the PeachCloud team is working on a hardware device for Scuttlebutt that will facilitate peer-to-peer communication across your social networks.

we aim to bring (cloud) computing back into the home as a friendly and accessible Raspberry Pi-powered device - enabling more local social and economic networks to flourish without a dependence on corporations who profit from being in the middle of your inter-personal conversations, and providing re-usable modular infrastructure to support a future of useful and adaptable home computing in your ever-evolving lifestyle.

principles

• the system is a root system for your social network
  • center your home as a data network of social and economic activity
  • increase surface area for nutrient acquisition and distribution
  • facilitate real-time media-rich interactions
  • store your favorite niche content
  • transport your data with you as you move locations
  • reduce dependence on external networks, external data centers, etc
• the system is a teacher to guide you on your journey
  • invite less-technical people to become more technical
  • be simple on the surface, powerful under the hood
    • example: more like excel spreadsheets, less like apple interfaces
  • embody the underlying system in the interface, expose the internals
• friendly automation
  • your personal robot friend, your home computer
  • no surprises, any automation should be upfront and clear
  • be helpful, but don't try to guess what the user wants
  • give the user the power-tools to automate their own desires
• accessible to contributors
  • modules are well-documented
  • code follows best practices
  • focus on being accessible and maintainable, not being clever and complicated
  • focus on being boring and just working, not being shiny and perfect
  • provide an opinionated foundation to build flexible ecosystem
  • living culture builds living tech, not the other way around
  • peer production as a deployment strategy

roadmap

in order to release a minimum viable PeachCloud device, we will be working to solve the following problems:

• how to bring the cloud to your home
  • how to discover the Peach as a wireless access point and connect it to your home network
  • how to setup your Peach to be accessible over the internet using dynamic DNS
  • how to handle hot-plugging USB storage devices used to store your data
  • how to interface with the Peach as a physical device and as an internet-connected device
  • how to build a scalable pattern of Debian-packaged micro-services that each do one thing well
  • how to keep time with a real-time clock
• how to connect your social network
  • how to invite your friends
  • how to monitor data usage, by you and your friends