# IBEBrasil Catalytic Report 1 - Introduction --- IBEBrasil peers (Thiago Paixão and Carla Jankz) took over the installation, testing and workshops activities with Librerouter in the communities that they were operate (Marrecas and Casa dos Meninos). The main objective, besides the facilities, was the technological appropriation of the hardware and software, contributions to the project, dissemination and sharing of the acquired knowledge. IBEBrasil would receive six Librerouters and USD $ 360.00 to carry out the activities. 2 - Presentations --- Two public presentations on the Librerouter project were held. In both it was possible to replicate all the knowledge acquired during the exchanges carried out with Altermundi, regarding technical issues, as well as about the project history and approval process. ### Peer Exchange - Brazil During the immersion and visit of peers from Latin America in the community of Marrecas, in Campos de Goytacazes - RJ, was explained to those present, what is the Librerouter, and how this project could impact the network that already exists in the communities. Community demands were discussed and how Librerouter could help solve them. The biggest demand from users of Marrecas is the installation of a hotspot in the central square, and a simpler way to use network authentication system, something like Captive Portal's 'Pirania' module can help solve. ** Photos: ** https://share2.apc.org/index.php/s/Co6EG6rjiEYiwYA?path=%2FACTIVITIES%2FIBEM%2FPHOTOS%2FCatalytic%2FMarkets ### Human Rights Ideas Fair - SESC On 12/14/2019, took place at SESC São Paulo - SP, the 5th Fair of Ideas for Human Rights, promoted by the third sector entity Conectas. The idea of the event is to present to the public innovative solutions from the third sector for human rights issues. IBEBrasil was one of the organizations selected to exhibit their works, such as the project "Digital Communities - Community Networks and the People's Internet". In addition to publicizing the works of community networks, the equipment we used to the creation of the networks was exposed, and the big star that caused the most curiosity among visitors was the Librerouter. It was explained to the visitors what the project is about, features of the hardware and software, and the possiblities, autonomy and innovations contained therein. ** Photos: ** https://share2.apc.org/index.php/s/Co6EG6rjiEYiwYA?path=%2FACTIVITIES%2FIBEM%2FPHOTOS%2FCatalytic%2FSESC 3 - Workshops --- In addition to the presentations, at least two more technical workshops were held, teaching how to install, configure and use LibreRouter. ### Casa dos Meninos In preparation for the installations, two youth workshops were held at Casa dos Meninos, where they discussed how to prepare the environment for compilation, firmware compilation, installation and upgrade of the equipment. The workshop was part of the continuing course promoted as one of Pathfinder's activities. ** Photos: ** https://share2.apc.org/index.php/s/Co6EG6rjiEYiwYA?path=%2FACTIVITIES%2FIBEM%2FPHOTOS%2FCatalytic%2FOficina 4 - Facilities --- ### Marrecas Initially, the plan was to install three LibreRouters in Marrecas and three in Casa dos Meninos, so the attempt to install in the central square of Marrecas was unsuccessful. The initial plan was to use the LibreRouters as hotspots in the central region of the community, but, as Librerouter is not yet approved, we prefer to transfer them to the community at Casa dos Meninos in a more private space. ### Casa dos Meninos We installed two LibreRouters at the Casa dos Meninos, one at the front of the building and one at the back. These two devices connected to the community's existing mesh network, which was expanded with the Pathfinder project. ** Photos: ** https://share2.apc.org/index.php/s/Co6EG6rjiEYiwYA?path=%2FACTIVITIES%2FIBEM%2FPHOTOS%2FCatalytic%2FCasa%20of%20Boys 5 - Documentation --- ### LibreRouter Manual During the visit to Altermundi in Quintana Libre - Argentina, it was possible to carry out a series of technical activities involving Julian, Nico, Thiago and some of the local Libremesh and Librerouter developers. The activities performed result in a documentation on how to prepare the environment, compile and install the Librerouter firmware: ** Doc: ** PT-BR: https://hackmd.io/@ibe-brasil/H1-vMNnkL EN-US: https://hackmd.io/@ibe-brasil/S13MJmmrr ### Video Tutorial ### Blog Post 6 - Development --- During the period of learning and testing using Librerouter, small tools have been developed to facilitate and automate the development