]

The privilege is in being able to not have Internet access for an extended period and just enjoy life from a tropical beach, sipping on a mai tai, with no work to check-in on to make sure nothing's blown up. From the first world, only the middle class and higher can afford such a luxury. But the Internet is just so damned useful that, sure, it enables doomscrolling, but it enables so much more as a communication medium (the MVP for many businesses is a email address or a whatsapp number) that the assertion is just ignorant of life before the Internet.

[hammyhavoc]

Well, some content available through the internet is useful. That content was available on CD-ROMs in the '90s as encyclopedias.

The function provided with this project is some content available offline just like those CD-ROMs. You aren't going to be communicating with folks on the other side of the world via it. Ergo, it is not "the internet in a box".

[landemva]

> From the first world, only the middle class and higher can afford such a luxury.

That is a HN perspective.

Blue collar shift workers often leave the work at work, and don't 'hop on a call' outside work. I took a 4x10 shift job and it has good benefits and pays enough for vacations. For the extravagant luxuries, TGFBtc.

[xg15]

Also starting to believe that the real status symbol will be the ability to not have an internet connection or only connect at your own discretion.

I also see a lot of temptation especially in the IoT space to use the internet to control the devices against the users wishes and spy on the user.

You also see tge first attempts of devicemakers to actively ensure an internet connection themselves, independently of what the user set up. (I.e. Apple's Find My network, Amazon's Sidewalk, etc).

I don't think this will become less in the future.

[cogitoergofutuo]

The internet may be full of scams and IP theft, but it also allows people to fulfill their impulse to post, so who is to say that it’s bad?

[ifyoubuildit]

I have a similar feeling. I think there is a definite lifecycle to consumer technology (on the internet you have things like wikipedia, youtube, social media, google search, but this also applies to things like smart phones, operating systems, tvs even).

These things all seem to follow a curve. They are released, adopted and improved, they become amazing, and then at some point they start to decline for whatever reason (even as they may be improving in some aspects - like smart tvs continue to get a better picture but only if you can stomach the extra ads, surveillance, and otherwise creepy anti features).

I wish I could just have windows 7 with security updates, a dumb tv with an awesome screen, almost no subscriptions or cloud based doodads.

Id love a frozen version of the internet that nobody can come along and ruin for whatever reason. Internet in a box seems like a good idea to me.

[stareatgoats]

Thanks, I think we need to discuss this too. I don't believe we can wish the internet away, but we're still in internet infancy, the "wild west" of plugged in, always online, life. Regulators need to catch up, but at the moment they seem to miss the point, mainly trying to cash in and serve their own narrow interests.

We likely need a movement that promotes a healthier use of the tech, which could include things like making it socially unacceptable to be constantly hooked up to your phone, and hefty fines for the manufacturers whenever their hardware/software made clandestine surveillance possible.

If things like these are not technically or socially possible, then I'm guessing we'll see an "anti-internet" movement eventually, too.

[stareatgoats]

Actually, such local "internet in the box" as per the linked article might prove to be a basis for one such "anti-internet" solution: detach from the internet as a whole and enable local communication, resources and traffic only.

Every prepper should really have one!

[jasonjayr]

What's old is new again: if everyone has their own isolated network, then if you need message exchange, you can light up FIDO or UUCP!

[beebeepka]

Oh boi. Don't ever go outside your home because you may get robbed, stabbed, spat on, laughed at, run over, kidnapped, etc. And even worse things await unsupervised children! No fun can be had outside and all knowledge must be carefully curated.

Ugh.

[nibbleshifter]

This is an outrageous claim lol.

[ChatGTP]

I don’t post to make friends.

Edit: Follow up thought, I’m not sure who the internet benefits anymore. It used to be about users. Now I don’t feel the same way.

[nibbleshifter]

I mean, you basically out of hand disregard the infinite potential network connectivity grants you to learn nearly anything to a good level.

Languages? State department language courses are available online, as are many other resources, language classes, language learning communities, etc.

Math? Physics? Chemistry? Again, infinite repository of info.

And so on...

[drra]

Look how few projects containing valuable knowledge are available offline. There's less and less stuff that can work offline.

[bahmboo]

This does not connect to the internet.

[zikduruqe]

Years ago I worked with a project that used eGranary and FabFi mesh networking:

https://widernet-egranary.org/?page_id=5

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FabFi

We were trying to bring Wifi and digital content to some struggling communities.

[myself248]

Ooh ooh ooh!

I've been trying to get Termux/Alpine going on my old Android so I can install IIAB in it, for precisely all these reasons. But I'm linux-clueless and haven't had the best of luck.

UNI doesn't look like it's actually IIAB-on-Android, more like another similar project, yes?

[raybb]

Very cool idea!

How this project funded? Do you plan to make enough money selling boxes to support development or rely on donations?

Kinda wondering if you'd consider the org a social enterprise.

Btw your site doesn't redirect to https, not sure if that's intentional.

[rakoo]

Thanks for what you're doing. Couldn't that be achieved with kiwix as well ? It can serve content over WiFi as well

[lxgr]

The project seems to be using Kiwix, but not only that. For example, you can't serve OpenStreetMaps cards using Kiwix (at least to my knowledge).

[asynchronous]

It seems to be Kiwix+OSM+Archive.org downloads which is really nice. I wonder how the interface works