#+KEYWORDS: freedombox, debian, beaglebone, red matrix, email, web server, home server, internet, censorship, surveillance, social network, irc, jabber
#+DESCRIPTION: Turn the Beaglebone Black into a personal communications server
- Optionally a 5V 2A power supply for the Beaglebone Black
- Access to the internet via a router with ethernet sockets
- USB thumb drive (for backups or storing media)
- One or more subdomains created on https://freedns.afraid.org
- A purchased domain name and SSL certificate (only needed for Red Matrix)
- A laptop or desktop machine with the ability to write to a microSD card (might need an adaptor)
You will also need to know, or find out, the IP address of your internet router and have a suitable static IP address for the Beaglebone on your local network. The router should allow you to forward ports to the Beaglebone (often this is under firewall or "advanced" settings).
Check that within *initial_setup.sh* the router IP address and static IP for the Beaglebone are set correctly.
Plug the microSD card into your laptop/desktop and then run the *initial_setup.sh* script. For example:
#+BEGIN_SRC bash
./initial_setup.sh /dev/sdX
#+END_SRC
where */dev/sdX* is the device name for the microSD card. Often it's */dev/sdb* or */dev/sdc*, depending upon how many drives there are on your system. The script will download the Debian installer and update the microSD card. It can take a while, so be patient.
When the initial setup is done follow the instructions on screen to run the main Freedombone script. You can either edit the variables within the *install-freedombone.sh* script directly, or create a separate configuration file called *freedombone.cfg* which contains those variables. Variables which you might want to put into a *freedombone.cfg* file are:
The GPG public/private key variables are for the filenames of exported GPG keys, and if a private key filename is given then it will be automatically shredded after import.
The [[https://freedns.afraid.org/][FreeDNS]] subdomain codes can be found under "Dynamic DNS" and "quick cron example". On the last line it will be the string located between the '?' and the '==' characters.
If you don't specify a variant type with the final option then everything will be installed. If you have a *freedombone.cfg* file then it should be in the same directory as *install-freedombone.sh*.
Installation is not quick, and depends upon which variant you choose and your internet bandwidth. Allow about three hours for a full installation on the Beaglebone Black. On the Beaglebone installation is in two parts, since a reboot is needed to enable the hardware random number generator and zram.
When done you can ssh into the Freedombone with:
#+BEGIN_SRC bash
ssh username@domain -p 2222
#+END_SRC
Any manual post-installation setup instructions or passwords can be found in */home/username/README*. You should remove any passwords from that file and store them within a password manager such as KeepassX.
It's also possible to install Freedombone onto other hardware, including other types of single board computer. Any system with a fresh installation of Debian Jessie will do. Just make sure that you change the variable INSTALLING_ON_BBB to "no" within *freedombone.cfg* or the *install-freedombone.sh* script. Obviously, you don't need to run the *initial_setup.sh* script on non-Beaglebone systems.
* Download the [[https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer][Debian Jessie "netinst" installer]]
* Use [[https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/usb-creator-gtk/][Startup Disk Creator]] or [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNetbootin][Unetbootin]] to copy the netinst image to a USB thumb drive
* Connect the machine to your internet router using an ethernet patch lead. Freedombone is a fully free (as in freedom) system and so wifi drivers may not work. A wired network connection will give better performance anyway.
* On the target machine boot from the USB drive and go through the installation. It's a good idea to use LVM and disk encryption together with a long passphrase which will be hard to crack by brute force methods. Keep a note of the passphrase in your password manager.
* Within the installer unselect the *print server* and select the *ssh server*
* After installation use ssh to access the machine and become the root user
#+BEGIN_SRC bash
ssh username@192.168.1.60
su
#+END_SRC
* If you have GPG keys you may wish to transfer them to the */home/usernname* directory. If the machine has a second USB socket or an SD card slot then that may be the most secure way to do it.
