Campfire

Campfire: A prototype for local-first file sharing

Proposal

How can we share files in a direct and personal way with the people in our immediate surroundings? We would like to develop a prototype for a server that we can sit around in a circle, exchanging files with each other without using the internet. It works like a cozy campfire—only instead of stories, we share files.

How to implement?

We could use a server charm such as the ones from the actinomy collective (see: Server Charm Workshop. This is a portable server made from a ESP32 microcontroller, powered by a small battery. Instead of transmitting one site via a WiFi from a server that belongs to one person only, it would be interesting to see if we can all connect to the same server. One goal is to be able to share images with each other, despite the small storage space. To share images with small file sizes, we could use pixelated or dithered images,or SVGs.

Another option is to use a RaspberryPi, which would allow for a bit more freedom in regards to storage space.

Testing

guestbook page

The model is ESP32 C3 Super Mini which has 4MB flash memory. Due limited memory, things we can do is very limited. I tried adding image uploading function to it, but the page kept crashing whenever I clicked upload button. I just uploaded the Guestbook page from the Server-Charms workshop following this manual.