IRC-SBC
| Description | A cheap single-board computer aiming to lower the barrier to set up a persistent connection to IRC. Its features are similar to that of running an IRC bouncer or CLI client on a VPS, or having an irccloud subscription. The major advantage of IRC-SBC is that you have the infrastructure fully under your control, at a one-time cost of less than renting a VPS for two months. |
|---|---|
| Has website | |
| Persons working on | Derecho |
| Tags | irc, bnc, embedded, iot |
| Located at assembly | Darkscience |
| Other projects... | |
Contents
IRC-SBC
Concept
IRC-SBC is a tiny, low-power device that hosts your IRC connection to your favourite servers for you. Connect to it with your computer or phone, and see the chat history that has happened while you weren't there. You can instantly participate in the conversation and respond to any personal highlights or messages that were made while you were away.
IRC-SBC has been designed to be a low-cost and low barrier alternative to IRCCloud or hosting your own IRC bouncer (or terminal client) on a VPS. For the price of 2 month's worth of either the IRCCloud service or a VPS, you permanently own your own infrastructure for hosting such a service yourself. Take control over your communications and get rid of monthly recurring costs with the IRC-SBC.
Realisation
IRC-SBC as a solution consists of both a cheap single-board computer and the custom Linux-based OS containing all required IRC programs preconfigured and running out-of-the-box.
The single-board computer chosen for this project is the Orange Pi Zero. This is a very low-cost small single-board computer which comes with Ethernet and WiFi support. Boards are available for under 10 EUR including shipping from Aliexpress. If you want to set up IRC-SBC yourself, feel free to order the board directly from the supplier and use our image. Alternatively, we (Darkscience assembly) will have a few of these boards for sale at the event that you could buy. The price will be around 10 EUR, which is determined to merely cover purchase costs and shipping.
Our aim is to have most, if not all, of the required work on the image done before 33C3 occurs. At the event you'll be welcome to come sit at the Darkscience table and contribute to the source!
Resources
Links to the repository and images will appear here as they are set up.
Toolchain / build environment: https://git.drk.sc/Derecho/irc-sbc-buildroot
