I stumbled across this project recently and, since I am fascinated by libraries and distributing content, decided to try to build one. I am not good at this sort of thing, but why not try it?<\/p>\n
It worked! I have my own LibraryBox2 (see photo).<\/p>\n
![\"My](\"http:\/\/dwaynephillips.net\/workingup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/LibraryBox2.jpg\")
<\/a>My LibraryBox2 Placed in a Cut Out Book<\/p><\/div>\n
LibraryBox<\/a> is an offshoot of the PirateBox project<\/a>. Jason Griffey, a librarian, used a Kickstarter project to fund the work of extending PirateBox to LibraryBox2. PirateBox allows people to move files up and down to a local server privately. LibraryBox, like a library, allows people to copy files from the local server to their device (anything that runs a browser). The project is described in detail by Make here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The hardware for the LibraryBox2 is a TP-LINK MR-3020 portable router<\/a>. As the photo shows, this is about three inches square by an inch thick. Power comes via a USB cable and storage comes from a USB thumb drive.<\/p>\n I bought my TP-LINK from Amazon here<\/a> for $30. I followed the instructions from the LibraryBox2 website here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Two notes not in the directions:<\/p>\n Item 2. caused me the most frustration and time. I first bought and tried a SanDisk Cruzer Fit USB thumb drive. That device seems to be sensitive to power on\/power off cycles and puts itself into a write-protected you-can’t-reformat-this-thing state. That sensitivity is very bad with LibraryBox2 as you power off the TP-LINK by yanking the power chord.<\/p>\n I then tried an old USB thumb drive I found in the corner of a drawer. It didn’t work either. Then somewhere online I found the advice “don’t use an old thumb drive, use a new one.” So I tried a “new one” from my drawer and it worked. I then went to Best Buy and bought a PNY Micro Metal drive (it is that little bump plugged into the TP-LINK in the photo). These really small physical thumb drives are convenient for this application.<\/p>\n Now I have a working LibraryBox2.<\/p>\n What do you do with one of these?<\/strong><\/p>\n The primary application is when you are in a place like a seminar or meeting where the Internet connection isn’t good. You put all the pertinent files on the thumb drive, turn on the TP-LINK, and everyone present can access the files via WiFi from any device that has WiFi and a browser (smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc.).<\/p>\n One note about support:<\/strong> When I was having problems, I asked questions on the discussion area of the LibraryBox2 website. Answers came back quickly and professionally. The people, and there are only a few people involved, really care about this project succeeding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Dwayne Phillips I build my own little LibraryBox2. I stumbled across this project recently and, since I am fascinated by libraries and distributing content, decided to try to build one. I am not good at this sort of thing, but why not try it? It worked! I have my own LibraryBox2 (see photo). LibraryBox […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,84,78,25,3,74],"tags":[154,201,198,147,126,194],"class_list":["post-1658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication","category-internet","category-library","category-meetings","category-technology","category-wikipedia","tag-communication","tag-internet","tag-library","tag-meetings","tag-technology","tag-wikipedia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwaynephillips.net\/workingup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwaynephillips.net\/workingup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwaynephillips.net\/workingup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwaynephillips.net\/workingup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwaynephillips.net\/workingup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1658"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dwaynephillips.net\/workingup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1660,"href":"https:\/\/dwaynephillips.net\/workingup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658\/revisions\/1660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwaynephillips.net\/workingup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwaynephillips.net\/workingup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwaynephillips.net\/workingup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n