Stefano on littleFedi

This is the first genuinely operational littleFedi instance.

· #fediverse, #littlefedi, #ownyourdata

My Raspberry PI Zero W, hosting this instance, in its current position. Powered by an USB cable coming from the switch.
My Raspberry PI Zero W, hosting this instance, in its current position. Powered by an USB cable coming from the switch.

It has been online since 1st July, is single-user (just me), and runs on a Raspberry Pi Zero W powered by NetBSD, directly on its SD card.

It consumes just under 1W.

Its database is this size:

-rw------- 1 little wheel 109289472 Aug 26 15:14 littlefedi.db

That is, just a little over 100 MB. Yes, MB.

Its average CPU load is extremely low.

It is perfectly usable both from the web interface and from Mastodon API apps.

I have 401 followers and 169 followings, and it doesn't bat an eye.

I promise myself to use it more, and I will.

You don't need Big Tech to communicate with others.

You don't need an expensive data center to exist online.

Because we are people, and the bits are just extensions of our voice.

EDIT: littleFedi allows to transform posts into blog posts, having its own SSG (Static Site Generator). The one generated by this post is reachable by clicking here.

#littleFedi #Fediverse #OwnYourData

Replies

  1. @mensrea@freeradical.zone ·

    @stefano are you doing anything interesting to get it out to the world from the home network?

  3. @toots@fairy.id ·

    @stefano the cable-head is almost larger than the unit; not that it's intrinsically relevant 🙏 👍

  5. @catflyhigh@troet.cafe ·

    @stefano

    question:
    now you have 100 MB,
    but how many capacity do you have for the data?

    I am asking for a friend who has a single instance too, but rented, and the costs of his rented space is exploding (he has more than 150 GB.)

    1. @stefano ·

      @catflyhigh@troet.cafe littleFedi doesn't download, by default, all the media as Mastodon or GoToSocial do. You can just proxy the requests, so you just need the database space.

  7. @hakona@im.alstadheim.no ·

    @stefano How many posts do you find if you search for <Hashtag>BloomScrolling on that instance? I get 264 posts, 18 posts today.

  9. @tjammer@mastodon.gamedev.place ·

    @stefano I would love to do that but I'm afraid of opening a PC in my local network to the wider internet. That's 100% me being clueless, though

  10. @nicholasbuzzred@masto.ai ·

    @stefano the raspberry pi made me nostalgic for messing about with them to make less go brrrr. Love that you can do this with the fediverse! Good work

  12. @jspath55@chaos.social ·

    @stefano (insert "we're not worthy" meme).
    You're running #LittleFedi off wi-fi? That's another impressive feat, given the challenges with higher level Pi wireless and BSD systems. The 3 is great, the 4, touchy, for me anyway.

    1. @stefano ·

      @jspath55@chaos.social yes, on NetBSD and wifi. Sometimes it seems to randomly lose the connection, if the signal isn't that strong, so I made a script that will ping the router and, if doesn't respond, the wifi will be "down/up"

  20. @twipped@twipped.social ·

    @stefano how do you keep the db so low? Mine is also single user and it's sitting at 15 gigabytes

  23. @number6@fosstodon.org ·

    @stefano

    Does your local ISP allow you to forward port 80/443 (via proxy) to your device? Or are you connected somehow to a VPS ?

  31. @Brad_Rosenheim@climatejustice.social ·

    @stefano This is very interesting. I have what is likely a dumb question. What is the purpose of the memory when only handling ActivityPub traffic? Does it limit your ability to see people's images and to play posted videos?

    I have been thinking about doing something similar, solar powered, here in Florida to be available during post-hurricane powerless periods.

    1. @stefano ·

      @Brad_Rosenheim@climatejustice.social memory is mostly used to process data and caches. You can disable caches (but the performance will be worse, especially if using low power devices) and reduce memory use. Also, being in Go, it has a higher memory footprint than, for example, the great snac2

  32. @d1@autistics.life ·

    @stefano Here in #Canada, a crummy #RaspberryPi 4, 1GB of RAM with very basic accessories (pwr supply, MicroSD card, and cheap case) is like $200CDN, OMFG. So yeah, this project is very timely.

  42. @Firesphere@cloudisland.nz ·

    @stefano How do you deal with file storage on it?
    That looks like such a cool set-up! Do you have some links to set up?

    1. @stefano ·

      @Firesphere@cloudisland.nz not yet, but there will be enough documentation when it will be released.
      As for the storage, it supports local file system or s3. Or nothing - just proxy mode, so you just write local media and proxy remote ones .This is the best choice where space is a problem.

