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FreedomBox Einführung

FreedomBox ist ein persönlicher Server, der Ihre Privatsphäre schützt. Es ist ein freier Software-Stack, ein Teil des Debian universellen Betriebssystems, das auf vielen Varianten von günstiger und energieeffizienter Hardware installiert werden kann. Die Einfachheit der Installation und des Betriebs einer FreedomBox ist ähnlich der von einem Smartphone.

1. Smart Router

FreedomBox läuft auf einem physischen Computer und kann Ihren Datenverkehr lenken. Es kann zwischen verschiedenen Geräten zu Hause sitzen, wie beispielsweise Mobiltelefone, Laptops, Fernseher und das Internet und ersetzt einen Wireless-Router. Durch das Routen des Datenverkehrs kann FreedomBox Tracking-Anzeigen und bösartige Web-Bugs entfernen, bevor sie überhaupt Ihre Geräte erreichen. FreedomBox kann Ihren Standort verbergen und schützt Ihre Anonymität durch "Onion Routing" Ihres Datenverkehrs über Tor. FreedomBox bietet einen VPN-Server, den Sie verwenden können wenn Sie unterwegs sind, um Ihren Datenverkehr auf nicht vertrauenswürdigen öffentlichen Funknetzen zu verschiedenen Geräten zuhause sicher und geheim zu halten. Es kann auch zusammen mit Ihrem Laptop mitgeführt und dazu verwendet werden, um sich an öffentliche Netze bei der Arbeit, in der Schule oder Büro zu verbinden, um deren Dienste in Anspruch zu nehmen. Es könnte in einem Dorf verwendet werden, um die Kommunikation im ganzen Dorf zu ermöglich. Zukünftig beabsichtigt FreedomBox Unterstützung für alternative Verbindungsmöglichkeiten mit dem Internet zu ermöglichen, wie beispielsweise Mesh Netze.

2. Private Cloud

FreedomBox bietet Dienstleistungen: für Ihren Computer und mobile Geräte in Ihrem Haus und zu Computern und mobilen Geräten von anderen Menschen, die Ihre Freunde sind. FreedomBox bietet Filesharing wie Dropbox, gemeinsame Kalander wie Google oder Yahoo und Foto-Sharing. FreedomBox bietet Instant Messaging und wirklich sichere Sprachkonferenzen, die auf niedriger Bandbreite mit hoher Qualität arbeiten. FreedomBox hat einen Blog und Wiki und lässt Sie so Ihre Informationen veröffentlichen und gemeinsam mit dem Rest der Welt zusammenarbeiten. In Kürze wird ein persönlicher E-Mail-Server und verteiltes Social-Networking mit GNU Social und Diaspora realisiert, die beide Ihre Privatsphäre respektieren als Alternative zu Google Mail und Facebook.

Schnelleinstieg

1. Die einfachste Methode um ein FreeedomBox zu haben, ist es zu kaufen. Sonst, laden Sie ein FreedomBox Image herunter und installieren Sie es indem Sie den Anweisungen auf Download folgen.

2. Stecken Sie ein Ende des Ethernetkabels in den Ethernet-Port Ihrer FreedomBox und das andere Ende in Ihren Router.

   • Auf der Dreamplug sollte der eth0-Port (in der Mitte der Box) an den Router angeschlossen werden.
3. Wenn Ihr Gerät einen zweiten Ethernet-Port hat, können Sie Ihren Computer mit einem weiteren Ethernetkabel direkt daran anschließen.

4. Starten Sie Ihre FreedomBox.

5. Beim ersten Booten wird die FreedomBox die Erstinstallation durchführen und dann neu zu starten. Dies kann mehrere Minuten dauern.

6. Nachdem die FreedomBox neu gestartet wurde, können Sie auf dessen Web-Interface (genannt Plinth) über Ihren Webbrowser zugreifen.

   • Wenn der Computer direkt an die FreedomBox durch einen zweiten (LAN) Ethernet-Port angeschlossen ist, können Sie http://freedombox/ oder http://10.42.0.1/ verwenden.

   • Wenn Ihr Computer mDNS unterstützt (GNU/Linux, Mac OSX und Windows mit installierter mDNS-Software), können Sie http://freedombox.local/ (oder http://der-hostname-den-Sie-bei-der-Installation-verwendet-haben.local/) verwenden.

   • Wenn keine dieser Methoden zur Verfügung steht, müssen Sie die IP-Adresse Ihrer FreedomBox herausfinden. Sie können dazu das "nmap" Programm verwenden:

          nmap -p 80 --open -sV 192.168.0.0/24

     Ihre FreedomBox wird als eine IP-Adresse mit einer offenen TCP-Port 80 unter Verwendung vom Apache-Dienst http auf Debian erscheinen, wie das Beispiel hier zeigt, wo es über http://192.168.0.165 zugänglich ist:

          Nmap scan report for 192.168.0.165
          Host is up (0.00088s latency).
          PORT   STATE SERVICE VERSION
          80/tcp open  http    Apache httpd 2.4.17 ((Debian))

7. Beim Zugriff auf Plinth wird Sie Ihr Browser warnen, dass er sicher kommuniziert aber dass er das Sicherheitszertifikat für ungültig hält. Dies ist eine Tatsache, die Sie zur Zeit akzeptieren müssen, weil das Zertifikat automatisch auf der Box erzeugt und daher "selbstsigniert" wird (der Browser könnte auch Worte wie "nicht vertrauenswürdig", "nicht privat", "Privatsphäre-Fehler" oder "unbekannter Emittent/Behörde" verwenden). Ihrem Browser mitzuteilen dass Sie dies wissen, wird durch Drücken der Tasten wie "Ich verstehe die Risiken" oder "Ausnahme hinzufügen" erreicht.

8. Beim ersten Zugriff werden Sie eine Willkommensseite sehen die Sie bittet, einige grundlegende Informationen zum Einrichten der FreedomBox bereitzustellen.

9. Nach dem Ausfüllen des Formulars werden Sie bei Plinth angemeldet und in der Lage sein, auf Anwendungen und Konfigurationen über diese Schnittstelle zuzugreifen.

10. Wenn Ihr Computer direkt mit der FreedomBox verbunden ist kann Ihre FreedomBox als Router arbeiten, und Ihnen Zugriff auf das Internet ermöglichen.

Nun können Sie die Apps, die auf der FreedomBox verfügbar sind, ausprobieren.

Hilfe Erhalten

Die FreedomBox-Gesellschaft bietet Instanthilfe durch Forum, Chat und E-Mail. Fühlen Sie sich frei, mitzumachen und, was Sie möchten zu fragen. Wenn Sie erfolgreiche Hilfe erhalten, wägen Sie ab, Ihre Lösung auf der Seite "Fragen und Antworten" einzutragen, damit andere in der Zukunft davon profitieren können.

1. Diskussionsforum

Der einfachste Unterstützungsmittel, ist das Diskussionsforum. Sie können nach Lösungen für bekannte Probleme suchen, oder Hilfe von Gesellschaftsmitwirkenden anfordern, indem Sie Fragen stellen. Dies ist auch der beste Mittel, um Gesellschaftsmitwirkenden von Ihrer FreedomBox-Erfahrung zu informieren.

Um neue Informationen zu veröffentlichen, müssen Sie sich mit Name und E-Mail-Adresse eintragen (Sie dürfen jedoch ein Pseudonym und eine sekundäre E-Mail-Adresse angeben). Sie können sich Themen und Kategorien ansehen oder wenn Sie den Mailinglistenmodus in Ihren Kontoeinstellungen aktivieren, können Sie mit dem Forum durch e-Mail, wie bei einer Mailingliste, interagieren.

2. Matrix

Sie können unserem Matrixraum #freedombox:matrix.org beitreten. Der Raum ist mit dem IRC-Kanal verbunden und speichert den Chat-Verlauf. Wenn Sie noch keinen Client installiert haben, können Sie sich mit Ihrem Webbrowser anmelden. Weitere Optionen finden Sie auf dieser Matrix-Client-Übersichtsseite.

3. IRC #freedombox

Wenn Sie sind mit Internet Relay Chat (IRC) und IRC client vertraut sind, können Sie auch sofortige Online-Hilfe von der Gesellschaft auf dem Kanal #freedombox in irc.debian.org erhalten. Wahrscheinlich dauert es einige Zeit, bis ein Mitglied Ihnen antwortet. Seien Sie geduldig. Eine Reaktion wird eventuell eintreten.

4. Email

FreedomBox-Benutzer und Mitwirkende sind per E-Mail über eine Diskussionsliste erreichtbar. Um eine Frage zu stellen und eine Antwort von der Gesellschaft zu erhalten, registrieren Sie sich bitte auf der Mailinglistenseite, geben Sie Ihre E-Mail-Adresse an und erstellen Sie ein Passwort. Sie können auch Diskussionsarchive lesen . Diese Liste sammelt etwa 700 Leser an.

5. Hilfe wiedergeben

Wenn Sie erfolgreiche Hilfe erhalten, vergessen Sie nicht, Ihre Lösung auf der Seite Fragen und Antworten einzutragen, und erzählen Sie in der Seite Anwendungsfälle, welche Funktionen Sie verwenden. Es könnte anderen helfen, FreedomBox auf eine Weise zu verwenden, die sie sich noch nicht vorgestellt hätten.

Herunterladen und installieren

• Notitz: Wenn Sie ein FreedomBox Kit gekauft haben, richtet sich dieser Abschnitt nicht an Sie, und Sie dürfen ihn ruhig überlesen. (Es sei denn, Sie wollen explizit ein alternatives Image bauen).

Sie können FreedomBox entweder auf einer der unterstützten Hardware, auf einem Debian System oder einer virtuellen Maschine verwenden.

1. Herunterladen für Debian

Wenn Sie auf Debian installieren, brauchen Sie diese Images nicht herunterladen. Stattdessen lesen Sie bitte die Anleitungen zum Einrichten der FreedomBox auf Debian.

2. Herunterladen für Hardware bzw. Virtuelle Maschinen

2.1. Gerät vorbereiten

Siehe die Hardware-spezifischen Anweisungen, wie Sie Ihr Gerät vorbereiten. Lesen Sie so viele Dokumentationen wie möglich, die Sie im Internet über das ersten Booten und Flashen von USB oder SD-Karten auf Ihrer Hardware finden können.

2.2. Images Herunterladen

Neueste Images für unterstützte Geräte finden Sie hier:

• Offizielle Images: http://ftp.skolelinux.org/pub/freedombox/

2.3. Heruntergeladene Images Überprüfen

Es ist wichtig die Images die Sie heruntergeladen haben zu überprüfen, um sicherzustellen, dass die Datei nicht während der Übertragung beschädigt wurde und dass es sich in der Tat um die durch FreedomBox Entwickler erstellte Images handelt.

• Öffnen Sie zunächst ein Terminal und importieren Sie den öffentlichen Schlüssel des FreedomBox Entwicklers, der das Image erstellt hat:

  $ gpg --keyserver x-hkp://pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys 0x36C361440C9BC971

• Als nächstes überprüfen Sie den Fingerabdruck des öffentlichen Schlüssels:

  $ gpg --fingerprint 0x36C361440C9BC971
  pub   4096R/0C9BC971 2011-11-12
        Key fingerprint = BCBE BD57 A11F 70B2 3782  BC57 36C3 6144 0C9B C971
  uid                  Sunil Mohan Adapa <sunil@medhas.org>
  sub   4096R/4C1D4B57 2011-11-12

• Schließlich verifizieren Sie Ihr heruntergeladenes Image mit seiner Signatur-Datei .sig. Beispielsweise:

  $ gpg --verify freedombox-unstable-free_2015-12-13_cubietruck-armhf.img.xz.sig freedombox-unstable-free_2015-12-13_cubietruck-armhf.img.xz
  gpg: Signature made Thursday 15 January 2015 09:27:50 AM IST using RSA key ID 0C9BC971
  gpg: Good signature from "Sunil Mohan Adapa <sunil@medhas.org>"
  gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
  gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
  Primary key fingerprint: BCBE BD57 A11F 70B2 3782  BC57 36C3 6144 0C9B C971

2.4. Installation

Nach dem Download können Sie das Image verwenden um die unterstützte Hardware (einschließlich virtuelle Maschinen) zu booten. Sie müssen das Image wie folgt auf die Speicherkarte oder den USB-Stick kopieren:

1. Finden Sie heraus, welches Gerät Ihre Karte tatsächlich ist.
   1. Entnehmen Sie Ihre Karte.

   2. Starten Sie dmesg -w um die Kernel-Meldungen anzuzeigen.

   3. Stecken Sie Ihre Karte ein. Sie sehen Nachrichten wie:

   • [33299.023096] usb 4-6: new high-speed USB device number 12 using ehci-pci
     [33299.157160] usb 4-6: New USB device found, idVendor=058f, idProduct=6361
     [33299.157162] usb 4-6: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
     [33299.157164] usb 4-6: Product: Mass Storage Device
     [33299.157165] usb 4-6: Manufacturer: Generic
     [33299.157167] usb 4-6: SerialNumber: XXXXXXXXXXXX
     [33299.157452] usb-storage 4-6:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
     [33299.157683] scsi host13: usb-storage 4-6:1.0
     [33300.155626] scsi 13:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Generic- Compact Flash    1.01 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
     [33300.156223] scsi 13:0:0:1: Direct-Access     Multiple Flash Reader     1.05 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
     [33300.157059] sd 13:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0
     [33300.157462] sd 13:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg5 type 0
     [33300.462115] sd 13:0:0:1: [sdg] 30367744 512-byte logical blocks: (15.5 GB/14.4 GiB)
     [33300.464144] sd 13:0:0:1: [sdg] Write Protect is off
     [33300.464159] sd 13:0:0:1: [sdg] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
     [33300.465896] sd 13:0:0:1: [sdg] No Caching mode page found
     [33300.465912] sd 13:0:0:1: [sdg] Assuming drive cache: write through
     [33300.470489] sd 13:0:0:0: [sdf] Attached SCSI removable disk
     [33300.479493]  sdg: sdg1
     [33300.483566] sd 13:0:0:1: [sdg] Attached SCSI removable disk

   • Im obigen Fall ist die Platte, die neu eingefügten wurde als /dev/sdg verfügbar. Notieren Sie dies sorgfältig und verwenden Sie es in dem Kopierschritt unten.

2. Entpacken Sie das heruntergeladene Image:

   $ xz -d freedombox-unstable-free_2015-12-13_cubietruck-armhf.img.xz

   Der oben stehende Befehl ist ein Beispiel für das cubietruck Image vom 2015.12.13. Ihre heruntergeladene Datei wird einen anderen Namen haben.

3. Kopieren Sie das Image auf Ihre Karte. Überprüfen sie dabei alle Schritte sehr genau um sicherzustellen, dass Sie nicht aus Versehen auf den Speicher des Computers (wie /dev/sda) schreiben. Stellen Sie auch sicher, dass Sie diesen Schritt nicht als root durchführen, um zu vermeiden versehentlich Daten auf Ihrer Festplatte durch einen Fehler bei der Identifizierung des Geräts oder einem Fehler während der Eingabe des Befehls zu löschen. USB Sticks und SD-Karten sollten in der Regel für normale Benutzer beschreibbar sein. Wenn Sie nicht über die Berechtigung verfügen, auf die SD-Karte als Benutzer zu schreiben, müssen Sie diesen Befehl als root ausführen. In diesem Fall überprüfen Sie alles dreifach, bevor Sie den Befehl ausführen. Eine weitere Sicherheitsmaßnahme ist, alle externen Festplatten mit Ausnahme der SD-Karte abzuziehen, bevor Sie den Befehl ausführen.

   For example, if your SD card is /dev/sdf as noted in the first step above, then to copy the image, run:

   Zum Beispiel, wenn die SD-Karte /dev/sdf heißt, wie im ersten Schritt oben festgestellt wurde, dann führen Sie folgendes aus, um das Image zu kopieren:

   $ cd build
   $ dd bs=1M if=freedombox-unstable-free_2015-12-13_cubietruck-armhf.img of=/dev/sdf conv=fdatasync

Andere moglichkeit zum kopieren zum SD card, when dd ist nicht for hande.

$ cat freedombox-unstable-free_2015-12-13_cubietruck-armhf.img > /dev/sdf ; sync

Fur MS Windows gibt das programm etcher.

• Der oben stehende Befehl ist ein Beispiel für das cubietruck Image vom 2015.12.13. Ihre heruntergeladenen Dateinamen wird anders sein.

