Question/thoughts regarding platform convergance

Support Other Hardware
#1

Hi all

I get RACHEL+ on CAP - the combination of hardware and software makes sense.
I get the (current) limitations of RACHELPi.
I can see why the USB version is on the point of being abandoned due to its inability to do anything server-side-ish.

However, I think an “open build” approach is ultimately much more context-friendly.
For example, RACHEL+ is just affordable in SA, but complicated to import, and subject to import duties.
I think it would be better if people could build with locally available equipment.

I have just started another thread on RACHEL+ on Ubuntu.
In the process, I read through the cap config file.
There is a lot of conditional logic in the install already, for different CAP versions, offline install etc.

I was wondering if we could move towards a unified RACHEL+ installer with the necessary conditional logic to accommodate a wider variety of hardware. Off the top of my head:

The CAP
A vanilla Ubuntu desktop PC
A Raspberry Pi with just a SD card
A Raspberry Pi with PiDrive
A Raspberry Pi with the external drive adaptation that doesn’t need a PiDrive, just a normal SATA
A windows PC

The list looks like a lot, but the CAP and Ubuntu are both running Ubuntu (AFAIK), the Raspberry variants are going to be very similar.

Your thoughts?

Brendon

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#2

Hi @adeptdigital – we would be thrilled to get some help porting our installer to other platforms. The reality is we are one developer and just a bunch of volunteers though, so we kind of go the way individuals pitch in. People tend to get passionate about the hardware that works best for them, and are able to help us out with that kind of stuff. Volunteer @sam functionally built most of the CAP deployment. Volunteer @norberto likewise for the Pi. Our developer @jfield has worked incredibly hard to get the content available and to really make those products sing, but it starts with the community! If you start a GitHub script for any of these other processes, I’m sure those folks will pitch in to help.

#3

Hi, Jeremy. I just built a RACHEL Windows server using one of our donated Dell laptops which had a 250 GB drive.
I have a short guide written up. But no online web presence.
Can I email it to you along with the menu script I put together?

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#4

Hi @chuckroast – that’d be great! Can you send it to me at jeremy@worldpossible.org?