anyway im thinking about cheap raspi meshnets for protesters to carry in bags to enable rapid communication, using like, 20$ of hardware including battery and raspi zero
@nire for a bit more you could get a low-end touchscreen and have an entire self-contained communication apperatus, hmm.
DigiKey is a good supplier for cheap-ish stuff "at scale" (usually minimuum qty is 20-50), though I'm sure you already have leads
@awilfox you dont want anything more than mesh networking
@awilfox the most costly thing is batteries
@nire @awilfox For batteries look at 1S LiPo batteries for things like remote control cars/planes/boats/quadcopters
The Pi Zero W will draw a max of somewhere under 300mA so depending on how long you want them active (I'd go for at least 10 hours personally) you should be able to find some cheapish ones
@troubleMoney @awilfox lipo is incredibly suboptimal because of two things, it xrays as the same density and look of molded c4, and it has a tendency to light on fire when kept in enclosed spaces while being used
@nire @awilfox Ah, wasn't aware x-ray detection was in your threat model for this.
Hang on, you're expecting people to be using phones to access this right? You've got a battery right there, just grab power from the phone and have the Pi Zero as a sort of phone case.
You might be able to camouflage it as one of those battery extender cases as well
@troubleMoney @awilfox so two things, one is they arent nec. connected to people with phones, and two, my threat model is 'have nothing cops can use to escallate charges out of ignorance or feigned ignorance', so it xraying as that is just part of that
@troubleMoney @awilfox no you misunderstand
it existing is fine
it having lipo batteries is a shitty idea
@troubleMoney @awilfox yeah, the difference is that there have been cases of them escallating for robot/drone batteries becaues they ~*~resemble explosives~*~ around here. I get that you're trying to do a thing but you're completely misunderstanding like, half the points that i've been spelling out
@troubleMoney @awilfox so the thing is lithium polymer batteries are a larger subset and things generally referred to as lithium polymer, which i assumed you were using, are the ones w/ soft shells and squishy insides, and prone to overcharge/overdischarge because, well, they're cheap, but even cheap Li-Ion batteries usually have charging circuitry
@awilfox @troubleMoney and are uh, actually impact resistant
@troubleMoney @awilfox yeah sorry for the misunderstanding, i realised that it might be regional that li-po is specifically the squishy, dangerous, firey ones <_<
@nire @awilfox No worries, your threat model is something that I haven't dealt with before
I was thinking put the whole shebang in a solid project case, that way they won't look and think "SHIT WIRES AND CIRCUITRY" and it'd provide protection to the batteries. Would fix the delicacy problems but not x-ray. Unless you line the entire thing with tinfoil but that would look even worse to them
RPi, "normal" looking USB power pack and a "wifi adapter type gadget" aren't especially unusual or suspicious for a person to be carrying around with them; depending on how smart cops are could be explained away as "music player for portable sound system"/ "college project you happened to still have in your bag".
Whereas drone batteries, "home brew" circuit boards etc *are* more likely to arouse suspicion..
@awilfox @nire @vfrmedia Right, in some attempt to be actually useful, for sourcing things take a look at aliexpress, they're the cheapest place I've found for phone battery charger things and stuff like that.
Also go for the Pi Zero W, it's really damn hard to find a wifi dongle that's any decent for less than 5 bucks
@troubleMoney I feel like you may be misunderstanding @nire.
LiPo batteries that are available to makers and enthusiasts are NOT the same quality as Apple or Sony batteries. They are much more fragile.
They are much more likely to turn into incendiary devices on their own, just from normal use. And they *look* like one to the untrained eye.
That can be dangerous when the authorities already want a reason to get rid of you.
@awilfox also those are lithium ion
@awilfox lipo are those but in soft-bag shells, which is, yes.
@awilfox @troubleMoney (also lipo batteries dont take impacts very well, which, well, they'll be in bags on people who might get thrown around a lot, and your bag lighting on fire in their car ALSO is a reason to escallate charges)