  Bei der Auswahl des Geräts, verwenden Sie den Laufwerkbuchstaben, wie /dev/sdf, nicht ein nummerisches Ziel, wie /dev/sdf1. Das Gerät ohne Nummer bezieht sich auf die gesamte Vorrichtung, während der Name mit Zahl auf eine bestimmte Partition verweist. Wir wollen das ganze Gerät verwenden. Heruntergeladene Images enthalten alle Informationen über wie viele Partitionen benötigt werden, ihre Größen und Typen. Sie müssen nicht die SD-Karte formatieren oder Partitionen erstellen. Alle Daten auf der SD-Karte werden während des Schreibprozesses gelöscht werden.

  1. Verwenden Sie das Image, indem Sie die SD-Karte oder USB-Platte in das Gerät einsetzen und von ihm starten. Ihr Gerät sollte ebenfalls vorbereitet worden sein (siehe den entsprechenden Abschnitt).

  2. Lesen Sie (den Rest) des Handbuchs für Anweisungen, wie Sie Anwendungen in FreedomBox verwenden.

1. Bepasty (Datei- und Ausschnittteilen)

Verfügbar seit: Version 20.14

1.1. Was ist Bepasty?

Bepasty ist eine Webanwendung, mit der man grosse Dateien laden und freigeben kann. Man kann auch Text- und Codeausschnitten kleben und freigeben. Benutzer können Vorblicke von Texte, Bilde, Audio, Video und PDF Dateien sich im Webbrowser vorschauen. Man kann ein Ablaufzeit für die Freigegebene Dateien einstellen.

1.2. Bilschirmfoto

1.3. Passwörter und Erlaubnisse

Bepasty verwendet nur Passwörter (keine Benutzernamen), um Zugriff zu steuern. Der Benutzer kriegt verschiebene Erlaubnisse, je nach Passwort. Man kann folgende Erlaubnisse kombinieren:

• lesen: Kann eine Datei lesen, wenn man die URL kennt.

• listen: Alle Dateien auflisten.

• erschaffen: Eine neue Datei kleben, bzw. aufladen.

• löschen: Eine Datei löschen.

• verwalten: Dateie absperren, bzw. entsperren.

Nach der Installation Bepasty ist voreingestellt für folgende Rollen:

• Schauer: Kann Dateien lesen und auflisten
• Editor: Kann Dateien lesen, auflisten, erschaffen und löschen
• Verwalter: Vollberechtigt

Diese Rollen unterstüttzen der Anwendungsfall einer Dateifreigabe unter bekannten, berechtigte Benutzern. Bei Bedarf kann man Bepasty für andere Rolle bzw. Anwendungsfälle wiedereinstellen.

1.4. Verteilung von Passwörte

Standardmässig ist der öffentlichen Zugriff auf None eingestellt, sodass eine Passwort für Zugriff auf Bepasty verlangt wird. Das heisst, dass Sie die Passwörte über andere vorhandene Kommunikationskanäle an die entschprechenden Benutzer vertilen müssen.

Beachten Sie btte, dass Sie wahrscheinlich mehrere verschiedene Passwörte mit dem selben Erlaubnissmenge erstellen möchten. Dies erlaubt jeder Benutzer (bzw Benutzergruppe) eine eigene Passwort zu kriegen. Wenn Sie dann einem bestimmten Benutzer den Zugriff entziehen möchten, können Sie dessen Passwork einfach löschen. Die andere Benutzer bleiben ungetroffen, denn jeder hat seine eigene Passwort.

1.5. Bepasty verwenden

Nach Anmeldung bei Bepasty, wenn Sie erlaubt zu "erschaffen" sind, wird ein grosses Textfeld angeboten in das Sie beliebigen Text kleben können. Sie dürfen auch Dateiname oder Content-Type für dem Inhalt angeben. Wenn Sie auf Senden klicken, wird die Datei erschafft.

Sie können auch Dateie ziehen in den unteren Bereich ablegen, und sie werden sofort aufgeladen. Sie können auch eine Liste erschaffen, um eine Sammlung hochgeladener Dateien zu verfolgen.

Sie können einen maximalen Lebensdauertwert festlegen. Nach Ablauf dieser Zeit wird die Datei gelösch.

Wenn Sie erlaubt zu "listen" sind, wird oben auf der Seite ein Link Alle Elemente Auflisten angezeigt. Dies zeigt alle Dateien an, die erschafft oder aufgeladen wurden.

Wenn Sie erlaubt zu "löschen" oder "verwalten" sind, werden auf der Listenseite neben jeder Datei weitere Aktionen angeboten.

Wenn Sie nur zu "lesen" erlaubt sind, brauchen Sie eine Passwort und eine oder mehrere URLs für vorhandene Dateien, um sie zu lesen,

1.6. Passwortverwaltung

Die Bepasty-Konfigurationseite im FreedomBox Interface erlaubt Sie neue Passwörter zu erstellen und verhandene zu löschen. When Sie eine Passwort erstellen, können Sie die oben beschriebene Berechtigungen kombinieren. Beachten Sie, dass ein Verwalter alle Berechtigungen haben sollte (nicht nur "Verwalter").

Sie können auch ein Kommentar angeben. Es ist empfohlen, sich damit der Zweck des Passwortes, bzw. wer sie es verwenden wird, zu merken.

Man kann auch öffentlichen Zugriff konfigurieren. Damit legt man Standarderlaubnisse, die auch ohne Anmeldung gelten, fest. So kann man festlegen, ob man Dateie über ihre URL lesen darf, oder ob man alle Dateie auflisten und lesen darf.

1.7. Externe Links

• Orginalprojekt: https://github.com/bepasty

• Benutzerdocumentation: https://bepasty-server.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user.html

2. Calibre (e-Library)

Available since: version 20.15

calibre is an e-book management solution. You can organize your e-books into collections in calibre known as "libraries". calibre can do e-book format conversion between most of the popular e-book formats. It can also manage metadata of your e-books such as book covers, descriptions, author and publisher information etc.

Moving your calibre library from your desktop to your FreedomBox has the benefit of being able to access your e-books from any device on the local network or through the Internet.

Only users who are members of the calibre group have access to the libraries. You can assign users to this group via the system app users and groups.

You might be familiar with the e-book reader shipped with the calibre application on your desktop. The server version of calibre that's installed on your FreedomBox has a web-based e-book reader with similar look and feel. This allows you to read your e-books from any device with a web browser.

2.1. Managing Libraries

After installation of calibre, a default library called "Library" will be made available. The FreedomBox administrator can add or delete any of the libraries including the default one from the app settings in FreedomBox web interface.

2.2. Access

calibre can be accessed after installation through the web client at https://<my_freedombox_name>/calibre.

2.3. External links

• Official website: https://calibre-ebook.com

3. Coturn (VoIP-Helfer)

Verfügbar seit: Version 20.8

Coturn ist ein Server zur Erleichterung von Audio- bzw. Videoanrufen und Konferenzen durch die Implementierung von TURN- und STUN- Protokollen. WebRTC, SIP und andere Kommunikationsserver können damit einen Anruf zwischen Teilnehmern herstellen, die sonst keine Verbindung zueinander herstellen können.

Es ist nicht, um direkt von Benutzern verwendet zu werden entworfen. Server wie Matrix Synapse müßen mit den auf der Coturn-App-Seite angegebenen Details konfiguriert werden. Abgesehen von Matrix Synapse können Jitsi, Ejabberd, Nextcloud Talk usw. den Coturn-Server für Audio- bzw. Videoanrufe und Konferenzen verwenden. Man braucht nicht die Coturn-Serversoftware auf demselben Rechner wie FreedomBox ausgeführt werden, und externe Komunikationsserver können den von FreedomBox gelieferten Coturn verwenden.

Coturn ist in FreedomBox als fortgeschrittene Anwendung bezeichnet. Das heißt, daß um das Coturn-Ikon im Abteilung "Apps" zu sehen, Sie die Option "Fortgeschrittene Apps und Funktionen anzeigen" unter "Allgemeine Konfiguration" aktivieren müßen.

3.1. Wie funktioniert es

Bei einen Audio- bzw. Videoanruf soll man lieber die Medienströme direkt zwischen beide Seiten leiten. Dies bietet die bestmögliche Latenz (beßere Signalqualität) und vermeidet die Abhängigkeit von einem zentralen Server (Datenschutz). Es läßt sich gut skalieren, denn ein einfacher Chat-Server kann Tausende Anrufen hosten, bei dem der Server nirgends außer beim Anrufseinrichtung mitmacht. Dieser Ansatz funktioniert jedoch wegen der Netzwerkkonfiguration meistens nicht. Den meisten Netzwerkbetutzer ist keine eindeutige IP-Adreße zugewiesen. Sie arbeiten versteckt hinter einem Netzwerkgerät, das für sie Network Address Translation (NAT) ausführt. Das heißt, daß beide Seiten keine Möglichkeit haben, sich gegenseitig zu erreichen.

Als Lösung zu diesem Problem, wurde eine einfache Technik namens STUN eingeführt. Mithilfe eines drittseits STUN-Servers können die Seiten die NAT-Geräte austricksen, um den Datenverkehr zwischen beiden zu übertragen. Leider funktioniert dieser Trick nur in etwa 80% der Fälle. Wenn STUN fehlschlägt, haben die Seiten keine andere Wahl, als ihren Datenverkehr über einen Zwischenserver namens TURN-Server weiterzuleiten. Der ganze Mechanismus, STUN zuerst auszuprobieren und dann auf TURN zurückzugreifen, wird in einem Protokoll namens ICE beschrieben.

Auf FreedomBox bietet Coturn sowohl STUN- als auch TURN-Server. Beide Dienste werden sowohl über TCP als auch über UDP bereitgestellt. Sie werden sowohl auf unverschlüßelten als auch auf verschlüßelten Kanälen (die höhere Erfolgschancen haben) bereitgestellt. Da STUN-Server sehr kostengünstig sind und wenige Servermitteln verbrauchen, braucht man keine Authentifizierung, um sie zu verwenden. Dagegen, TURN-Server benötigen Authentifizierung. Diese Authentifizierung ist stark vereinfacht und erfordert keine Benutzerdatenbankpflege. Ein Server wie Matrix-Synapse, der einen Audio- bzw. Videoanruf zwischen 2 Seiten einrichten soll, generiert einen Benutzernamen und ein Kennwort durch eines gemeinsamen Geheimnis. Wenn die Seiten den TURN-Server verwenden, werden sie anhand dieser Anmeldeinformationen überprüft, da der TURN-Server dieses Geheimnis shon kennt.

Zusammenfaßend, ein Kommunikationsserver muß die URLs der STUN bzw. TURN-Server sowie ein gemeinsames Authentifizierungsgeheimnis für TURN kennen. Danach steuert er die korrekte Verwendung von STUN bzw. TURN-Servern während des Einrichtens von Audio- bzw. Videoanrufen zwischen beide Seiten. Die Coturn-App auf FreedomBox bietet genau diese Informationen, die dann beim Einstellung eines Kommunikationsservers verwendet werden können, unabhängig davon, ob er auf derselben FreedomBox oder auf einem anderen Server ausgeführt wird.

3.2. Einstellung von Matrix Synapse

Der Matrix Synapse-Server kann in FreedomBox für die Verwendung des Coturn TURN bzw. STUN-Servers eingestellt werden. In der Zukunft, wenn Sie Matrix Synapse installieren, wird FreedomBox automatisch Coturn installieren und seine Parameter in Matrix Synapse einstellen. Um Matrix Synapse einzustellen, bearbeiten Sie die Datei /etc/matrix-synapse/homeserver.yaml mit den folgenden Zeilen

turn_uris: [ "stun:myfreedombox.example.org:3478?transport=udp", "stun:myfreedombox.example.org:3478?transport=tcp", "turn:myfreedombox.example.org:3478?transport=udp", "turn:myfreedombox.example.org:3478?transport=tcp" ]
turn_shared_secret: "my-freedombox-provided-secret"
turn_user_lifetime: 86400000
turn_allow_guests: True

Der Wert für turn_shared_secret wird als static-auth-secret in der Datei /etc/coturn/freedombox.conf angegeben

Starten Sie anschließend den Matrix-Synapse-Server neu, indem Sie die Matrix-Synapse Anwendung deaktivieren und wieder aktivieren.

3.3. Portweiterleitung

Wenn sich Ihre FreedomBox hinter einem Router befindet, müßen Sie die Portweiterleitung auf Ihrem Router einrichten. Sie sollten die folgenden Ports für Coturn weiterleiten:

• UDP 3478
• TCP 3478
• UDP 3479
• TCP 3479
• UDP 5349
• TCP 5349
• UDP 5350
• TCP 5350
• UDP 49152-50175
• TCP 49152-50175

3.4. Externe Links

• Orginalprojekt: https://github.com/coturn/coturn

4. Deluge (Verteilte Dateifreigabe über BitTorrent)

Verfügbar seit: Version 0.5

4.1. Was ist Deluge?

Deluge ist ein BitTorrent-Netzknoten (Client sowohl als Server, beide gleichzeitig).

BitTorrent ist ein Kommunikationsprotokoll für Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Freigabe von Dateien.

• Es ist nicht anonym; Sie sollen davon ausgehen, daß andere sehen können, welche Dateien Sie freigeben.

• Diese Technologie eignet sich am besten für große, beliebte Dateien

In FreedomBox sind zwei BitTorrent-Webknoten verfügbar: Transmission und Deluge. Sie haben ähnliche Funktionen, aber wahrscheinlich mögen Sie eine lieber als der anderen.

Deluge ist ein leichter BitTorrent-Client, der hochgradig konfigurierbar ist. Zusätzliche Funktionen können durch die Einrichtung von Erweiterungen (Plugins) hinzugefügt werden.

4.2. Bildschirmfoto

4.3. Ersteinrichtung

Nach der Einstellung, setzen Sie Ihren Browser auf https://<Ihre Freedombox>/deluge, um auf Deluge zuzugreifen. Sie müssen ein Passwort eingeben, um sich anzumelden:

Das ursprüngliche Passwort lautet "deluge". Bei erster Anmeldung, fragt Deluge, ob Sie das Passwort ändern möchten. Sie sollen es in etwas ändern, das schwerer zu erraten ist.

Dann, wird Ihnen der Verbindungsmanager angezeigt. Klicken Sie auf den ersten Eintrag (Offline - 127.0.0.1:58846). Klicken Sie dann auf "Daemon starten", um den Deluge-Dienst zu starten, der im Hintergrund ausgeführt wird.

Nun sollte es "Online" zeigen. Klicken Sie auf "Verbinden", um die Einrichtung zu vervollständigen.

An diesem Punkt können Sie Deluge verwenden. Sie können weitere Einstellungen verändern oder eine Torrent-Datei bzw. URL hinzufügen.

4.4. Externe Links

• Orginalprojekte:

  • Deluge: https://www.deluge-torrent.org

  • BitTorrent: https://www.bittorrent.org

• Protokollbeschreibung:

  • Orginal: https://www.bittorrent.org/introduction.html

  • In Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent

5. Ejabberd (Chat Server)

Available since: version 0.3

5.1. What is ejabberd?

Ejabberd is a chat server which uses the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP).

5.2. What is XMPP?

XMPP is a federated server-client protocol for Instant Messaging. This means that users who have accounts on one server, can talk to users that are on another server.

XMPP can also be used for voice and video calls, if supported by the clients.

Currently FreedomBox offers both, a server (ejabberd) and a web client (JSXC) from its web interface.

5.3. Privacy

With XMPP, there are two ways that conversations can be secured:

1. TLS: This secures the connection between the client and server, or between two servers. This should be supported by all clients and is highly recommended.
2. End-to-end: This secures the messages sent from one client to another, so that even the server cannot see the contents. The latest and most convenient protocol is called OMEMO, but it is only supported by a few clients. There is another protocol called OTR that may be supported by some clients that lack OMEMO support. Both clients must support the same protocol for it to work.

5.4. Setting the Domain Name

For XMPP to work, your FreedomBox needs to have a Domain Name that can be accessed over the network.

If you only need the local network (LAN) users to chat with each other you can invent your domain name, but if you want users from the internet to join your rooms you need a public domain name. You can read more about obtaining a Domain Name in the Dynamic DNS section of this manual.

Once you have a Domain Name, you can tell your FreedomBox to use it by setting the Domain Name in the System Configuration.

Note: After changing your Domain Name, the Chat Server (XMPP) page may show that the service is not running. After a minute or so, it should be up and running again.

Please note that PageKite does not support the XMPP protocol at this time.

