Install BibleBox on Android Mobile Devices

Thanks to some work by BibleBoxer Peter Brassington, the BibleBox is now available to run on jailbroken Android devices.

The BibleBox is based on open licensed software from Piratebox and Librarybox projects and Peter has based the Android version of BibleBox from Piratebox Android.

Now a user with a jailbroken Android device can install Android BibleBox and share files from their device in the same way they would share them from a portable wifi router.  Their device acts as a hotspot sharing BibleBox files on the device or SD card.

Peter has set out easy to follow instructions on Box.com here: https://app.box.com/s/dcm7stkfsekfol48a9oo  

Android BibleBox Logos

The following Android BibleBox logos below are ones I created which could be used to customise this BibleBox version but you can easily create your own to suit your ministry. Right-click to Save them to your computer then follow Peter’s instructions to place them in the correct folder.

piratebox-logo-horizontal-white

 

 

piratebox-logo-small

right click – save as

 

 

 

piratebox-logo

 

PirateBox for Android by fun2code is Open Source. fun2code also developed PAW server which we used for mobile filesharing on Android phones before Estante came out from MAF-LT.
Source code is available at GitHub: https://github.com/joschi70/AndroidPirateBox

Fix for Chatbox overflowing text

If you have had a number of people connect and chat using the BibleBox you would have noticed that the chat messages end up overflowing across the form fields. An example is shown below:

BibleBox chat messages

on right – Chat messages end up obscuring the chat Form field

I have modified the html and css for this and the updated files to replace structure.css, index.html and chat.html are available here.

I changed the code so that the Chat messages stay within the frame and a scrollbar appears once messages reach the limits of the frame.

 

 

 

 

 

BibleBox interface updated with WEB Bible

I have just updated and tested the web interface for the BibleBox.  It now contains an HTML version of the WEB (World English Bible).  From the main menu, BibleBox now links to the Home screen and the Home button is replaced with “Bible”, which opens the World English Bible on the BibleBox USB.

The update doesnt affect your shared folders at all, it simply replaces the web interface and adds the WEB Bible to the BibleBox. (more…)

Using a BibleBox in a “restricted access” context

I had a comment on using a BibleBox in a restricted access country. The person was pleased to see that the BibleBox label was simply a sticker so it could be removed if necessary.

It prompted me to write a short “How to” on what you can do to totally remove “Bible” from the device if you needed to.

External – simply remove the sticker

Internal – you’ll need to change the wifi SSID, Web HTML text, logo image and Hostname.

You’ll also need to modify the Chatbox text (how to do that is here…)

Remember the BibleBox will still make files available on wifi if it is in a small bag or pouch.  Many times when I am out I have the BibleBox turned on and in a pocket of my laptop bag.

Another option is to go Ninja style and put your BibleBox in a small camera or hard drive case such as the one shown below.BibleBox ninja style

Changing the BibleBox webpage Logo

To change the logo seen on the BibleBox webpages, create a new .PNG image 280 x 60 pixels in size called logo_biblebox-320×69.png.  Once you’ve created it save it onto your BibleBox USB drive in the folder – Content>img replacing the original logo.  If you want to keep a backup of the original BibleBox logo better do that before overwriting with your new one.

Changing the HTML BibleBox webpage text

To remove any BibleBox references in the webpages, simply open each page in a text or html editor and make the necessary changes.

Change the name of the BibleBox SSID

The default name for the BibleBox wifi network is “BibleBox files”.  To change this to something else, on the USB open the Config folder and the file – ssid.txt.  Modify the content of this file to your desired SSID name, insert the USB back in the BibleBox device and restart.

Changing the Hostname from BibleBox.lan to something else

To change the Hostname – the address seen in the URL or address bar on your wifi device – modify the content of the text file called hostname.txt and system_hostname.txt.  If you open these files (found on the USB in the Config folder) you will see BibleBox.lan, simply change this and save the text files.  Once you restart the BibleBox your changes will be actioned.

Changing the Chatbox text from BibleBox to something else

Using Terminal (Mac) or PuTTY (PC) app:

  1. connect your BibleBox to your computer
  2. make sure your computer has IP address 192.168.1.2
  3. use Terminal or PuTTY ssh into BibleBox ssh root@192.168.1.1 plus your BibleBox password
  4. change the directory to the location of the chatbox file you want to modify, type:  cd /opt/piratebox/conf
  5. to modify the initial chat box content txt file type –

vi chat_init.txt

  1. press i to go into edit mode
  2. make your edit
  3. press Esc to go back to command mode
  4. type :w to save your edit, press enter/return key
  5. type :q, then press enter/return to quit editing
  6. Restart the BibleBox to apply the changes

 

Convert your Librarybox to a BibleBox

BibleBox is based on Piratebox and Librarybox software.  If you already have a standard Librarybox setup you can easily convert it to a BibleBox by following these steps:

  1. Download the following BibleBox files –
    • BibleBox files – alters functionality and rebranding BibleBox – zip file – 600KB
  2. Unzip the files and you will see 3 folders – Config, Content and Shared
  3. Insert the USB from your Librarybox into your computer
  4. Copy the Config and Content folders from BibleBox to your USB drive, replacing the contents on your Librarybox USB – this will overwrite the Librarybox webpages and config files with BibleBox UI and config (more…)