and generation of Libremesh for Librerouter firmware. ### Docker for devs One of the biggest difficulties in compiling Libremesh firmware for Librerouter is the preparation of the development environment, as the created manual only deals with the installation of dependencies for Debian and Ubuntu Linux distributions in specific versions. If you use another operating system, another Linux distribution, or even another version of Debian and Ubuntu, you may not be able properly to the install dependencies. In order to facilitate the compilation of the Libremesh firmware for Librerouter, a Debian Buster-based Docker container has been created to ensure that anyone always uses the correct dependency versions and is most successful at compiling the firmware. ** Link: ** https://gitlab.com/noslivres/docker-librerouter ### Automation Scripts In order to automatically generate firmware for the hardware versions we use most often in community projects, we created some scripts that automate the generation of these firmware: ** Link: ** https://gitlab.com/noslivres/libremesh-ibebrasil ### Firmware Repositories We created a repository of IBEBrasil with all Libremesh firmwares with all the equipment we worked already compiled and for public use. We also generate specific versions customized for each community, and also keep them in the public repository. ** Link: ** http://downloads.ibebrasil.org.br/librerouter/ 7 - Exchanges --- ### Visit to Quintana Libre, Argentina During the peer exchange visit in Argentina with the Altermundi collective, it was possible to learn extensively about the Librerouter project and its use in Argentina. We know the history of the project, how the developers worked, and did hands-on equipment exercises. During this trip we received three of the six Altereri Librerouters available to us. 8 - Research and Testing --- During the period of the Catalytic project, several tests and research were carried out regarding Librerouter, in which we can highlight two points: ### Pirania An implementation study of LibreRouter was carried out in the Conceição de Salina community in Bahia - Brazil, integrating it with other equipment that already existed in the community network. A Raspberry Pi-hosted Wordpress site was created that would play the role of community news portal for the community and should be automatically reached via Portal Captiva. We performed Pirania's integration and implementation test as Portal Captiva, and all tests were satisfactory. ** Video: ** https://share2.apc.org/index.php/s/Co6EG6rjiEYiwYA/download?path=%2FACTIVITIES%2FIBEM%2FPHOTOS%2FCatalytic&files=video_2019-12-31_02-34-00.mp4 ### TP-Link CPE210 During testing we found that the latest version of LibreMesh, compatible with LibreRouter, does not work properly on TP-Link CPE210 equipment, not the one we have used with other versions of LibreMesh. We are in the process of researching to identify the problem and help the community to run, as it is a relatively cost-effective equipment we have used for a long time. 8 - Conclusions --- The process, from the initial learning of how to build firmware and installations, was very productive. Having Librerouter units in hand for testing and development allowed us to acquire the knowledge needed to further contribute to the project and to disseminate it for greater use in the Brazilian territory. Unfortunately it was not possible until the Catalytic project completion date to have the three remaining equipment in hand. There are many costs and tariff impediments in Brazil, and we were unable in time to combine the best way to ship from Argentina to Brazil, as it is virtually impossible to safely import them directly from China to Brazil. In this way, we are committed to install the remaining equipment by early February 2020, as they could reach the second half of January 2020. Our main challenges are to solve the problem with the firmware version of Librerouter with TP-Link CPE210, and wait for the approval to get the necessary licenses to install the equipment in the central square of Marrecas. If by February / 2020 the approval and license does not occur, we will perform the installations in alternative locations. What we want for 2020: * Refine scripts to be inserted into the official Librerouter repository; * Contribute to the development of Librerouter, especially in the Lime / App frontend; * Create a Linux Live-CD distribution with the entire development environment ready; * To help to do a qualified regulatory incidence for the homologation process in Anatel