5.5. Registering FreedomBox users to use XMPP

Currently, all users created through FreedomBox will be able to login to the XMPP server. You can add new users through the System module Users and Groups. It does not matter which Groups are selected for the new user.

5.6. Port Forwarding

If your FreedomBox is behind a router, you will need to set up port forwarding on your router. You should forward the following ports for XMPP:

• TCP 5222 (client-to-server)
• TCP 5269 (server-to-server)

5.7. Compatible clients

• FreedomBox provides a web client: JSXC.

• XMPP clients are available for various desktop and mobile platforms. FreedomBox links to the download sources of some of them. Feel free to include more here (needs free registration). We'll notice and might list them in FreedomBox.

  

5.7.1. FreedomBox webclient

For maximum simplicity FreedomBox provides a web client: JSXC. No need for your users to install additional software on their side. They'll be able to just use their browser. This is usually the first choice for new and eventual users.

5.7.2. Mobile clients

You can download an XMPP client for your smartphone or tablet among the ones listed below.

5.7.2.1. Conversations (Android)

Conversations is an Android XMPP client with videochat support available on F-Droid or the Play Store. In addition to text messaging, you can use Conversations to send images and have group chats.

From left to right: (1) First screen - (2) Login screen - (3) Add contacts.

When first starting the Conversations app, you will be asked whether you want to create a new account or if you want to use an existing account. Choose "I already have an account" (1)

With ejabberd installed, the FreedomBox provides an XMPP account for every FreedomBox user. Additional (non-admin) FreedomBox user accounts can be created under System > Users and Groups.

Once logged into a FreedomBox/XMPP account (2), the Conversation app provides a + button that brings up a few choices to contact other people (3).

5.7.2.2. Movim (Android)

Movim is a free software XMPP client with videochat support for Android available on F-Droid.

5.7.2.3. ChatSecure (iOS)

ChatSecure is a free software XMPP client with videochat support available from the App Store.

5.7.2.4. Monal (iOS)

Monal is a free software XMPP client with videochat support available from the App Store.

5.7.2.5. Siskin (iOS)

Siskin is a free software XMPP client with videochat support available from the App Store.

5.7.3. Desktop clients

5.7.3.1. Gajim (Windows, MacOS, Linux)

Gajim is a XMPP open-source client for the desktop, available for Windows, MacOS and Linux. This application is available in Debian, and for other operating systems you can download it from this page and find instructions about installation.

From left to right: (1) First screen - (2) Login screen - (3) Main window

A popup shows up right after you start Gajim for the first time (1), asking you to either login to your XMPP (FreedomBox) account or to register for a new account. When you choose to login, after clicking "Forward", you will be asked a Jabber ID and a password (2): you have to enter your FreedomBox account and password here.

Finally, after logging in successfully, you will see the main Gajim screen (3). From there, you can add a contact (Account > Add contact...) then you can start a conversation (Gajim > Start chat).

5.7.3.2. Dino (Linux)

Dino is another XMPP free software client for the desktop. It is available for https://github.com/dino/dino/wiki/Distribution-Packages.

From left to right: (1) First screen - (2) Login screen - (3) Start conversation

When first starting Dino after installation, click on the Setup account button. You will be then asked your JID: this is your FreedomBox account. Enter it then click Next (2). Alternatively, you can click on Create account if you don't have a FreedomBox account.

Once you have logged in, you will be able to either start a conversation with one of your XMPP contacts or to join a channel (3).

5.7.3.3. Movim (Linux)

Movim is a free software XMPP client with videochat support for Linux. The project provides an unofficial Debian package.

5.7.3.4. Monal (MacOS)

Monal is a free software XMPP client with videochat support available from the Mac App Store.

5.8. External links

5.8.1. Ejabberd

• Website: https://www.ejabberd.im

• User documentation: https://docs.ejabberd.im

5.8.2. Clients' sites

• Conversations: https://conversations.im

• Gajim: https://gajim.org

• Dino: https://github.com/dino/dino

• Movim: https://movim.eu

• ChatSecure: https://chatsecure.org

• Monal: https://monal.im

• Siskin: https://siskin.im

5.8.3. XMPP Protocol

• Website: https://xmpp.org

• Summary at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMPP

6. GitWeb (Simple Git Hosting)

Available since: version 19.19

6.1. What is Git

Git is a distributed version-control system for tracking changes in source code during software development. GitWeb provides a web interface to Git repositories. You can browse history and content of source code, use search to find relevant commits and code. You can also clone repositories and upload code changes with a command-line Git client or with multiple available graphical clients. And you can share your code with people around the world.

To learn more on how to use Git visit Git tutorial.

6.2. Managing the repositories

After installation of GitWeb, a new repository can be created. It can be marked as private to limit access.

6.3. Access

GitWeb can be accessed after installation e.g. by the web client through https://<my_freedombox_name>/gitweb.

6.4. HTTP basic auth

GitWeb on FreedomBox currently supports HTTP(S) remotes only (i.e. not SSH). To avoid having to enter the password each time you pull/push to the repository, you can edit your remote to include the credentials.

Example: https://username:password@my.freedombox.rocks/gitweb/myrepo

Your username and password will be encrypted. Someone monitoring the network traffic will notice the domain name only.

Note: If using this method, your password will be stored in plain text in the local repository's .git/config file. For this reason, you should create a FreedomBox user who has only access to the gitweb and never use an admin account.

For GNOME users (Advanced)

GNOME "Passwords and Keys" utility can be used to store the username and password. See this StackOverflow Answer for details on how to do it.

6.5. Mirroring

Though your repositories are primarily hosted on your own FreedomBox, you can configure a repository on another Git hosting system like GitLab as a mirror.

6.6. Enabling/Disabling Features

In FreedomBox, some of the default features of gitweb have been changed:

• Enabled: Blame feature to show what revision and author last modified each line of a file
• Enabled: Pickaxe feature to list the commits that introduced or removed a given string
• Enabled: Highlight feature to perform syntax highlighting on blobs
• Disabled: Snapshot feature that provides a download of a compressed tar file for a given revision (due to high resource usage).

These features can be changed on a per-repository bases by an administrator by editing the git configuration file for the repository on FreedomBox. See manual page for gitweb.conf(5) for more details on syntax and features. For example, to re-enable the snapshot feature on myrepo repository, login to a FreedomBox terminal via SSH or web console as administrator and edit the file /var/lib/git/myrepo/config to contain the following section:

[gitweb]
snapshot = tgz

6.7. External links

• User documentation: https://git-scm.com/docs/gitweb

7. I2P (Anonymity Network)

7.1. About I2P

The Invisible Internet Project is an anonymous network layer intended to protect communication from censorship and surveillance. I2P provides anonymity by sending encrypted traffic through a volunteer-run network distributed around the world.

7.2. Services Offered

The following services are offered via I2P in FreedomBox by default. Additional services may be available when enabled from I2P router console that can be launched from FreedomBox web interface.

• Anonymous Internet browsing: I2P can be used to browse Internet anonymously. For this, configure your browser (preferable a Tor Browser) to connect to I2P proxy. This can be done by setting HTTP proxy and HTTPS proxy to freedombox.local (or your FreedomBox's local IP address) and ports to 4444 and 4445 respectively. This service is available only when you are reaching FreedomBox using local network (networks in internal zone) and not available when connecting to FreedomBox from the Internet. One exception to this is when you connect to FreedomBox's VPN service from Internet you can still use this service.

• Reaching eepsites: I2P network can host websites that can remain anonymous. These are called eepsites and end with .i2p in their domain name. For example, http://i2p-projekt.i2p/ is the website for I2P project in the I2P network. eepsites are not reachable using a regular browser via regular Internet connection. To browse eepsites, your browser needs to be configured to use HTTP, HTTPS proxies as described above. This service is available only when you are reaching FreedomBox using local network (networks in internal zone) and not available when connecting to FreedomBox from the Internet. One exception to this is when you connect to FreedomBox's VPN service from Internet you can still use this service.

• Anonymous torrent downloads: I2PSnark, an application for anonymously downloading and sharing files over the BitTorrent network is available in I2P and enabled by default in FreedomBox. This application is controlled via a web interface that can be launched from 'Anonymous torrents' section of I2P app in FreedomBox web interface or from the I2P router console interface. Only logged-in users belonging to 'Manage I2P application' group can use this service.

• IRC network: I2P network contains an IRC network called Irc2P. This network hosts the I2P project's official IRC channel among other channels. This service is enabled by default in FreedomBox. To use it, open your favourite IRC client. Then configure it to connect to host freedombox.local (or your FreedomBox's local IP address) with port number 6668. This service is available only when you are reaching FreedomBox using local network (networks in internal zone) and not available when connecting to FreedomBox from the Internet. One exception to this is when you connect to FreedomBox's VPN service from Internet you can still use this service.

• I2P router console: This is the central management interface for I2P. It shows the current status of I2P, bandwidth statistics and allows modifying various configuration settings. You can tune your participation in the I2P network and use/edit a list of your favourite I2P sites (eepsites). Only logged-in users belonging to 'Manage I2P application' group can use this service.

7.3. External links

• Upstream website: https://geti2p.net/en/

• User documentation: https://i2pd.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

8. Ikiwiki (Wiki and Blog)

Avaiable since: version 0.5

8.1. What is Ikiwiki?

Ikiwiki converts wiki pages into HTML pages suitable for publishing on a website. It provides particularly blogging, podcasting, calendars and a large selection of plugins.

8.2. Creating a wiki or blog

You can create a wiki or blog to be hosted on your FreedomBox through the Wiki & Blog (Ikiwiki) page in FreedomBox. The first time you visit this page, it will ask to install packages required by Ikiwiki.

After the package install has completed, select the "Create Wiki or Blog" button.

You can select the type to be Wiki or Blog. Also type in a name for the wiki or blog, and the username and password for the wiki's/blog's admin account. Then click Update setup and you will see the wiki/blog added to your list. Note that each wiki/blog has its own admin account.

8.3. Accessing your wiki or blog

Your wikis and blogs are listed in the Ikiwiki app. Clicking on your site's name will bring you to its start page.

From here, if you click Edit or Preferences, you will be taken to a login page. To log in with the admin account that you created before, select the Other tab, enter the username and password, and click Login.

8.4. User login through SSO

Besides the wiki/blog admin, other FreedomBox users can be given access to login and edit wikis and blogs. However, they will not have all the same permissions as the wiki admin. They can add or edit pages, but cannot change the wiki's configuration.

To add a wiki user, go to the Users and Groups page in FreedomBox (under System configuration, the gear icon at the top right corner of the page). Create or modify a user, and add them to the wiki group. (Users in the admin group will also have wiki access.)

To login as a FreedomBox user, go to the wiki/blog's login page and select the Other tab. Then click the "Login with HTTP auth" button. The browser will show a popup dialog where you can enter the username and password of the FreedomBox user.

8.5. Adding FreedomBox users as wiki admins

1. Login to the site, using the admin account that was specified when the site was created.
2. Click "Preferences", then "Setup".

3. Under "main", in the "users who are wiki admins", add the name of a user on the FreedomBox.

4. (Optional) Under "auth plugin: passwordauth", uncheck the "enable passwordauth?" option. (Note: This will disable the old admin account login. Only SSO login using HTTP auth will be possible.)
5. At the bottom of the page click "Save Setup".
6. Click "Preferences", then "Logout".
7. Login as the new admin user using "Login with HTTP auth".

8.6. Avoiding Spam

By default, every wiki page also has a "Discussion" page, which can be edited anonymously, without logging in. To avoid spam, you may want to disable the Discussion feature all together, by unchecking the "enable Discussion pages?" option in the setup.

8.7. Theming

1. Login to the site, using the admin account that was specified when the site was created.
2. Click "Preferences", then "Setup".
3. Under "web plugin: theme", check "enable theme?"
4. Right under the checkbox, type in the name of the desired theme. You can choose from the following officially supported themes:
   • actiontabs - mobile friendly
   • blueview - non-mobile friendly
   • goldtype - non-mobile friendly
   • monochrome - mobile friendly
5. At the bottom of the page click "Save Setup".

For your changes to become visible, you might have to delete your browser's cache or wait a few minutes and refresh your ikiwiki's page.

It is also possible to install user-contributed themes from ikiwiki's Theme Market. Please note, that this requires additional technical knowledge.

8.8. External links

• Website: https://ikiwiki.info

  • Theme Market https://ikiwiki.info/theme_market/

9. Infinoted (Collaborative text edition with Gobby)

Available since: version 0.5

infinoted is a server for Gobby, a collaborative text editor.

To use it, download Gobby, desktop client and install it. Then start Gobby and select "Connect to Server" and enter your FreedomBox's domain name.

9.1. Port Forwarding

If your FreedomBox is behind a router, you will need to set up port forwarding on your router. You should forward the following ports for infinoted:

• TCP 6523

9.2. Extenal links

• Website: https://gobby.github.io/libinfinity

10. JSXC (Web Chat Client)

Available since: version 0.11.0

JSXC is a web chat client. It can be used to join compatible chat servers.

FreedomBox offers both parties, a server (ejabberd) and a web client (JSXC), from its web interface.

10.1. Technical Specifications

JSXC features the XMPP over BOSH protocol and is implemented in HTML5.

XMPP is a federated server-client protocol for Instant Messaging. This means that users who have accounts on one server, can talk to users that are on another server.

XMPP can also be used for voice and video calls, if supported by the clients.

10.2. Installation

You can install JSXC through its icon in the Apps section of FreedomBox web interface. The ejabberd (XMPP server) icon also offers to launch the web client (and installs JSXC if not yet installed).

10.3. Usage

After the JSXC module install completes, the JSXC can be accessed through its icon in the Apps section of FreedomBox web interface. The ejabberd (XMPP server) icon also offers to launch the web client. Both will redirect you to https://<your freedombox>/plinth/apps/xmpp/jsxc/.

To use it, you need to input the domain name of the server to connect to. It will automatically check the BOSH server connection to the given domain name as you type it.

Videoconferencing and file transfer features are offered by JSXC but don't seem to work in FreedomBox yet.

10.4. Port Forwarding

If your FreedomBox is behind a router and you want to connect to other servers, you will need to set up port forwarding on your router. You should forward the following ports for XMPP:

• TCP 5222 (client-to-server)

10.5. External links

• Website: https://www.jsxc.org

• User documentation: https://www.jsxc.org/manual.html

11. Matrix Synapse (Chat Server)

Available since: version 0.14.0

11.1. What is Matrix?

Matrix is an open protocol for interoperable, decentralized, real-time communication over IP. Synapse is the reference implementation of a Matrix server. It can be used to setup instant messaging on FreedomBox to host chat rooms with end-to-end encrypted communication and audio/video calls. Matrix Synapse is a federated application where chat rooms can exist on any server and users from any server in the federated network can join them. Learn more about Matrix.

11.2. How to access your Matrix Synapse server?

We recommend the Element client to access the Matrix Synapse server. You can download Element for desktops. Mobile applications for Android and iOS are available from their respective app stores.

11.3. Port Forwarding

If your FreedomBox is behind a router, you will need to set up port forwarding on your router. You should forward the following ports for Matrix:

• TCP 8448

11.4. Setting up Matrix Synapse on your FreedomBox

To enable Matrix Synapse, first navigate to the Chat Server (Matrix Synapse) page and install it. Matrix needs a valid domain name to be configured. After installation, you will be asked to configure it. You will be able to select a domain from a drop down menu of available domains. Domains are configured using System -> Configure page. After configuring a domain, you will see that the service is running. The service will be accessible on the configured FreedomBox domain. Currently, you will not be able to change the domain once is it configured.

Your router has to be configured to forward port 8448.

All the registered users of your FreedomBox will have their Matrix IDs as @username:domain. If public registration is enabled, also your chosen client can be used to register a user account.

11.5. Setting up Audio/Video calls

The Matrix Synapse server is only responsible for establishing calls between participants in rooms. Matrix clients such as Element are actually responsible for the transfer of the audio/video traffic. Element supports calling in both one-to-one conversations and in groups.

For one-to-one conversations, Element tries to make a peer-to-peer connection between the two participants. This works when both the participants are using Element on computers with a public IP address or if they're on the same network. If both the participants are behind different NAT devices, establishing a direct peer-to-peer connection between them will not be possible. This problem can be solved by configuring Matrix Synapse with a STUN/TURN server. FreedomBox provides an app called Coturn for this purpose. FreedomBox doesn't automatically install Coturn on installing Matrix Synapse. However, as soon as Coturn app is installed, FreedomBox automatically configures Matrix Synapse to use it for audio/video calls. It is possible to override this configuration with a different STUN/TURN server in the web interface.

