[plug] What's on in November, was Re: Workshop Proposal: Hack on my collection of Rpi Zero W (e.g. micro backup server)

[Nick Bannon]

It's that time again! PLUG's main November meeting is tomorrow: the
Microbackup Server Workshop. The regular hack afternoon was today; and
there's a couple more things coming soon.

TITLE: Microbackup Server Workshop
DATE: Monday 2025-11-10
TIME: 18:00--21:00
VENUE: University Computer Club, second floor above the UWA Guild
  Tavern, detailed directions: https://www.ucc.asn.au/aboutucc/contact.ucc
  - Hackett Entrance 2, UWA, 35 Stirling Hwy, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia
  - Free parking after 5pm on campus
  - Entrance door on the south side of Cameron Hall
  - Doors lock at 7pm, call the clubroom phone (08) 6488 3901
AGENDA:
  John McCabe-Dansted is hosting a workshop: build-your-own small backup
  server on a Raspberry Pi, in collaboration with the regular University
  Computer Club of UWA Project night.
  Bring your own laptop.  It is recommended that you bring your own PSU,
  microUSB power, and in particular your own microSD card. If all else
  fails, there are things to do with a Linux Laptop or VM.
COST: Free, with a free https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-zero-w/
  for PLUG members

TITLE: PLUG Installfest, round 2: November
DATE: Saturday, 2025-11-22
TIME: 13.30--4.00pm
VENUE: Collins Street Centre, 4 Collins Street, South Perth
  Access: Wheelchair access from upper carpark
WEBSITE: https://www.plug.org.au/events/2025/installfest_november/
COST: $5
  https://jafwa.asn.au/ have kindly offered space for PLUG at their
  Event Afternoon. The JAFWA entry fee is $5 and is the only cost for
  attending the Installfest.
AGENDA:
  PLUG Installfest offers time and assistance to anyone who wishes to
  learn about Linux for work, education, or interest.
  The November 2025 installfest is part of the global EndOf10
  initiative. Read more at https://endof10.org
  ...also, the https://www.fsf.org/events/fsf40-hackathon !

TITLE: PLUG-in-the-Pub
VENUE: The Island, Elizabeth Quay, Perth 6000 (Central)
DATE: Wednesday, 2025-11-26 (every two months)
TIME: 18:00--20:00
ADDRESS: Elizabeth Quay, 1 Valdura Pl, Perth WA 6000
COST: Your own drinks and food
WEBSITE: https://www.theislandeq.com.au/

Upcoming plans...
TITLE: Christmas Party & end-of-year BBQ at Kings Park; PLUG+POSH hack
TIME: 1100 onwards, heading off to hack in the later afternoon.
DATE: Sunday 2025-12-14

- January 2026 AGM, venue permitting.                                              
- February/March 2026: Raspberry Jam/Installfest/seminar?

Nick.

On Tue, Oct 07, 2025 at 01:07:18PM +0000, John McCabe-Dansted wrote:
> I have a proposal for a workshop. I bought a bunch of Rasberry Pi Zero Ws in bulk. They are lite but have everything you need to run them as a real Linux machine, e.g. 512MB of ram, networking (WIFI) and even micro-HDMI out if you really want. My proposal is to spend workshop(s) hacking on the Pis. In particular, I thought it would be interesting to convert them into low end backup servers. Draft proposal follows:
> 
> Raspberry Pi Zero W Backup server
> =================================
> 
> Problem statement: People tend to store data on Windows desktops. Even a Linux desktop runs a large amount of software, which may be compromised in some way. For this reason, I am investigating using a small $10+ Raspberry Pi dedicated to file backups that does not allow regular users to trash the backups. (Regular users should have read-only access to backups)
> 
> What to bring: Raspberry Pi zeros will be provided. Bringing your own USB power supply and MicroSD card will help. Also, bring a laptop to work on.
> 
> -- Server software --
> ---------------------
> 
> Linux only. Feel free to investigate a microkernel or Rust-based OS which may be more secure, but I guess they would be more troublesome than they are worth at this point.
> 
> Btrfs: The Btrfs filesystem allows us to take frequent snapshots and do live compression. A true write once read many filesystems may not be appropriate as it would be handy for an admin to be able to delete files.
> 
> Snapshot schedule: Crontab or Demon. Keep n minutely, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly backups. Only take a snapshot if the last snapshot differs from live data.
> 
> Deduplicate Btrfs: Btrfs allows you to deduplicate existing files. Existing software may be appropriate. Investigate and integrate, or write new.
> 
> Smart Features (optional): Fuse Filesystem that allows to download directory as ZIP etc.?
> 
> SSH, Samba: Install, integrate.
> 
> Current Status: See tiny GitHub repository https://github.com/gmatht/btrnas
> 
> -- Easy Installer --
> --------------------
> 
> (Linux and Windows)
> 
> Windows users need a heterogeneous Linux backup server immune to Windows viruses even more than Linux users. (Do not install Wine).
> 
> See (and modify?) the new RPi installer. -- https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/
> 
> There are fewer MacOS machines out there. If we port to Linux and Windows, MacOS should be trivial to support for someone who has a MacOS machine to test and use.
> 
> -- Client Software --
> ---------------------
> 
> (Linux and Windows)
> 
> RSync not suitable for Windows? What about live sync, e.g. lsync?
> 
> Many options, e.g.: https://www.goodfirms.co/file-sync-software/blog/the-top-11-free-and-open-source-file-sync-software
> 
> Update in place to not flood the server with duplicates on a small change to a large file?
> 
> Avoid placing load on the small weak server for files that haven't changed.
> 
> Should we notify the server that a backup has been completed? It may be unnecessary complexity if we use lsync.
> 
> __
> John McCabe-Dansted

-- 
   Nick Bannon   | "I made this letter longer than usual because
nick-sig at rcpt.to | I lack the time to make it shorter." - Pascal