Distro: PiBox 0.5.0 (initial beta release)

[mjhammel]

PiBox provides a build system based on Crosstool-NG, Buildroot/Busybox (mdev), the Linux kernel, Rasperry Pi firmware and installation tools to create a base system that can be installed to an SD card to boot a Raspberry Pi. The base system serves as a minimal foundation on which opkg based extensions such as XBMCBox can be installed. The build system provides an easy to customize environment for creating custom software platforms for purpose-built systems based on the Raspberry Pi.

PiBox is intended as a build system, though binary release are made available to try out the system. It's current focus is to provide a lightweight system for providing services (wifi webcam, media server, platform for DLP display) for my travel trailer. Wifi requires manual configuration of USB ids in /etc/usbhandler.conf. RTL8187B based adapters are recommended.

Developers are wanted to help in adding new features and cross compiling additional packages. Also, feel free to fork this distribution for your own custom platform. The aim is to make an easy to use meta-build, making creation of a custom distribution as simple as possible.

• Main Site / Wiki: http://www.graphics-muse.org/wiki/pmwik ... aspberryPi
  Build Instructions: http://www.graphics-muse.org/wiki/pmwik ... i.Software
  Git: https://gitorious.org/pibox
  Issue Tracker: http://redmine.graphics-muse.org/projects/pibox/issues

Forums and issue tracker are not publicly accessible at the moment, mostly because I'm having a problem keeping Redmine running. If you want access, please contact me directly: mjhammel@graphics-muse.org.

Thanks.

[mjhammel]

A while back I made an official 0.5.0 release for PiBox which I announced on the Raspberry Pi Forums. Since then I've made significant advances in preparing PiBox for use as a media server in my travel trailer. Some of the features I've recently implemented include:

• Support for running as a wireless access point
  Support for full network configuration through a custom UI
  Support for running dhcp server
  Support for USB-attached DisplayLink Monitor
  Enabled NFS support
  Enabled webcam support

Other features which are currently in development include

• Web streaming of webcam
  I2C monitor of sensors (temperature at a minimum)
  Alsa sound support
  Integration of XBMCBox package to play NFS mounted videos

At the moment PiBox will depend on a 10 port USB powered hub with a 2.5A or higher rating. The DisplayLink monitor will be used for system monitoring displays. A miniature wireless keyboard/mouse device will initially be used for input but I'd like to switch that to either a touch screen DisplayLink monitor (preferred) or a handheld remote of some kind.

When I'm done I expect to be able to:

• Stream webcam monitoring out the back window to a tablet's browser (so I can see behind the trailer from the tow vehicle using existing capabilities of tablets and phones)
  Serve media files mounted on USB attached SD cards over NFS
  Play videos wirelessly over NFS through XBMC using an HDMI attached micorDLP projector (that displays on the outside wall of the trailer but inside our R-Dome).

Things are moving along pretty good now. I still have some cleanup to do of the DisplayLink UI and will have to write special applications for monitoring and displaying output from sensors. But I'm getting close to being able to stream the webcam and using XBMC on a second PiBox. With luck I should have most of this working before Halloween.