For calling groups with more than two participants (i.e. not one-on-one conversations), Element uses an external Jitsi Meet instance. Element uses jitsi.riot.im as its default Jitsi Meet instance. If the Matrix Synapse server is configured to use a different Jitsi Meet instance as the default, Element will use it instead for all users on that server.

11.6. Federating with other Matrix instances

You will be able to interact with any other person running another Matrix instance. This is done by simply starting a conversation with them using their matrix ID which is of the format @their-username:their-domain. You can also join rooms which are in another server and have audio/video calls with contacts on other server.

11.7. Memory usage

The Synapse reference server implemented in Python is known to be quite RAM hungry, especially when loading large rooms with thousands of members like #matrix:matrix.org. It is recommended to avoid joining such rooms if your FreedomBox device only has 1 GiB RAM or less. Rooms with up to a hundred members should be safe to join. The Matrix team is working on a new implementation of the Matrix server written in Go called Dendrite which might perform better in low-memory environments.

Some large public rooms in the Matrix network are also available as IRC channels (e.g. #freedombox:matrix.org is also available as #freedombox on irc.debian.org). It is better to use IRC instead of Matrix for such large rooms. You can join the IRC channels using Quassel.

11.8. Advanced usage

1. If you wish to create a large number of users on your Matrix Synapse server, use the following commands on a remote shell as root user:

   • cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9' | fold -w 32 | head -n 1 | sed "s+^+registration_shared_secret: +" > /etc/matrix-synapse/conf.d/registration_shared_secret.yaml
     chmod 600 /etc/matrix-synapse/conf.d/registration_shared_secret.yaml
     chown matrix-synapse:nogroup /etc/matrix-synapse/conf.d/registration_shared_secret.yaml
     systemctl restart matrix-synapse
     register_new_matrix_user -c /etc/matrix-synapse/conf.d/registration_shared_secret.yaml

2. If you wish to see the list of users registered in Matrix Synapse, the following as root user:

   • apt install sqlite3
     echo 'select name from users' | sqlite3 /var/lib/matrix-synapse/homeserver.db  

3. If you wish to create a community in Matrix Synapse, a Matrix user with server admin privileges is needed. In order to grant such privileges to username run the following commands as root user:

   • sudo apt install sqlite3
     echo "UPDATE users SET admin=1 WHERE name='@username:domainname'" | sudo sqlite3 /var/lib/matrix-synapse/homeserver.db  

11.9. External links

• Matrix Website: https://matrix.org

• Synapse section:https://matrix.org/docs/projects/server/synapse

• User documentation: https://matrix.org/docs/guides

• Video tutorial for setting up Matrix Synapse on a Cloud instance: https://youtu.be/8snpMHHbymI

12. MediaWiki (Wiki)

Available since: version 0.20.0

12.1. About MediaWiki

MediaWiki is the software that powers the Wikimedia suite of wikis.

Read more about MediaWiki on Wikipedia

12.2. MediaWiki on FreedomBox

MediaWiki on FreedomBox is configured to be publicly readable and privately editable. Only logged in users can make edits to the wiki. This configuration prevents spam and vandalism on the wiki.

12.2.1. User management

Users can be created by the MediaWiki administrator (user "admin") only. The "admin" user can also be used to reset passwords of MediaWiki users. The administrator password, if forgotten can be reset anytime from the MediaWiki app page in web interface.

12.2.2. Use cases

MediaWiki is quite versatile and can be put to many creative uses. It also comes with a lot of plugins and themes and is highly customizable.

12.2.2.1. Personal Knowledge Repository

• MediaWiki on FreedomBox can be your own personal knowledge repository. Since MediaWiki has good multimedia support, you can write notes, store images, create checklists, store references and bookmarks etc. in an organized manner. You can store the knowledge of a lifetime in your MediaWiki instance.

12.2.2.2. Community Wiki

• A community of users can use MediaWiki as their common repository of knowledge and reference material. It can used as a college notice board, documentation server for a small company, common notebook for study groups or as a fan wiki like wikia.

12.2.2.3. Personal Wiki-based Website

• Several websites on the internet are simply MediaWiki instances. MediaWiki on FreedomBox is read-only to visitors. Hence, it can be adapted to serve as your personal website and/or blog. MediaWiki content is easy to export and can be later moved to use another blog engine.

12.2.3. Editing Wiki Content

The MediaWiki installation on FreedomBox ships with two kinds of editors - WikiText editor and !Visual editor.

12.2.3.1. WikiText Editor

• This editor is for editing the wiki directly in MediaWiki's markup language. It has a toolbar for common options like Bold, Italics etc. Click on the Advanced section for more options like Headings, bullet lists etc.

12.2.3.2. Visual Editor

• MediaWiki's VisualEditor extension provides a WYSIWYG interface to editing wiki pages. This extension is bundled with MediaWiki from 1.35 and is enabled by default from FreedomBox 21.9.

  Since this is essentially a rich-text editor, knowledge of MediaWiki's markup language is not required. To use advanced features not available in the VisualEditor (yet), switch back to source editing.

12.2.3.3. Other Formats

• You don't have to necessarily learn the MediaWiki formatting language. You can write in your favorite format (Markdown, Org-mode, LaTeX etc.) and convert it to the MediaWiki format using Pandoc.

12.2.3.4. Image Uploads

• Image uploads have been enabled since FreedomBox version 0.36.0. You can also directly use images from Wikimedia Commons using a feature called Instant Commons.

12.2.4. Customization

12.2.4.1. Skins

MediaWiki's default skin is usually Vector. The default skin set by FreedomBox is Timeless.

Vector is a skin best-suited for viewing on desktop browsers. It is not suitable for mobile screen sizes. Wikimedia sites host a separate mobile site. It is not worth hosting a separate mobile site for small MediaWiki installations like those on FreedomBox. Using a mobile-friendly skin like Timeless is a cheaper way of solving the problem.

Administrators can choose a default skin from the app configuration. Users of the site also have the choice of viewing it with a different skin.

12.3. External links

• Website: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki

13. Minetest (Block Sandbox)

Available since: version 0.9

Minetest is a multiplayer infinite-world block sandbox. This module enables the Minetest server to be run on this FreedomBox, on the default port (30000). To connect to the server, a Minetest client is needed.

13.1. Port Forwarding

If your FreedomBox is behind a router, you will need to set up port forwarding on your router. You should forward the following ports for Minetest:

• UDP 30000

13.2. Install and enable mods

After SSHing into your FreedomBox server, install (unzip or git clone) mods in /var/games/minetest-server/.minetest/mods (for example, for the mobs_animal mod, you'd have the new /var/games/minetest-server/.minetest/mods/mobs_animal/ directory).

To enable a mod, first restart minetest:

sudo systemctl restart minetest-server.service

This will update the world config file, located in /var/games/minetest-server/.minetest/worlds/world/world.mt, with a line related to the added mod. Set that line from false to true in order to enable the new mod in your minetest instance. For example:

load_mod_mobs_animal = true

After that, save your changes, restart minetest one more time, then you should be all set.

13.3. External links

• Website: https://www.minetest.net

• Wiki: https://wiki.minetest.net

14. MiniDLNA (Simple Media Server)

Available since: version 19.23

MiniDLNA is a media server with the aim to be compliant with DLNA/UPnP clients.

Note: This service is available only on networks configured as "internal" zone. It is not available when connected via OpenVPN.

14.1. What is UPnP/DLNA?

Universal plug & play is a set of networking protocols that allow devices within a network such as PCs, TVs, printers etc. to seamlessly discover each other and establish communication for data sharing. It is zero configuration protocol and requires only a media server and a media player that are compliant with the protocol.

DLNA is derived from UPnP as a form of standardizing media interoperability. It forms a standard/certification which many consumer electronics conform to.

14.2. Setting up MiniDLNA on your FreedomBox

To install/enable the media server you need to navigate at MiniDLNA page and enable it. The application is intended to be available in the internal (home) network and therefore it requires a network interface configured for internal traffic.

After installation a web page becomes available on https://<your-freedombox>/_minidlna. It includes information for how many files the server is detecting, how many connections exist etc. This is very useful if plugging external disks with media to check if the new media files are detected properly. If that is not happening, disabling and enabling the server will fix it.

14.3. Using MiniDLNA to play media on your devices

Any DLNA compliant device or media player should be able to automatically detect, browse and play media from MiniDLNA on FreedomBox. The following devices and media players have been tested:

• GNOME Videos: Videos is the default media player on the popular GNU/Linux desktop environment GNOME. Open Videos, switch to 'Channels'. You should see a channel named 'freedombox: minidlna'. You will be able to browse and play media from it.

• VLC media player: VLC is a very popular media player for GNU/Linux, Android, Windows and macOS. Open VLC and click on 'View -> Playlist'. In the playlist sidebar that appears, select 'Universal Plug'n'Play'. You should see an item named 'freedombox: minidlna'. You should be able to browse and play media from it.

• Kodi: Kodi is a popular media centre software with user interface designed for Televisions. Open Kodi, goto 'System -> Service settings -> UPnP/DLNA' and 'Enable UPnP support'. Then visit 'Home -> Videos -> Files -> Add videos... -> Browse -> UPnP devices'. You should see 'freedombox: minidlna'. Select it and choose 'OK'. Then choose 'OK in the 'Add video source' dialog. From now on, you should see 'freedombox: minidlna' in 'Videos -> Files' section. You should be able to browse and play media from it. See Kodi documentation for more information.

• Roku: Roku is an appliance connected to a TV for playing Internet streaming services. Many TVs also have Roku built into them. In Roku interface, find a channel called 'Roku Media Player' and open it. You should see an item called 'freedombox: minidlna'. You should be able to browse and play media from it.

• Rhythmbox: Rhythmbox is the default audio player on the popular GNU/Linux desktop environment GNOME. Open Rhythmbox and ensure that the side pane is open by clicking on 'Application menu -> View -> Side Pane'. In the side pane you should see 'freedombox:minidlna' under the 'Shared' section. You should be able to browse and play audio files from it. Video files will not show up.

14.4. Supported media formats

MiniDLNA supports a wide variety of video and audio file formats.

• Video: Files ending with .avi, .mp4, .mkv, .mpg, .mpeg, .wmv, .m4v, .flv, .mov, .3gp, etc.

• Audio: Files ending with .mp3, .ogg, .flac, .wav, .pcm, .wma, .fla, .aac, etc.

• Image: Files ending with .jpg, .jpeg

• Playlist: Files ending with .m3u, .pls

• Captions: Files ending with .srt, .smi

Notably, it does not support the following file extensions. Renaming the file to a known extension seems to work in most cases.

• Video: Files ending with .webm

In addition to file format support from MiniDLNA, your media player or device needs to support the audio/video codecs with which the media has been encoded. MiniDLNA does not have the ability to translate files into a codec understood by the player. If you face problems with media playback, use the VLC player to find the codecs used in the media and the check your device or media player documentation on whether the codecs are supported.

14.5. File systems for external drives

If using an external drive that is used also from a Windows system the preferred filesystem should be NTFS. NTFS will keep Linux file permissions and UTF8 encoding for file names. This is useful if file names are in your language.

14.6. External links

• Upstream project site: http://minidlna.sourceforge.net

• About DLNA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Living_Network_Alliance

15. Mumble (Voice Chat) Server

Available since: version 0.5

15.1. What is Mumble?

Mumble is a voice chat software. Primarily intended for use while gaming, it is suitable for simple talking with high audio quality, noise suppression, encrypted communication, public/private-key authentication by default, and "wizards" to configure your microphone for instance. A user can be marked as a "priority speaker" within a channel.

15.2. Using Mumble

FreedomBox includes the Mumble server. Clients are available for desktop and mobile platforms. Users can download one of these clients and connect to the server.

15.3. Port Forwarding

If your FreedomBox is behind a router, you will need to set up port forwarding on your router. You should forward the following ports for Mumble:

• TCP 64738
• UDP 64738

15.4. Managing Permissions

A super user in Mumble has the ability to create administrator accounts who can in turn manage groups and channel permissions. This can be done after logging in with the username "SuperUser" using the super user password. See Mumble Guide for information on how to do this. The SuperUser password can be set through the FreedomBox interface.

15.5. External links

• Website: https://www.mumble.info

• User documentation: https://www.mumble.info/documentation

16. OpenVPN (Virtual Private Network)

Available since: version 0.7

16.1. What is OpenVPN?

OpenVPN provides to your FreedomBox a virtual private network service. You can use this software for remote access, site-to-site VPNs and Wi-Fi security. OpenVPN includes support for dynamic IP addresses and NAT.

16.2. Port Forwarding

If your FreedomBox is behind a router, you will need to set up port forwarding on your router. You should forward the following ports for OpenVPN:

• UDP 1194

16.3. Setting up

1. In FreedomBox apps menu, select Virtual Private Network (OpenVPN) and click Install.

2. After the module is installed, there is an additional setup step that may take a long time to complete. Click "Start setup" to begin.

   

3. Wait for the setup to finish. This could take a while.

4. Once the setup of the OpenVPN server is complete, you can download your profile. This will download a file called <USER>.ovpn, where <USER> is the name of a FreedomBox user. Each FreedomBox user will be able to download a different profile. Users who are not administrators can download the profile from home page after login.

5. The ovpn file contains all the information a vpn client needs to connect to the server.

6. The downloaded profile contains the domain name of the FreedomBox that the client should connect to. This is picked up from the domain configured in 'Config' section of 'System' page. In case your domain is not configured properly, you may need to change this value after downloading the profile. If your OpenVPN client allows it, you can do this after importing the OpenVPN profile. Otherwise, you can edit the .ovpn profile file in a text editor and change the 'remote' line to contain the WAN IP address or hostname of your FreedomBox as follows.

   client
   remote mybox.freedombox.rocks 1194
   proto udp

16.4. Troubleshooting

If your network doesn't support IPv6, you might have to remove the following line from your OpenVPN client configuration. This is especially in cases where your server supports IPv6 but client does not thus confusing the OpenVPN client on which protocol to use.

proto udp6

To connect via IPv4, ensure that the following line is present.

proto udp

16.5. Browsing Internet after connecting to VPN

After connecting to the VPN, the client device will be able to browse the Internet without any further configuration. However, a pre-condition for this to work is that you need to have at least one Internet connected network interface which is part of the 'External' firewall zone. Use the networks configuration page to edit the firewall zone for the device's network interfaces.

16.6. Usage

16.6.1. On Android/LineageOS

1. Visit FreedomBox home page. Login with your user account. From home page, download the OpenVPN profile. The file will be named username.ovpn.

   • 

2. Download an OpenVPN client such as OpenVPN for Android. F-Droid repository is recommended. In the app, select import profile.

   • 

3. In the select profile dialog, choose the username.opvn file you have just downloaded. Provide a name for the connection and save the profile.

   • 

4. Newly created profile will show up. If necessary, edit the profile and set the domain name of your FreedomBox as the server address.

   • 

     

5. Connect by tapping on the profile.

   • 

     

6. When done, disconnect by tapping on the profile.

   • 

16.6.2. On Debian

Install an OpenVPN client for your system

$ sudo apt install openvpn

Open the ovpn file with the OpenVPN client.

$ sudo openvpn --config /path/to/<USER>.ovpn

If you use Network Manager, you can create a new connection by importing the file:

$ sudo apt install network-manager-openvpn-gnome
$ sudo nmcli connection import type openvpn file /path/to/<USER>.ovpn

If you get an error such as configuration error: invalid 1th argument to “proto” (line 5) then edit the .ovpn file and remove the line proto udp6.

16.7. Checking if you are connected

16.7.1. On Debian

1. Try to ping the FreedomBox or other devices on the local network.

2. Running the command ip addr should show a tun0 connection.

3. The command traceroute freedombox.org should show you the ip address of the VPN server as the first hop.

16.8. Accessing internal services

After connecting to OpenVPN, you will be able to access FreedomBox services that are only meant to be accessed on internal networks. This is in addition to being able to access external services. This can be done by using the IP address 10.91.0.1 as the host name for these services (for example, use smb://10.91.0.1 instead of smb://freedombox.local to access Samba shares).

The following services are known to work:

• Privoxy,

• Tor Socks,

• Shadowsocks,

• I2P Proxy and

• Samba.

Some services are known not to work at this time:

• Avahi,

• bind and

• MiniDLNA.

16.9. External Links

• Wiki / Tracker: https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn

17. Privoxy (Web Proxy)

Available since: version 0.1

A web proxy acts as a filter for incoming and outgoing web traffic. Thus, you can instruct any computer in your network to pass internet traffic through the proxy to remove unwanted ads and tracking mechanisms.

