After a week of evenings spending time trying to get my Pirate Box project working, on a TL-MR3020 I’d acquired. I finally got to test it this weekend in public.

Following David Darts guide, I couldn’t get Pirate Box to install on the USB. Initially I wasn’t using a 2.0 stick, but even when I switched to one PB wouldn’t install fully.

So brave me tried a different approach 😉
After reading of the success stories of experienced Pirates trying out the V1.0 beta version, I decided to give it a go, after all what did I have to lose?

The process went well, and quickly, without a hitch. There is still maybe a little personalization I’d like to apply, and a couple more functions, but the box certainly works.

I’ve dropped a few of the traditional Pirate Box share files on my box, classic novels from the LibraryBox starter Kit, together with a few free flash games kindly donated by the inspirational and talented Pippin Barr

So what next?

So the test went well, although I need to encourage more people to use it, and know it’s available.

• extend the range
  • I’m not keen on buying another router just yet, so will see if I can extend the aerial range of the TP-Link
• personalise the front end and wi-fi name
  • see if I can make the name more inviting
  • make the landing page less Pirate and geeky… even though I’m quite keen on the current set up, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea
• market it
  • I’m not thinking of adverts in the tabloids, but cool QR codes around the circumference of the range