  44. @artemis@dice.camp ·

    @stefano
    I used to feel this stuff was only for hobbyists. I thought it was cool, but it just seemed like something interesting to do.

    Now I'm starting to see that during an information crack-down it will be vital that people know how to control their own access.

  45. @curiousicae@tech.lgbt ·

    @stefano
    What’s the total cost-point of this? Is it in the “giftable for christmas” ballpark?

  51. @npub1qhw9rp6sd6rse5vay329jlt6j8ll55g3k0r44cm3uadrusns0q0q9684c8@momostr.pink ·
    Nice work man
  52. @npub1qhw9rp6sd6rse5vay329jlt6j8ll55g3k0r44cm3uadrusns0q0q9684c8@momostr.pink ·
    Is it all artisinally coded?
  54. @AnachronistJohn@zia.io ·

    @stefano They’re wonderful little machines! It’s amazing how much we can do with so little energy and minimal computing resources. #NetBSD is great with modest hardware :)

    Mine takes two watts, but that’s because it has ethernet. Still, I love that we can run whole servers off of small solar panels meant for charging phones.

  59. @knapjack@vivaldi.net ·

    @stefano I ran honk on Void on a Raspberry Pi for a long time, and had to use GOMEMLIMIT to keep the reaper at bay when it was under heavy load (it resized large images in posts, and several really large images in a row would squeeze memory pretty hard). Have you had any similar issues under NetBSD?

    1. @stefano ·

      @knapjack@vivaldi.net no. But we have a "low power mode" that will lower some specific settings.

      The preset selects one database connection and one queue worker, a bounded memory cache, one image decoder, a 13 million pixel bound on decoded images (enough for a 4032 by 3024 phone photo), a 1600 pixel cap on stored uploads, cheaper thumbnail resampling, and no dynamic gzip.

  62. @amiserabilist@beige.party ·

    @stefano

    Jen: [Moss has a small plastic box with a flashing light] What is it?

    Moss: This, Jen, is the Internet.

    Jen: What?

    Moss: That's right.

    Jen: This is the Internet? The whole Internet?

    Moss: Yep. I asked for a loan of it so that you could use it in your speech.

    Jen: It's so small.

    Moss: That's one of the surprising things about it.

    Jen: Hang on, it doesn't have any wires or anything.

    Moss: It's wireless.

    Jen: Oh, yes, everything's wireless nowadays, isn't it... yeah. So, I can really use it in my speech? What if someone needs it?

    Moss: Oh, no, no, people will still be able to go online and everything. It will still work.

    Jen: Oh, good, good...

    Moss: I tell you, you present this to the shareholders and you will get quite the response.

    Jen: Can I touch it? It's so light!

    Moss: Of course it is, Jen. The Internet doesn't weigh anything.

    Jen: No, of course it doesn't.
    [laughs nervously]

    Roy: Hey! What is Jen doing with the Internet?

    Jen: Moss said I could use it for my speech.

    Roy: Are you insane? What if she drops it?

    Jen: I won't drop it, I'll look after it.

    Roy: No. No, no, no, no, Jen. No, this needs to go straight back to Big Ben.

    Jen: Big Ben?

    Moss: Yep. It goes on top of Big Ben. That's where you get the best reception.

    youtube.com/watch?v=iDbyYGrswtg

    #theitcrowd

    Attachment: nerd and red head in front of a black box the nerd is of african heritage and is wearing a red tie and plaid shirt his arms a folded the woman is shorter, dressed in black and similarly has crossed arms they look seriously upon the black box with a red light.

  65. @zleap@techhub.social ·

    @stefano

    If we could get more people to replicate this and run their own instances it could be a game changer.

    Especially as people have suggested here the fediverse is under attack from various forces, they can't close us all down.

    It would also be an interesting work around for social media bans, as if under 16s are admin on their own server, they just age verify themselves, which makes the process pointless other than a box ticking exercise.

  66. @Hilalgazayafa@mastodon.social ·

    @stefano This is a beautiful reminder that the internet was never meant to be synonymous with centralized power and endless consumption. A tiny machine, a few watts, and a human voice can still create a meaningful space for connection. Perhaps decentralization is not only a technical idea, but a human one.

  72. @vortex@tldr.nettime.org ·

    @stefano Hi. I'm a Berlin based Australian & Devuan OS image maintainer for all models of RPi ARM hardware. Would it be possible to join your early limited access to source code, as I would very much like to demo your work on little fedi at the upcoming Berlin FediDay event ctix.c-base.org/fediday/fedida Thanks for your work!

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