Privoxy is a software for security, privacy, and accurate control over the web. It provides a much more powerful web proxy (and anonymity on the web) than what your browser can offer. Privoxy "is a proxy that is primarily focused on privacy enhancement, ad and junk elimination and freeing the user from restrictions placed on his activities" (source: Privoxy FAQ).

17.1. Screencast

Watch the screencast on how to setup and use Privoxy in FreedomBox.

17.2. Setting up

1. In FreedomBox, install Web Proxy (Privoxy)

   

2. Adapt your browser proxy settings to your FreedomBox hostname (or IP address) with port 8118. Please note that Privoxy can only proxy HTTP and HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.

   

3. Go to page http://config.privoxy.org/ or http://p.p. If Privoxy is installed properly, you will be able to configure it in detail; if not you will see an error message.

4. If you are using a laptop that occasionally has to connect through other routers than yours with the FreedomBox and Privoxy, you may want to install a proxy switch add-on that allows you to easily turn the proxy on or off.

17.3. Advanced Users

The default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the configuration, that can be dealt with as the need arises.

1. Plan first:

   • While using Privoxy, you can see its configuration details and documentation at http://config.privoxy.org/ or http://p.p.

   • The Quickstart is a good starting point to read on how to define own blocking and filtering rules.

   • Read carefully the manual, especially this security warning:

     • Access to the editor can not be controlled separately by "ACLs" or HTTP authentication, so that everybody who can access Privoxy can modify its configuration for all users. This option is not recommended for environments with untrusted users. Note that malicious client side code (e.g Java) is also capable of using the actions editor and you shouldn't enable this options unless you understand the consequences and are sure your browser is configured correctly.

2. Only when you are ready, perform the changes:

   1. To enable changing these configurations, you first have to change the value of enable-edit-actions in /etc/privoxy/config to 1.

   2. Now you find an EDIT button on the configuration screen in http://config.privoxy.org/.

17.4. External links

• Website: https://www.privoxy.org

• User manual: https://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/index.html

18. Quassel (Text Chat Client via IRC)

Available since: version 0.8

Quassel is an IRC application that is split into two parts, a "core" and a "client". This allows the core to remain connected to IRC servers, and to continue receiving messages, even when the client is disconnected. FreedomBox can run the Quassel core service keeping you always online and one or more Quassel clients from a desktop or a mobile device can be used to connect and disconnect from it.

18.1. Why run Quassel?

Many discussions about FreedomBox are being done on the IRC-Channel irc://irc.debian.org/freedombox. If your FreedomBox is running Quassel, it will collect all discussions while you are away, such as responses to your questions. Remember, the FreedomBox project is a worldwide project with people from nearly every time zone. You use your client to connect to the Quassel core to read and respond whenever you have time and are available.

18.2. How to setup Quassel?

• Within FreedomBox's web interface

  1. select Applications

  2. go to IRC Client (Quassel) and

  3. install the application and make sure it is enabled

     

  4. now your Quassel core is running

18.3. Port Forwarding

If your FreedomBox is behind a router, you will need to set up port forwarding on your router. You should forward the following ports for Quassel:

• TCP 4242
• Example configuration in router:

  • 

18.4. Clients

Clients to connect to Quassel from your desktop and mobile devices are available.

18.4.1. Desktop

In a Debian system, you can e.g. use quassel-client. The following steps describe how to connect Quassel Client with Quassel Core running on a FreedomBox. The first time you do this connection, Quassel Core will be initialized too.

1. Launch Quassel Client. You will be greeted with a wizard to Connect to Core.

   • 

2. Click the Add button to launch Add Core Account dialog.

   • 

3. Fill any value in the Account Name field. Fill proper DNS hostname of your FreedomBox in Hostname filed. Port field must have the value 4242. Provide the username and password of the account you wish to create to connect to the Quassel Core in the User and Password fields. Choose Remember if don't wish to be prompted for a password every time you launch Quassel client.

4. After pressing OK in the Add Core Account dialog, you should see the core account in the Connect to Core dialog.

   • 

5. Select the newly created core account and select OK to connect to it.

6. If this is the first time you are connecting to this core. You will see an Untrusted Security Certificate warning and need to accept the server certificate.

   • 

7. Select Continue. Then you will be asked if you wish to accept the certificate permanently. Select Forever.

   • 

8. If this Quassel Core has not been connected to before, you will then see a Core Configuration Wizard. Select Next.

   • 

9. In the Create Admin User page, enter the username and password you have used earlier to create the core connection. Select Remember password to remember this password for future sessions. Click Next.

   • 

10. In the Select Storage Backend page, select SQLite and click Commit.

    • 

11. The core configuration is then complete and you will see a Quassel IRC wizard to configure your IRC connections. Click Next.

    • 

12. In Setup Identity page next, provide a name and multiple nicknames. This is how you present yourself to other users on IRC. It is not necessary to give your real world name. Multiple nicknames are useful as fallback nicknames when the first nickname can't be used for some reason. After providing the information click Next.

    • 

13. In Setup Network Connection page next, provide a network name of your choice. Next provide a list of servers to which Quassel Core should connect to in order to join this IRC network (such as irc.debian.org:6667).

    • 

14. Select the server in the servers list and click Edit. In the Server Info dialog, set the port 6697 (consult your network's documentation for actual list of servers and their secure ports) and click Use SSL. Click OK. This is to ensure that communication between your FreedomBox and the IRC network server is encrypted.

    • 

15. Back in the Setup Network Connection dialog, provide a list of IRC channels (such as #freedombox) to join upon connecting to the network. Click Save & Connect.

    • 

16. You should connect to the network and see the list of channels you have joined on the All Chats pane on the left of the Quassel Client main window.

    • 

17. Select a channel and start seeing messages from others in the channel and send your own messages.

18.4.2. Android

For Android devices you may use e.g. Quasseldroid from F-Droid

• enter core, username etc. as above

  • 

By the way, the German verb quasseln means talking a lot, to jabber.

18.5. External links

• Website: https://quassel-irc.org

• Wiki: https://bugs.quassel-irc.org/projects/quassel-irc/wiki

19. Radicale (Calendar and Addressbook)

Available since: version 0.9

With Radicale, you can synchronize your personal calendars, ToDo lists, and addressbooks with your various computers, tablets, and smartphones, and share them with friends, without letting third parties know your personal schedule or contacts.

19.1. Why should I run Radicale?

Using Radicale, you can get rid of centralized services like Google Calendar or Apple Calendar (iCloud) data mining your events and social connections.

19.2. How to setup Radicale?

First, the Radicale server needs to be activated on your box.

• Within FreedomBox Service:

  1. select Apps

  2. go to Radicale (Calendar and Addressbook) and

  3. install the application. After the installation is complete, make sure the application is marked "enabled" in the FreedomBox interface. Enabling the application launches the Radicale CalDAV/CardDAV server.

  4. define the access rights:
     • Only the owner of a calendar/addressbook can view or make changes
     • Any user can view any calendar/addressbook, but only the owner can make changes
     • Any user can view or make changes to any calendar/addressbook

Note, that only users with a FreedomBox login can access Radicale.

If you want to share a calendar with only some users, the simplest approach is to create an additional user-name for these users and to share that user-name and password with them.

Radicale provides a basic web interface, which only supports creating new calendars and addressbooks. To add events or contacts, an external supported client application is needed.

• Creating addressbook/calendar using the web interface

  • Visit https://IP-address-or-domain-for-your-server/radicale/

  • Log in with your FreedomBox account

  • Select "Create new addressbook or calendar"
  • Provide a title and select the type
  • Optionally, provide a description or select a color
  • Click "Create"
  • The page will show the URL for your newly created addressbook or calendar

Now open your client application to create new calendar and address books that will use your FreedomBox and Radicale server. The Radicale website provides an overview of supported clients, but do not use the URLs described there; FreedomBox uses another setup, follow this manual. Below are the steps for two examples:

• Example of setup with Evolution client:
  • Calendar
    1. Create a new calendar
    2. For "Type," select "CalDAV"
    3. When "CalDAV" is selected, additional options will appear in the dialogue window.

    4. URL: https://IP-address-or-domain-for-your-server. Items in italics need to be changed to match your settings.

    5. Enable "Use a secure connection."

    6. User: USERNAME. Your Freedombox user-name.

    7. Click on "Find Calendars"
    8. Enter your password and select a calendar

       

  • TODO/Tasks list: Adding a TODO/Tasks list is basically the same as a calendar.
  • Contacts
    • Follow the same steps described above and replace CalDAV with WebDAV.

19.3. Synchronizing over Tor

In FreedomBox, setting up a calendar with Radicale over Tor is the same as over the clear net. Here is a short summary:

1. When logged in to FreedomBox interface over Tor, click on Radicale, and at the prompt provide your FreedomBox user name and password.

2. In the Radicale web interface, log in using your FreedomBox user name and password.

3. Click on "Create new address book or calendar", provide a title, select a type, and click "Create".

4. Save the URL, e.g., https://ONION-ADDRESS-FOR-YOUR-SERVER.onion/radicale/USERNAME/CALENDAR-CODE/. Items in italics need to be changed to match your settings.

These instructions are for Thunderbird/Lightning. Note that you will need to be connected to Tor with the Tor Browser Bundle.

1. Open Thunderbird, install the Torbirdy add-on, and restart Thunderbird. (This may not be necessary.)
2. In the Lightning interface, under Calendar/Home in the left panel right click with the mouse and select "New calendar".
3. Select the location of your calendar as "On the Network".

4. Select CalDAV and for the location copy the URL, e.g., https://ONION-ADDRESS-FOR-YOUR-SERVER.onion/radicale/USERNAME/CALENDAR-CODE/. Items in italics need to be changed to match your settings.

5. Provide a name, etc. Click "Next". Your calendar is now syncing with your FreedomBox over Tor.

6. If you have not generated a certificate for your FreedomBox with "Let's Encrypt", you may need to select "Confirm Security Exception" when prompted.

19.4. Synchronizing with your Android phone

There are various Apps that allow integration with the Radicale server. This example uses DAVx5, which is available e.g. on F-Droid. If you intend to use ToDo-Lists as well, the compatible app OpenTasks has to be installed first.

Follow these steps for setting up your account with the Radicale server running on your FreedomBox.

1. Install DAVx5
2. Create a new account on DAVx5 by clicking on the floating + button.

3. Select the second option as shown in the first figure below and enter the base url as https://<your.freedombox.address>/radicale/username/ (don't miss the / at the end). DAVx5 will be able to discover both CalDAV and WebDAV accounts for the user.

4. Follow this video from DAVx5 FAQ to learn how to migrate your existing contacts to Radicale.

Synchronizing contacts

1. Click on the hamburger menus of CalDAV and CardDAV and select either "Refresh ..." in case of existing accounts or "Create ..." in case of new accounts (see the second screenshot below).
2. Check the checkboxes for the address books and calendars you want to synchronize and click on the sync button in the header. (see the third screenshot below)

19.5. Advanced Users

19.5.1. Sharing resources

Above was shown an easy way to create a resource for a group of people by creating a dedicated account for all. Here will be described an alternative method where two users User1 and User2 are granted access to a calendar. This requires SSH-access to the FreedomBox.

1. create a file /etc/radicale/rights

   • [friends_calendar]
     user: ^(User1|User2)$
     collection: ^.*/calendar_of_my_friends.ics$
     permission: rw
     
     # Give write access to owners
     [owner-write]
     user: .+
     collection: ^%(login)s/.+$
     permission: rw

   • [friends_calendar] is just an identifier, can be any name.

   • The [owner-write] section makes sure that owners have access to their own files

2. edit file /etc/radicale/config and make the following changes in section [rights]

   • [rights]
     type = from_file
     file = /etc/radicale/rights

3. Restart the radicale server or the FreedomBox

19.5.2. Importing files

If you are using a contacts file exported from another service or application, it should be copied to: /var/lib/radicale/collections/user/contact file name.vcf.

19.6. External links

• Website: https://radicale.org/3.0.html

20. Roundcube (Email Client)

Available since: version 0.5

20.1. What is Roundcube?

Roundcube is a browser-based multilingual email client with an application-like user interface. Roundcube is using the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) to access e-mail on a remote mail server. It supports MIME to send files, and provides particularly address book, folder management, message searching, and spell checking.

Roundcube app can be used to read and send emails in one of the two ways: using an email account you have elsewhere (other than FreedomBox), like in Riseup or in Gmail, or an account on FreedomBox. The latter is possible if an email server app, such as Postfix/Dovecot/Rspamd, is setup and enabled on FreedomBox. At present, Roundcube can only be setup for one of these two ways. This is controlled by the Use only the local mail server option in Roundcube app configuration page.

20.2. Email privacy

In the first case, you only get privacy over your drafts. Once you send the email, a copy will reside in the external services (Riseup, Gmail, etc) unless you explicitly remove it. In any case, your traffic transits through them.

In the second (self-hosted) case, your mail copies reside on your FreedomBox server. But you only keep privacy as long as the recipient also uses a private system and doesn't disclose your content.

20.3. Using Roundcube

After Roundcube is installed, it can be accessed at https://<your freedombox>/roundcube. Enter your username and password. The username for many mail services will be the full email address such as exampleuser@example.org and not just the username like exampleuser. Enter the address of your email service's IMAP server address in the Server field. You can try providing your domain name here, such as example.org for email address exampleuser@example.org and if this does not work, consult your email provider's documentation for the address of the IMAP server. Using encrypted connection to your IMAP server is strongly recommended. To do this, prepend 'imaps://' at the beginning of your IMAP server address. For example, imaps://imap.example.org.

20.4. Using Gmail with Roundcube

If you wish to use Roundcube with your Gmail account, you need to first enable support for password based login in your Google account preferences. This is because Gmail won't allow applications to login with a password by default. To do this, visit Google Account preferences and enable Less Secure Apps. After this, login to Roundcube by providing your Gmail address as Username, your password and in the server field use imaps://imap.gmail.com.

20.5. External links

• Website: https://roundcube.net

21. Samba (Network File Storage)

Available since: version 19.22

Samba lets you have shared folders over the local network that can be used from multiple computers running different operating systems. We refer to these shared folders as "shares".

You can have a personal folder shared between your own devices (Home share), a folder shared with a trusted group (Group share) or one that is shared with every device on the network (Open share).

Samba lets you to treat a share as if it's a local folder on your computer. However, shares are available only on the local network.

To learn more about Samba, please refer to the user documentation on their wiki.

21.1. Using Samba

After installation, you can choose which disks to use for sharing. Enabled shares are accessible in the file manager on your computer at location \\freedombox (on Windows) or smb://freedombox.local (on Linux and Mac). There are three types of shares you can choose from:

Open share - accessible to everyone in your local network.
Group share - accessible only to FreedomBox users who are in the freedombox-share group.
Home share - every user in the freedombox-share group can have their own private space.

21.1.1. Connecting from an Android device

To access Samba shares on an Android device, install "Android Samba Client" from F-Droid or Google Play. Enter smb://freedombox.local/<disk> as the share path in the app. Your shared folders should then be visible in the file manager app. Samba shares can also be used by VLC for Android which automatically discovers them.

21.1.2. Connecting from a macOS device

• Open a Finder window on your Mac.

• Use Go -> Connect to Server... from the file menu or press the shortcut Cmd+K to open the Connect To Server dialog.

• Enter the address of your Samba share, e.g. smb://192.168.0.105/disk and click Connect.

21.2. Integration with other apps

Transmission app on FreedomBox provides a setting to allow downloads to be saved directly to a Samba share.

If you want to make available files synchronized with Syncthing through Samba you need to make sure you synchronize in a Samba share folder. Additionally in order to make Syncthing shares available in Samba Open share or Group share you will need to ensure you click "Permissions > Ignore" button under the "Advanced" tab in folder you wish in the Syncthing web UI. This will ensure that the files will be writable through Samba.

21.3. Comparison with other apps

21.3.1. Syncthing

Syncthing maintains a copy of the shared folder on each device that it is shared with. Samba maintains only one copy on your FreedomBox device.

Syncthing can synchronize your shared folders between devices over the Internet. Samba shares are only available on the local network.

Since Syncthing is primarily a synchronization solution, it has features like conflict resolution and versioning. Samba has only copy of the file, so it doesn't need such features. For example, if two people are editing a spreadsheet stored on a Samba share, the last one to save the file wins.

21.4. External links

• Website: https://www.samba.org

• User documentation: https://www.samba.org/samba/docs

22. Searx (Web Search)

Available since: version 0.24.0

22.1. About Searx

Searx is a metasearch engine. A metasearch engine aggregates the results from various search engines and presents them in a unified interface.

Read more about Searx on their official website.

22.2. Screenshot

22.3. Screencast

Searx installation and first steps (14 MB)

22.4. Why use Searx?

22.4.1. Personalization and Filter Bubbles

Search engines have the ability to profile users and serve results most relevant to them, putting people into filter bubbles, thus distorting people's view of the world. Search engines have a financial incentive to serve interesting advertisements to their users, increasing their chances of clicking on the advertisements.

A metasearch engine is a possible solution to this problem, as it aggregates results from multiple search engines thus bypassing personalization attempts by search engines.

Searx avoids storing cookies from search engines as a means of preventing tracking and profiling by search engines.

22.4.2. Advertisement filtering

Searx filters out advertisements from the search results before serving the results, thus increasing relevance the of your search results and saving you from distractions.

22.4.3. Privacy

Searx uses HTTP POST instead of GET by default to send your search queries to the search engines, so that anyone snooping your traffic wouldn't be able to read your queries. The search queries wouldn't stored in browser history either.

Note: Searx used from Chrome browser's omnibar would make GET requests instead of POST.

22.5. Searx on FreedomBox

• Searx on FreedomBox uses Single Sign On. This means that you should be logged in into your FreedomBox in the browser that you're using Searx.

• SearX is easily accessible via Tor.

• Searx can be added as a search engine to the Firefox browser's search bar. See Firefox Help on this topic. Once Searx is added, you can also set it as your default search engine.

• Searx also offers search results in csv, json and rss formats, which can be used with scripts to automate some tasks.

22.6. External links

• Website: https://searx.me

• User documentation: https://searx.github.io/searx/user/index.html

23. Shadowsocks (Bypass Censorship)

Available since: version 0.18.0

23.1. What is Shadowsocks?

Shadowsocks is a tool for securely forwarding network requests to a remote server. It consists of two parts: (1) a Shadowsocks server, and (2) a Shadowsocks client with a SOCKS5 proxy.

Shadowsocks can be used to bypass Internet filtering and censorship. This requires that the Shadowsocks server is in a location where it can freely access the Internet, without filtering.

Your FreedomBox can run a Shadowsocks client which can connect to a Shadowsocks server. It will also run a SOCKS5 proxy. Local devices can connect to this proxy, and their data will be encrypted and proxied through the Shadowsocks server.

Alternatively, your FreedomBox can run a Shadowsocks server, that allows Shadowsocks clients to connect to it. Clients' data will be encrypted and proxied through this server.

23.2. Using Shadowsocks?

Shadowsocks can be used as follows:

• Shadowsocks Client (a FreedomBox) is in a region where some parts of the Internet are blocked or censored.

• Shadowsocks Server (a different FreedomBox, or another server) is in a different region, which doesn't have these blocks.

• The FreedomBox running Shadowsocks Client provides SOCKS proxy service on the local network for other devices to make use of its Shadowsocks connection to the server.

23.3. Configuring your FreedomBox for Shadowsocks Client

To enable Shadowsocks Client, first navigate to the Shadowsocks Client (Bypass Censorship) page, and install it.

Server: the Shadowsocks server is not this FreedomBox's IP or URL; rather, it will be another server or VPS that has been configured as a Shadowsocks server. There are also some public Shadowsocks servers listed on the web, but be aware that whoever operates the server can see where requests are going, and any non-encrypted data will be visible to them.

To use Shadowsocks Client after setup, set the SOCKS5 proxy URL in your device, browser or application to http://freedombox_address:1080/

23.4. Configuring your FreedomBox for Shadowsocks Server

To enable Shadowsocks Server, first navigate to the Shadowsocks Server (Help Others Bypass Censorship) page, and install it.

Note: In general, a FreedomBox should be set up as either a Shadowsocks Server, or a Shadowsocks Client, but not both!

For Shadowsocks Clients to connect to your server, they will need to know your domain name, the password, and the encryption method.

23.4.1. Port Forwarding

If your FreedomBox is behind a router, you will need to set up port forwarding on your router. You should forward the following ports for Shadowsocks Server:

• TCP 8388
• UDP 8388

23.5. External links

• Website: https://shadowsocks.org/

24. Sharing (File Publishing)

Available since: version 0.25

24.1. What Is Sharing App?

Sharing app allows you to share content over the web. Shared content can be individual files or whole directories.

The content can be shared publicly or restricted to the users of listed allowed groups. Allowed users will be able to access the shared content from their web browser at https://your_freedombox/share/content_name. Users not belonging to any of the allowed groups won't see or access the content through this mechanism.

24.2. Setting Up Shares

For the users to access the content through their browser it must exist and have a share. A share is an entry in the Sharing app relating:

• the Name (an thereby the URL) with which the users will ask for the content,
• the Disk Path of the content to be served and
• the sharing mode. On restricted mode, it also has the list of allowed groups.

Many shares can coexist in the same server.

Only admins can create, edit or remove shares. They'll find the Sharing app in the Apps section of FreedomBox web interface. Sharing app is an easy to use web application with an evident interface.

Each share has its own sharing mode (public or restricted) setting. Only groups recognized by FreedomBox service can be combined in the list of allowed groups. Groups created in the CLI won't be offered by the Sharing app.

24.3. Providing/Updating Content

The content can be created before or after the share is created and they can be updated independently.

The content doesn't need to be provided by an admin either. Any user with write access to the share's disk path can create or update it.

Multiple shares might point to the same content.

If you are user of FreedomBox and your admin refuses to create shares for you, and you don't need to restrict the access to your content, you still can fall back to the User Websites mechanism or the P2P networks (Deluge or Transmission for Torrent) to publish your files.

24.4. Technicalities

Sharing will share the content using the built-in Apache web server.

25. Syncthing (File Synchronization)

Available since: version 0.14

With Syncthing installed on your FreedomBox, you can synchronize content from other devices to your FreedomBox and vice-versa. For example, you can keep the photos taken on your mobile phone synchronized to your FreedomBox.

Users should keep in mind that Syncthing is a peer-to-peer synchronization solution, not a client-server one. This means that the FreedomBox isn't really the server and your other devices clients. They're all devices from Syncthing's perspective. You can use Syncthing to synchronize your files between any of your devices. The advantage that FreedomBox provides is that it is a server that's always running. Suppose you want your photos on your phone to be synchronized to your laptop, if you simply sync the photos to the FreedomBox, the laptop can get them from the FreedomBox whenever it comes online the next time. You don't have to be worried about your other devices being online for synchronization. If your FreedomBox is one of the devices set up with your Syncthing shared folder, you can rest assured that your other devices will eventually get the latest files once they come online.

After installation follow the instructions in the getting started of the Syncthing project. Syncthing allows individual folders to be selectively shared with other devices. Devices must be paired up before sharing by scanning QR codes or entering the device ids manually. Syncthing has a discovery service for easily identifying the other devices on the same network having Syncthing installed.

In order to access to the web client of the Syncthing instance running on your FreedomBox, use the path /syncthing. This web client is currently only accessible to the users of the FreedomBox that have administrator privileges, though it might be accessible to all FreedomBox users in a future release.

Syncthing has android apps available on the F-Droid and Google Play app stores. Cross-platform desktop apps are also available.

To learn more about Syncthing, please visit their official website and documentation.

25.1. Synchronizing over Tor

Syncthing should automatically sync with your FreedomBox even if it is only accessible as a Tor Onion Service.

If you would like to proxy your Syncthing client over Tor, set the all_proxy environment variable:

$ all_proxy=socks5://localhost:9050 syncthing

For more information, see the Syncthing documentation on using proxies.

25.2. Avoiding Syncthing Relays

Syncthing uses dynamic connections by default to connect with other peers. This means that if you are synchronizing over the Internet, the data might have to go through public Syncthing relays to reach your devices. This doesn't take advantage of the fact that your FreedomBox has a public IP address.

When adding your FreedomBox as a device in other Syncthing clients, set the address like "tcp://<my.freedombox.domain>" instead of "dynamic". This allows your Syncthing peers to directly connect to your FreedomBox avoiding the need for relays. It also allows for fast on-demand syncing if you don't want to keep Syncthing running all the time on your mobile devices.

25.3. Using Syncthing with other applications

25.3.1. Password Manager

Password managers that store their databases in files are suitable for synchronization using Syncthing. The following example describes using a free password manager called KeePassXC in combination with Syncthing to serve as a replacement for proprietary password managers that store your passwords in the cloud.

KeePassXC stores usernames, passwords etc. in files have the .kdbx extension. These kdbx files can be stored in a Syncthing shared folder to keep them synchronized on multiple machines. Free software applications which can read this file format are available for both desktop and mobile. You typically have to just point the application at the .kdbx file and enter the master password to access your stored credentials. For example, the same kdbx file can be accessed by using KeePassXC on desktop and KeePassDX on Android. KeePassXC can also be used to fill credentials into login fields in the browser by installing a browser extension.

25.4. External links

• Website: https://syncthing.net

• User documentation: https://docs.syncthing.net

26. Tiny Tiny RSS (News Feed Reader)

Available since: version 0.9

Tiny Tiny RSS is a news feed (RSS/Atom) reader and aggregator, designed to allow reading news from any location, while feeling as close to a real desktop application as possible.

Any user created through FreedomBox web interface will be able to login and use this app. Each user has their own feeds, state and preferences.

26.1. Using the Web Interface

When enabled, Tiny Tiny RSS will be available from /tt-rss path on the web server. Any user created through FreedomBox will be able to login and use this app.

26.1.1. Adding a new feed

1. Go to the website you want the RSS feed for and copy the RSS/Atom feed link from it.

2. Select "Subscribe to feed.." from the Actions dropdown.

3. In the dialog box that appears, paste the URL for copied in step 1 and click the Subscribe button.

Give the application a minute to fetch the feeds after clicking Subscribe.

In some websites, the RSS feeds button isn't clearly visible. In that case, you can simply paste the website URL into the Subscribe dialog (step 3) and let TT-RSS automatically detect the RSS feeds on the page.

You can try this now with the homepage of WikiNews

As you can see in the image below, TT-RSS detected and added the Atom feed of WikiNews to our list of feeds.

If you don't want to keep this feed, right click on the feed shown in the above image, select Edit feed and click Unsubscribe in the dialog box that appears.

26.1.2. Importing your feeds from another feed reader

In your existing feed reader, find an option to Export your feeds to a file. Prefer the OPML file format if you have to choose between multiple formats. Let's say your exported feeds file is called Subscriptions.opml

Click on the Actions menu at the top left corner and select Preferences. You will be taken to another page.

Select the second tab called Feeds in the top header. Feeds has several sections. The second one is called OPML. Select it.

To import your Subscriptions.opml file into TT-RSS,

1. Click Browse and select the file from your file system

2. Click Import my OPML

After importing, you'll be taken to the Feeds section that's above the OPML section in the page. You can see that the feeds from your earlier feed reader are now imported into Tiny Tiny RSS. You can now start using Tiny Tiny RSS as your primary feed reader.

In the next section, we will discuss setting up the mobile app, which can let you read your feeds on the go.

26.2. Using the Mobile App

The official Android app from the Tiny Tiny RSS project works with FreedomBox's Tiny Tiny RSS Server. The older TTRSS-Reader application is known not to work.

To configure, first install the application, then in the setting page, set URL as https://<your.freedombox.address>/tt-rss-app/. Set your user name and password in the Login details as well as HTTP Authentication details. If your FreedomBox does not have a valid HTTPS certificate, then in settings request allowing any SSL certificate and any host.

26.3. RSS Bridge

RSS Bridge can be used with Tiny Tiny RSS to generate Atom/RSS links for websites that don't provide one.

26.4. External links

• Website: https://tt-rss.org

27. Tor (Anonymitätnetzwerk)

Verfügbar seit: Version 0.3

27.1. Was ist Tor?

Tor ist ein Servernetzwerk, die von Freiwilligen betrieben wird. Benutzer dieser Server können ihre Privatsphäre und Sicherheit beim Surfen im Internet verbessern. Sie und Ihre Freunde können über das Tor-Netzwerk auf Ihre FreedomBox zugreifen, ohne deren IP-Adresse zu verraten. Wenn Sie die Tor-Anwendung auf Ihrer FreedomBox aktivieren, können Sie Remotedienste (Chat, Wiki, Dateifreigabe usw.) anbieten, ohne Ihren Standort anzuzeigen. Diese Anwendung bietet Ihnen einen beßeren Schutz als ein öffentlicher Webserver, denn Sie werden an weniger aufdringlichen Agente im Web ausgesetzt.

27.2. Anonymsurfen mit Tor

Tor Browser ist die empfohlene Methode, um mit Tor im Internet zu surfen. Sie können den Tor-Browser von https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html herunterladen und den Anweisungen auf dieser Site folgen, um ihn zu installieren und rennen.

27.3. Zugriff auf Ihren FreedomBox mit dem Tor Onion Service

Der Tor Onion Service bietet eine Möglichkeit, auf Ihre FreedomBox zuzugreifen, auch wenn sie sich hinter einem Router, einer Firewall oder einem CGNAT befindet (d.h. Ihr Internetdienstanbieter stellt keine öffentliche IPv4-Adresse für Ihren Router bereit).

Um den Tor Onion Service zu aktivieren, gehen Sie erstmal zur Seite Anonymitätnetzwerk (Tor). (Wenn Sie es nicht sehen, klicken Sie oben links auf der Seite auf das FreedomBox-Logo, um zur Apps-Hauptseite zu gelangen.) Aktivieren Sie auf der Seite Anonymitätnetzwerk (Tor) unter Konfiguration die Option "Tor Onion Service aktivieren", und klicken Sie dann auf Setup aktualisieren. Tor wird neu konfiguriert und wiedergestartet werden.

Nach einer Weile wird die Seite aktualisiert und unter Status wird eine Tabelle mit der .onion-Adresse des Onion Service angezeigt. Kopieren Sie die ganze Adresse (mit der Endung .onion) und fügen Sie sie in das Adressfeld des Tor-Browsers ein. Sie sollten dann auf Ihre FreedomBox zugreifen können. (Möglicherweise wird eine Zertifikatwarnung angezeigt, denn FreedomBox'sches Zertifikat ist selbstsigniert.)

Heutzutage können nur HTTP (Port 80), HTTPS (Port 443) und SSH (Port 22) über den auf der FreedomBox konfigurierten Tor Onion Service zugegriffen werden.

27.4. Apps, die über Tor zugreifbar sind

Folgende Apps lassen sich über Tor zugreiffen. Beachten Sie, daß diese Liste nicht vollständig ist.

• Kalender und Adressbuch (Radicale)

• Datei - Synchronisation (Syncthing)

• Feed-lesen (TinyTinyRSS)

• Websuche (Searx)

• Wiki (MediaWiki)

• Wiki und Blog (Ikiwiki)

27.5. Ein Tor-Relais betreiben

Tor ist standardmäßig, als Brückenrelais eingestellt. Die Relais- oder Brückenoption kann man über die Tor-Konfigurationsseite in FreedomBox abschalten.

Unten, bei der Tor-Seite in FreedomBox gibt es eine Liste der vom Tor-Relais verwendeten Ports. Wenn Ihre FreedomBox sich hinter einem Router befindet, müssen Sie die Portweiterleitung auf Ihrem Router konfigurieren, um diese Ports über das öffentliche Internet zugreifbar zu lassen.

Die Anforderungen für den Betrieb eines Relais sind im Tor Relay Guide aufgegeben . Das heißt:

• Es wird empfohlen, daß für ein Relais mindestens 16 Mbit/s (Mbps) Auf- sowohl als Herunterwärts-Bandbreite für Tor verfügbar sind. Mehr desto besser.
• Es ist erforderlich, daß ein Tor-Relay mindestens 100 GByte ausgehenden und eingehenden Datenverkehrs pro Monat verwenden darf.

• Für ein Nicht-Ausgang-Relais mit <40 Mbit/s wird es empfohlen, daß mindestens 512 MB RAM verfügbar sind; Ein schnelleren Relais, sollte mindestens 1 GB RAM haben.

27.6. (Fortgeschrittene) Verwendung als SOCKS-Proxy

FreedomBox bietet einen Tor SOCKS-Port, mit dem andere Anwendungen eine Verbindung herstellen können um ihren Verkehr über das Tor-Netzwerk zu leiten. Dieser Port ist an alle Schnittstellen zugänglich, die die internen Firewall-Zone zugewiesen sind. Setzen Sie SOCKS Host auf die IP-Adresse der internen Netzwerkverbindung und Stellen Sie den SOCKS-Port auf 9050 ein, um die Anwendung einzustellen.

27.6.1. Beispiel mit Firefox

Ihr Webbrowser kann so eingestellt werden, daß er das Tor-Netzwerk für alle Surfen-Aktivität verwendet wird. Dies ermöglicht die Umgehung der Zensur und versteckt auch Ihre IP-Adresse von Websites während des regelmäßigen Surfens. Für Anonymität wird TorBrowser empfohlen.

Stellen Sie Ihre lokale FreedomBox-IP-Adresse und Ihren Port 9050 als SOCKS v5-Proxy in Firefox ein. Es gibt Erweiterungen, mit denen der Proxy einfach ein- und ausgeschaltet werden kann.

Mit konfigurierten SOCKS-Proxy können Sie nun direkt auf Onion-URLs aus Firefox zugreifen. FreedomBox selbst hat eine Onion-v3-Adresse, mit der Sie eine Verbindung über das Tor-Netzwerk herstellen können. (Bemerken Sie sie für Notfallgelegenheiten).

27.7. Umgehung der Tor-Zensur

Wenn Ihr ISP versucht, den Tor-Verkehr zu blockieren, können Sie Tor-Bridge-Relais verwenden, um eine Verbindung zum Tor-Netzwerk herzustellen

1. Erhalten Sie die Bridge-Konfiguration aus der Tor BridgeDB

2. Fügen Sie die Zeilen wie unten gezeigt zu Ihrer FreedomBox Tor-Konfiguration hinzu.

27.8. Externe Links

• Orginalprojekt: https://www.torproject.org

• Benutzerdocumentation: https://2019.www.torproject.org/docs/documentation.html.en

28. Transmission (Distributed File Sharing via BitTorrent)

Available since: version 0.5

28.1. What is Transmission ?

Transmission is a BitTorrent node (both, client and server at the same time).

BitTorrent is a communications protocol for peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing.

• It is not anonymous; you should assume that others can see what files you are sharing.

• This technology works best for big, popular files.

There are two BitTorrent web nodes available in FreedomBox: Transmission and Deluge. They have similar features, but you may prefer one over the other.

Transmission is a lightweight BitTorrent client that is well known for its simplicity and a default configuration that "Just Works".

28.2. Screenshot

28.3. Using Transmission

After installing Transmission, it can be accessed at https://<your freedombox>/transmission. Transmission uses single sign-on from FreedomBox, which means that if you are logged in on your FreedomBox, you can directly access Transmission without having to enter the credentials again. Otherwise, you will be prompted to login first and then redirected to the Transmission app.

28.4. Tips

28.4.1. Transferring Downloads from the FreedomBox

1. Transmission's downloads directory can be added as a shared folder in the Sharing app. You can then access your downloads from this shared folder using a web browser.

2. (Advanced) If you have the ssh access to your FreedomBox, you can use sftp or scp to browse the downloads directory using a suitable file manager or web browser:

   • Dolphin or Konqueror, if you access from a KDE desktop

   • The Other locations option in the default file manager, if you're on Gnome

   • WinSCP or FileZilla, if you're on Windows

   • Ghost Commander or Spider, if you're on Android.

28.5. Port Forwarding

If your FreedomBox is behind a router you optionally might want to set up port forwarding on your router in order to improve communication with other peers. You should forward the following ports for Transmission:

• TCP 51413 (or your configured peer listening port)

28.6. Using Remote Apps

In addition to using the web interface to control Transmission on FreedomBox, desktop and mobile apps may also be used. List of tested clients and their platforms are listed on the app page in FreedomBox web interface. When configuring these clients the URL to connect must be /transmission-remote/rpc and the port must be 443.

28.7. External Links

• Upstream projects:

  • Transmission: https://transmissionbt.com

  • BitTorrent: https://www.bittorrent.org

• Protocol description:

  • Upstream: https://www.bittorrent.org/introduction.html

  • At Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent

29. User Websites

Available since: version 0.9.4

29.1. What is User Websites?

User websites is a standard location for webservers to allow host users to expose static files on the filesystem as a website to the local network and/or the internet according to the network and firewall setup.

The standard webserver in FreedomBox is Apache and this is implemented by means of a specific Apache module.

29.2. Screenshot

Add when/if an interface is made for FreedomBox

29.3. Using User Websites

The module is always enabled and offers no configuration from the FreedomBox web interface. There is no configuration or status page shown for this module in the FreedomBox web interface.

To serve documents, place the files in the designated directory in a FreedomBox user's home directory in the filesystem.

This directory is: public_html

Thus the absolute path for the directory of a user named fbx with home directory in /home/fbx will be /home/fbx/public_html. User websites will serve documents placed in this directory when requests for documents with the URI path "~fbx" are received. For the the example.org domain thus a request for the document example.org/~fbx/index.html will transfer the file in /home/fbx/public_html/index.html.

29.4. Creating public_html folder and uploading documents

29.4.1. Visually from Linux

Linux standard desktop file managers use to support remote filesystem access through SFTP out of the box. Among others, Gnome's Nautilus, KDE/Plasma's Dolphin and XFCE's Thunar do so. This standarization allows for very easy, similar and straightforward procedures:

1. Connect with the file manager to your FreedomBox:

   • Gnome's Nautilus:
     1. To lauch Nautilus you can seek its archive icon, or search ether its name or the word "file".
     2. At the bottom of the left pane you'll find an option "+ Other locations".

     3. It leads you to a list of locations. Find "freedombox SFTP server" (english literal for all desktop languages). Click on it.

     4. The first time you'll be asked for your user and password. Enter your FreedomBox user and its password. The dialog will also offer you some options to remember it for some time.

   • Plasma file manager AKA Dolphin:
     1. Click on the location bar at the top of the window.

     2. Input ftp://freedombox.local

     3. The first time you'll be asked for your user and password. Enter your FreedomBox user and its password. The dialog will also offer you some option to remember it.

   • XFCE's Thunar:

     1. Type this into the browser bar: sftp://username@freedombox.local, replacing the 'username' placeholder with your actual FreedomBox username.

     2. I guess the first time you'll be asked for your password. Enter your FreedomBox user's password.

2. You should be shown FreedomBox filesystem. Enter the home folder and then enter you user's subfolder.

3. If there's no public_html folder, create it: right mouse button click, etc.

4. Drag your file(s) and drop it/'em into the public_html folder.

5. You should now be able to navigate your browser to the corresponding url and see the files.

29.4.2. Visually from Other Plattforms

If you want to use graphical free software clients, install:

• FileZilla or WinSCP for Windows.

• FileZilla for Mac.

• Spider or Ghost Commander, available in F-Droid application repository for Android.

Their usage will be similar to that described for Linux desktops.

Describe how to use privative plattfor-native remote location connectivity?

29.4.3. With a Command Line Interface (CLI)

Usually any Unix system, including Linux in all (most) of its flavours and Mac, provide the standard utilities ssh, scp and sftp. FreeDOS provides SSH2DOS. No need to install anything. It's already there!

Examples:

Connect to FreedomBox via SSH:

1. (replacing username with a valid FreedomBox user name and freedombox.local with your FreedomBox's domain name or IP):

   $ ssh username@freedombox.local

2. If your data is ok and your FreedomBox reachable, the first time you'll be asked to confirm its signature.

3. Then you'll be asked for the password of your FreedomBox user.

4. Then you'll be shown the welcome banner with the FreedomBox's buttefly logo in ASCII art (painted with characters).

5. The prompt changes to username@freedombox:~$.

Once connected create your website folder with:

• username@freedombox:~$ mkdir ~/public_html

...or one for another user:

1. use the sudo prefix like

   username@freedombox:~$ sudo mkdir /home/<the_other_user>/public_html

   , and introduce your password.

2. When you create a folder, by default it belongs to you no matter where it is created. Thus you'll then need to set its ownership to the other user:

   username@freedombox:~$ sudo chown <the_other_user>:<the_other_user> /home/<the_other_user>/public_htm

3. Better check it before you disconnect that `public_html' is listed among the contents of the other user's home folder.

   username@freedombox:~$ ls -l /home/<the_other_user>
   ...
   drwxr-xr-x  2 <the_other_user> <the_other_user>   4096 jan 29 17:39  public_html
   ...

   . The name of the other user must appear twice in the public_html line and its permissions should be drwxr-xr-x.

Then any user can upload their files to their respective folders with any of the graphical clients. Ask them to check it.

It is a good security practice to exit instead of to just wait for the connection to time out:

• username@freedombox:~$ exit

If then you want to also upload the web content through the command line you can

$ scp path/to/files username@freedombox.local:public_html/

. It will ask your password in FreedomBox. You should then be able to navigate your browser to the corresponding url and see the files.

Learn more about ssh, scp and sftp with $ man ssh, $ man scp and $ man sftp.

29.5. External Links

• Upstream project website: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/mod_userdir.html

• User documentation: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/howto/public_html.html

30. WireGuard (Virtual Private Network)

30.1. About WireGuard

WireGuard is an extremely simple yet fast and modern VPN that utilizes state-of-the-art cryptography. It can be a useful replacement for IPSec or OpenVPN.

30.2. Installation

You can install wireguard from the Apps section of the FreedomBox web interface.

30.3. Usage

• Point-to-point tunnel
• VPN client with default route

30.4. Configuration - Debian Peers

Note: These steps are handled automatically on FreedomBox. So you only need to follow these steps on any Debian clients that will connect to FreedomBox, or Debian servers that FreedomBox will connect to.

• Step 1 - Generating Keypairs

• Step 2 - Alternative A - Manual Configuration

30.5. Configuration - Mobile Clients

WireGuard has a user space implementation for mobile devices available via the WireGuard app - available for Android and iOS (a full list of supported operating systems is available here).

The client can be configured in several ways:

30.5.1. Alternative A - Create configuration manually

This is self-explanatory, you actually create the config on the mobile device then transfer the relevant keys to the server's config.

30.5.2. Alternative B - Create configuration from archive

Here you have to create a .zip archive of the client configuration file, transfer it to the device then import it into the app.

30.5.3. Alternative C - Import by reading a QR code (most secure method)

The mobile client as of version 0.0.20180724 supports QR code based input.

qrencode can be used to generate qr codes, even in a terminal/console using UTF8 characters.

The syntax is:

# qrencode -t ansiutf8 < client.conf

This will generate a QR code that is readable by the mobile client.

The advantage of this approach is that there is no need to transfer sensitive information via data channels that can potentially be compromised and there is no need for any additional software.

30.6. External Links

• Website: https://www.wireguard.com

1. Backups

FreedomBox includes the ability to backup and restore data, preferences, configuration and secrets from most of the applications. The Backups feature is built using Borg backup software. Borg is a deduplicating and compressing backup program. It is designed for efficient and secure backups. This backups feature can be used to selectively backup and restore data on an app-by-app basis. Backed up data can be stored on the FreedomBox machine itself or on a remote server. Any remote server providing SSH access can be used as a backup storage repository for FreedomBox backups. Data stored remotely may be encrypted and in such cases remote server cannot access your decrypted data.

1.1. Notes for Specific App Backups

Unless otherwise noted here, backup of an app's data will include its configuration, secrets and other data.

1.2. How to install and use Backups

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

1.3. External links

• Upstream project: https://www.borgbackup.org

• User documentation: https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/

2. BIND (Domain Name Server)

BIND enables you to publish your Domain Name System (DNS) information on the Internet, and to resolve DNS queries for your user devices on your network.

Currently, on FreedomBox, BIND is only used to resolve DNS queries for other machines on local network. It is also incompatible with sharing Internet connection from FreedomBox.

Note: This service is available only on networks configured as "internal" zone. It is not available when connected via OpenVPN.

2.1. Using BIND

When BIND is enabled, that does not automatically mean that anything is using it. The following can be configured:

• FreedomBox can be configured to use the local BIND service for its own DNS lookups.

• Clients on the Local Area Network can be configured to use the FreedomBox's BIND service for their DNS lookups.

The FreedomBox can be set to use its own BIND service for DNS lookups through Networks:

1. Go to System page, and then select Networks.

2. Select the "FreedomBox WAN" connection and press Edit.

3. Under "IPv4 Addressing Method", there is a field "DNS Server". Set it to 127.0.0.1.

   • TODO: Add IPv6 instructions.

4. Press "Edit Connection" at the bottom to save the changes.

5. Restart the FreedomBox from the user drop-down menu.

TODO: Add instructions for serving clients on LAN.

2.2. External links

• Upstream project: https://www.isc.org/bind/

3. Cockpit (Server Administration)

Cockpit is a server manager that makes it easy to administer GNU/Linux servers via a web browser. On a FreedomBox, controls are available for many advanced functions that are not usually required. A web based terminal for console operations is also available.

It can be accessed by any user on your FreedomBox belonging to the admin group. Cockpit is only usable when you have proper domain name setup for your FreedomBox and you use that domain name to access Cockpit. See the Troubleshooting section for more information.

3.1. Using Cockpit

Install Cockpit like any other application on FreedomBox. Make sure that Cockpit is enabled after that.

Ensure that the user account on FreedomBox that will used for Cockpit is part of the administrators group.

Launch the Cockpit web interface. Login using the configured user account. Be sure to check the box to "reuse my password for privileged tasks", otherwise you will not be able to perform various tasks such as configuring raid, or editing users, once logged in.

Start using cockpit.

Cockpit is usable on mobile interfaces too.

3.2. Features

The following features of Cockpit may be useful for advanced FreedomBox users.

3.2.1. System Dashboard

Cockpit has a system dashboard that

• Shows detailed hardware information
• Shows basic performance metrics of a system
• Allows changing system time and timezone

• Allows changing hostname. Please use FreedomBox UI to do this

• Shows SSH server fingerprints

3.2.2. Viewing System Logs

Cockpit allows querying system logs and examining them in full detail.

3.2.3. Managing Storage

Cockpit allows following advanced storage functions:

• View full disk information
• Editing disk partitions
• RAID management

3.2.4. Networking

Cockpit and FreedomBox both rely on NetworkManager to configure the network. However, Cockpit offers some advanced configuration not available on FreedomBox:

• Route configuration
• Configure Bonds, Bridges, VLANs

3.2.5. Services

Cockpit allows management of services and periodic jobs (similar to cron).

3.2.6. Web Terminal

Cockpit offers a web based terminal that can be used perform manual system administration tasks.

3.3. Troubleshooting

Cockpit requires a domain name to be properly setup on your FreedomBox and will only work when you access it using a URL with that domain name. Cockpit will not work when using IP address in the URL. Using freedombox.local as the domain name also does not work. For example, the following URLs will not work:

https://192.168.0.10/_cockpit/
https://freedombox.local/_cockpit/

Starting with FreedomBox version 19.15, using .local domain works. You can access Cockpit using the URL https://freedombox.local/_cockpit/. The .local domain is based on your hostname. If your hostname is mybox, your .local domain name will be mybox.local and the Cockpit URL will be https://mybox.local/_cockpit/.

To properly access Cockpit, use the domain name configured for your FreedomBox.Cockpit will also work well when using a Tor Onion Service. The following URLs will work:

https://mybox.freedombox.rocks/_cockpit/
https://exampletorhs.onion/_cockpit/

The reason for this behaviour is that Cockpit uses WebSockets to connect to the backend server. Cross site requests for WebSockets must be prevented for security reasons. To implement this, Cockpit maintains a list of all domains from which requests are allowed. FreedomBox automatically configures this list whenever you add or remove a domain. However, since we can't rely on IP addresses, they are not added by FreedomBox to this domain list. You can see the current list of allowed domains, as managed by FreedomBox, in /etc/cockpit/cockpit.conf. You may edit this, but do so only if you understand web security consequences of this.

3.4. External links

• Upstream project: https://cockpit-project.org

• User documentation: https://cockpit-project.org/guide/latest/

4. Configure

Configure has some general configuration options:

4.1. Hostname

• Hostname is the local name by which other devices on the local network can reach your FreedomBox. The default hostname is freedombox.

4.2. Domain Name

• Domain name is the global name by which other devices on the Internet can reach your FreedomBox. The value set here is used by the Chat Server (XMPP), Matrix Synapse, and Certificates (Let's Encrypt).

4.3. Webserver Home Page

• This is an advanced option that allows you to set something other than FreedomBox Service as the home page to be served on the domain name of the FreedomBox. For example, if your FreedomBox's domain name is https://myfreedombox.rocks and you set MediaWiki as the home page, visiting https://myfreedombox.rocks will take you to https://myfreedombox.rocks/mediawiki/ instead of the usual https://myfreedombox.rocks/plinth/.

• You can set any web application, Ikiwiki wikis and blogs or Apache's default index.html page as the web server home page. Since release 20.20 you can also select a user's website among those users who have created their public_html directory.

• Tip: Bookmark the URL of FreedomBox Service before setting the home page to some other app.

5. Date & Time

This network time server is a program that maintains the system time in synchronization with servers on the Internet.

You can select your time zone by picking a big city nearby (they are sorted by Continent/City) or select directly the zone with respect to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).

6. Diagnostics

The system diagnostic test will run a number of checks on your system to confirm that applications and services are working as expected.

Just click Run Diagnostics. This may take some minutes.

7. Dynamic DNS Client

7.1. What is Dynamic DNS?

In order to reach a server on the Internet, the server needs to have permanent address also known as the static IP address. Many Internet service providers don't provide home users with a static IP address or they charge more providing a static IP address. Instead they provide the home user with an IP address that changes every time the user connects to the Internet. Clients wishing to contact the server will have difficulty reaching the server.

Dynamic DNS service providers assist in working around a problem. First they provide you with a domain name, such as 'myhost.example.org'. Then they associate your IP address, whenever it changes, with this domain name. Then anyone intending to reach the server will be to contact the server using the domain name 'myhost.example.org' which always points to the latest IP address of the server.

For this to work, every time you connect to the Internet, you will have to tell your Dynamic DNS provider what your current IP address is. Hence you need special software on your server to perform this operation. The Dynamic DNS function in FreedomBox will allow users without a static public IP address to push the current public IP address to a Dynamic DNS Server. This allows you to expose services on FreedomBox, such as ownCloud, to the Internet.

7.2. GnuDIP vs. Update URL

There are two main mechanism to notify the Dynamic DNS server of your new IP address; using the GnuDIP protocol and using the Update URL mechanism.

If a service provided using update URL is not properly secured using HTTPS, your credentials may be visible to an adversary. Once an adversary gains your credentials, they will be able to replay your request your server and hijack your domain.

On the other hand, the GnuDIP protocol will only transport a salted MD5 value of your password, in a way that is secure against replay attacks.

7.3. Using the GnuDIP protocol

1. Register an account with any Dynamic DNS service provider. A free service provided by the FreedomBox community is available at https://ddns.freedombox.org .

2. In FreedomBox UI, enable the Dynamic DNS Service.

3. Select GnuDIP as Service type, enter your Dynamic DNS service provider address (for example, ddns.freedombox.org) into GnuDIP Server Address field.

   

4. Fill Domain Name, Username, Password information given by your provider into the corresponding fields.

7.4. Using an Update URL

This feature is implemented because the most popular Dynamic DNS providers are using Update URLs mechanism.

1. Register an account with a Dynamic DNS service provider providing their service using Update URL mechanism. Some example providers are listed in the configuration page itself.

2. In FreedomBox UI, enable the Dynamic DNS service.

3. Select other Update URL as Service type, enter the update URL given by your provider into Update URL field.

4. If you browse the update URL with your Internet browser and a warning message about untrusted certificate appears, then enable accept all SSL certificates. WARNING: your credentials may be readable here because man-in-the-middle attacks are possible! Consider choosing a better service provider instead.

5. If you browse the update URL with your Internet browser and the username/password box appears, enable use HTTP basic authentication checkbox and provide the Username and Password.

6. If the update URL contains your current IP address, replace the IP address with the string <Ip>.

7.5. Checking If It Works

1. Make sure that external services you have enabled such as /jwchat, /roundcube and /ikiwiki are available on your domain address.

2. Go to the Status page, make sure that the NAT type is detected correctly. If your FreedomBox is behind a NAT device, this should be detected over there (Text: Behind NAT). If your FreedomBox has a public IP address assigned, the text should be "Direct connection to the Internet".

3. Check that the last update status is not failed.

7.6. Recap: How to create a DNS name with GnuDIP

to delete or to replace the old text

1. Access to GnuIP login page (answer Yes to all pop ups)

2. Click on "Self Register"
3. Fill the registration form (Username and domain will form the public IP address [username.domain])

4. Take note of the username/hostname and password that will be used on the FreedomBox app.

5. Save and return to the GnuDIP login page to verify your username, domain and password (enter the datas, click login).
6. Login output should display your new domain name along with your current public IP address (this is a unique address provided by your router for all your local devices).

7. Leave the GnuDIP interface and open the Dynamic DNS Client app page in your FreedomBox.

8. Click on "Set Up" in the top menu.
9. Activate Dynamic DNS
10. Choose GnuDIP service.
11. Add server address (ddns.freedombox.org)
12. Add your fresh domain name (username.domain, ie [username].freedombox.rocks)
13. Add your fresh username (the one used in your new IP address) and password
14. Add your GnuDIP password

15. Fill the option with https://ddns.freedombox.org/ip/ (try this url in your browser, you will figure out immediately)

8. Firewall

Firewall is a network security system that controls the incoming and outgoing network traffic. Keeping a firewall enabled and properly configured reduces risk of security threat from the Internet.

The operation of the firewall in FreedomBox web interface is automatic. When you enable a service it is automatically permitted in the firewall and when you disable a service it is automatically disabled in the firewall. For services which are enabled by default on FreedomBox, firewall ports are also enabled by default during the first run process.

Firewall management in FreedomBox is done using FirewallD.

8.1. Interfaces

Each interface is needs to be assigned to one (and only one) zone. If an interface is not assigned any zone, it is automatically assigned external zone. Whatever rules are in effect for a zone, those rules start to apply for that interface. For example, if HTTP traffic is allowed in a particular zone, then web requests will be accepted on all the addresses configured for all the interfaces assigned to that zone.

There are primarily two firewall zones used. The internal zone is meant for services that are provided to all machines on the local network. This may include services such as streaming media and simple file sharing. The external zone is meant for services that are provided publicly on the Internet. This may include services such as blog, website, email web client etc.

For details on how network interfaces are configured by default, see the Networks section.

8.2. Opening Custom Ports

Cockpit app provides advanced management of firewall. Both FreedomBox and Cockpit operate over firewalld and are hence compatible with each other. In particular, Cockpit can be used to open custom services or ports on FreedomBox. This is useful if you are manually running your own services in addition to the services provided by FreedomBox on the same machine.

8.3. FreedomBox Ports/Services

The following table attempts to document the ports, services and their default statuses in FreedomBox. If you find this page outdated, see the Firewall status page in FreedomBox interface.

8.4. Manual operation

See FirewallD documentation for more information on the basic concepts and comprehensive documentation.

8.4.1. Enable/disable firewall

To disable firewall

service firewalld stop

or with systemd

systemctl stop firewalld

To re-enable firewall

service firewalld start

or with systemd

systemctl start firewalld

8.4.2. Modifying services/ports

You can manually add or remove a service from a zone.

To see list of services enabled:

firewall-cmd --zone=<zone> --list-services

Example:

firewall-cmd --zone=internal --list-services

To see list of ports enabled:

firewall-cmd --zone=<zone> --list-ports

Example:

firewall-cmd --zone=internal --list-ports

To remove a service from a zone:

firewall-cmd --zone=<zone> --remove-service=<service>
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=<zone> --remove-service=<interface>

Example:

firewall-cmd --zone=internal --remove-service=xmpp-bosh
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=internal --remove-service=xmpp-bosh

To remove a port from a zone:

firewall-cmd --zone=internal --remove-port=<port>/<protocol>
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=internal --remove-port=<port>/<protocol>

Example:

firewall-cmd --zone=internal --remove-port=5353/udp
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=internal --remove-port=5353/udp

To add a service to a zone:

firewall-cmd --zone=<zone> --add-service=<service>
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=<zone> --add-service=<interface>

Example:

firewall-cmd --zone=internal --add-service=xmpp-bosh
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=internal --add-service=xmpp-bosh

To add a port to a zone:

firewall-cmd --zone=internal --add-port=<port>/<protocol>
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=internal --add-port=<port>/<protocol>

Example:

firewall-cmd --zone=internal --add-port=5353/udp
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=internal --add-port=5353/udp

8.4.3. Modifying the zone of interfaces

You can manually change the assignment of zones of each interfaces after they have been autuomatically assigned by the first boot process.

To see current assignment of interfaces to zones:

firewall-cmd --list-all-zones

To remove an interface from a zone:

firewall-cmd --zone=<zone> --remove-interface=<interface>
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=<zone> --remove-interface=<interface>

Example:

firewall-cmd --zone=external --remove-interface=eth0
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=external --remove-interface=eth0

To add an interface to a zone:

firewall-cmd --zone=<zone> --add-interface=<interface>
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=<zone> --add-interface=<interface>

Example:

firewall-cmd --zone=internal --add-interface=eth0
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=internal --add-interface=eth0

9. Let's Encrypt (Certificates)

A digital certificate allows users of a web service to verify the identity of the service and to securely communicate with it. FreedomBox can automatically obtain and setup digital certificates for each available domain. It does so by proving itself to be the owner of a domain to Let's Encrypt, a certificate authority (CA).

Let's Encrypt is a free, automated, and open certificate authority, run for the public's benefit by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG). Please read and agree with the Let's Encrypt Subscriber Agreement before using this service.

9.1. Why using Certificates

The communication with your FreedomBox can be secured so that it is not possible to intercept the content of the web pages viewed and about the content exchanged.

9.2. How to setup

1. If your FreedomBox is behind a router, you will need to set up port forwarding on your router. You should forward the following ports:

   • TCP 80 (http)
   • TCP 443 (https)
2. Make the domain name known:

   • In Configure insert your domain name, e.g. MyWebName.com

     

3. Verify the domain name was accepted

   • Check that it is enabled in Name Services

     

4. Go to the Certificates (Let's Encrypt) page, and complete the module install if needed. Then click the "Obtain" button for your domain name.
   • After some minutes a valid certificate is available

     

5. Verify in your browser by checking https://MyWebName.com

   • 

Screencast: Let's Encrypt

9.3. Using

The certificate is valid for 3 months. It is renewed automatically and can also be re-obtained or revoked manually.

With running diagnostics the certificate can also be verified.

9.4. External links

• Upstream project: https://letsencrypt.org

• User documentation: https://letsencrypt.org/docs/

10. Monkeysphere

With Monkeysphere, an OpenPGP key can be generated for each configured domain serving SSH. The OpenPGP public key can then be uploaded to the OpenPGP keyservers. Users connecting to this machine through SSH can verify that they are connecting to the correct host. For users to trust the key, at least one person (usually the machine owner) must sign the key using the regular OpenPGP key signing process. See the Monkeysphere SSH documentation for more details.

Monkeysphere can also generate an OpenPGP key for each Secure Web Server (HTTPS) certificate installed on this machine. The OpenPGP public key can then be uploaded to the OpenPGP keyservers. Users accessing the web server through HTTPS can verify that they are connecting to the correct host. To validate the certificate, the user will need to install some software that is available on the Monkeysphere website.

10.1. External links

• Upstream project: http://web.monkeysphere.info

• User Documentation: http://web.monkeysphere.info/doc/

11. Name Services

Name Services provides an overview of ways the box can be reached from the public Internet: domain name, Tor Onion Service, and Pagekite. For each type of name, it is shown whether the HTTP, HTTPS, and SSH services are enabled or disabled for incoming connections through the given name.

12. Networks

This section describes how networking is setup by default in FreedomBox and how you can customize it. See also the Firewall section for more information on how firewall works.

12.1. Default setup

In a fresh image of FreedomBox, network is not configured at all. When the image is written to an SD card and the device boots, configuration is done. During first boot, FreedomBox setup package detects the networks interfaces and tries to automatically configure them so that FreedomBox is available for further configuration via the web interface from another machine without the need to connect a monitor. Automatic configuration also tries to make FreedomBox useful, out of the box, for the most important scenarios FreedomBox is used for.

There are two scenarios it handles: when is a single ethernet interface and when there are multiple ethernet interfaces.

12.1.1. Single ethernet interface

When there is only single ethernet interface available on the hardware device, there is not much scope for it to play the role of a router. In this case, the device is assumed to be just another machine in the network. Accordingly, the only available interface is configured to be an internal interface in automatic configuration mode. This means that it connects to the Internet using the configuration provided by a router in the network and also makes all (internal and external) of its services available to all the clients on this network.

12.1.2. Multiple ethernet interface

When there are multiple ethernet interfaces available on the hardware device, the device can act as a router. The interfaces are then configured to perform this function.

The first network interface is configured to be an WAN or external interface in automatic configuration mode. This means that it connects to the Internet using network configuration provided by the Internet Service Provider (ISP). Only services that are meant to be provided across the entire Internet (external services) will be exposed on this interface. You must plug your Internet connection into the port of this ethernet interface. If you wish to continue to have your existing router manage the Internet connection for you, then plug a connection from your router to the port on this interface.

The remaining network interfaces are configured for the clients of a router. They are configured as LAN or internal interfaces in shared configuration mode. This means that all the services (both external and internal) services are provided to who ever connects on this interface. Further, the shared mode means that clients will be able to receive details of automatic network connection on this interface. Specifically, DHCP configuration and DNS servers are provided on this interface. The Internet connection available to the device using the first network interface will be shared with clients using this interface. This all means that you can connect your computers to this network interface and they will get automatically configured and will be able to access the Internet via the FreedomBox.

Currently, it is not very clear which interface will be come the WAN interface (and the remaining being LAN interfaces) although the assignment process is deterministic. So, it take a bit of trail and error to figure out which one is which. In future, for each device, this will be well documented.

12.1.3. Wi-Fi configuration

All Wi-Fi interfaces are configured to be LAN or internal interfaces in shared configuration mode. They are also configured to become Wi-Fi access points with following details.

• Name of the access point will be FreedomBox plus the name of the interface (to handle the case where there are multiple of them).

• Password for connecting to the interface will be freedombox123.

12.2. Internet Connection Sharing

Although the primary duty of FreedomBox is to provide decentralized services, it can also act like a home router. Hence, in most cases, FreedomBox connects to the Internet and provides other machines in the network the ability to use that Internet connection. FreedomBox can do this in two ways: using a shared mode connection or using an internal connection.

When an interface is set in shared mode, you may connect your machine directly to it. This is either by plugging in an ethernet cable from this interface to your machine or by connecting to a Wi-Fi access point. This case is the simplest to use, as FreedomBox automatically provides your machine with the necessary network configuration. Your machine will automatically connect to FreedomBox provided network and will be able to connect to the Internet given that FreedomBox can itself connect to the Internet.

Sometimes the above setup may not be possible because the hardware device may have only one network interface or for other reasons. Even in this case, your machine can still connect to the Internet via FreedomBox. For this to work, make sure that the network interface that your machine is connecting to is in internal mode. Then, connect your machine to network in which FreedomBox is present. After this, in your machine's network configuration, set FreedomBox's IP address as the gateway. FreedomBox will then accept your network traffic from your machine and send it over to the Internet. This works because network interfaces in internal mode are configured to masquerade packets from local machines to the Internet and receive packets from Internet and forward them back to local machines.

12.3. Customization

The above default configuration may not be fit for your setup. You can customize the configuration to suit your needs from the Networks area in the 'setup' section of the FreedomBox web interface.

12.3.1. PPPoE connections

If your ISP does not provide automatic network configuration via DHCP and requires you to connection via PPPoE. To configure PPPoE, remove any network connection existing on an interface and add a PPPoE connection. Here, optionally, provide the account username and password given by your ISP and activate the connection.

12.3.2. Connect to Internet via Wi-Fi

By default Wi-Fi devices attached during first boot will be configured as access points. They can be configured as regular Wi-Fi devices instead to connection to a local network or an existing Wi-Fi router. To do this, click on the Wi-Fi connection to edit it. Change the mode to Infrastructure instead of Access Point mode and IPv4 Addressing Method to Automatic (DHCP) instead of Shared mode. Then the SSID provided will mean the Wi-Fi network name you wish to connect to and passphrase will be the used to while making the connection.

12.3.2.1. Problems with Privacy Feature

NetworkManager used by FreedomBox to connect to the Wi-Fi networks has a privacy feature that uses a different identity when scanning for networks and when actually connecting to the Wi-Fi access point. Unfortunately, this causes problems with some routers that reject connections from such devices. Your connection won't successfully activate and disconnect after trying to activate. If you have control over the router's behaviour, you could also turn off the feature causing problem. Otherwise, the solution is to connect with a remote shell using SSH or Cockpit, editing a file /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf and adding the line wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=no in the [device] section. This turns off the privacy feature.

Edit a file:

$ sudo nano /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf

Add the following: