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Technology Setup for a Trip

Technology Setup for a Trip

February 11, 2025

Software and Hardware setup before trips or vacations.

Software Setup

If you are reading for some time already - You know that I really enjoy SelfHosted Apps.

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For easier setup (specially for servers), you can benefit of being familiar with containers

For content creation, you can have a look to ubuntu studio with tools like gimp or digikam

Communication

You can setup a Matrix Server and then install Element as Chat app

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You can also try Telegram or Signal 💻

VPNs

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Proper DNS Setup is also a good travel companion
Wireguard

You can call Wireguard the VPN client for PROS and not for “Pacos”.

Wireguard (wg-easy) ServerWireguard (wg-easy) Server
VPS and Wiregaurd VPN
Tailscale
TailScale Setup ↗ Wifi2Eth with Wireguard ↗
Quick Tailscale Server Setup for Travelling 📌
curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
# sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https &&
# curl -fsSL https://pkgs.tailscale.com/stable/raspbian/buster.gpg | sudo apt-key add - &&
# curl -fsSL https://pkgs.tailscale.com/stable/raspbian/buster.list | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/tailscale.list &&
# sudo apt-get update &&
# sudo apt-get install tailscale &&
sudo tailscale up
tailscale ip -4 #get the ip 

#sudo tailscale logout
#sudo tailscale down

Make this device available as exit node:

echo 'net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf &&
echo 'net.ipv6.conf.all.forwarding = 1' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf &&
sudo sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.conf &&
sudo tailscale down

sudo tailscale up --advertise-exit-node

This required a final action on tailscale web UI.

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Which you can combine with Mullvad 💻

Trip Planner

Trip Planner PostTrip Planner Post
Weather Trends with Python
Go Pro Telemetry EDAGo Pro Telemetry EDA
EDA Metadata Extraction at PyRouteTracker
How to Setuo AdventureLog with Containers Selfhosting AirTrail
Quick Trip Planner Deployment 📌
RE Calculator - Post Job Offers and CV Creation

Maps

You can install Organic Maps as Android app..

..but also on Linux:

flatpak install flathub app.organicmaps.desktop #https://flathub.org/apps/app.organicmaps.desktop

Before I was using maps.me, but it became so bloated lately.

To record your routes as GPX

  1. https://github.com/OpenTracksApp/OpenTracks

OpenTracks is a sport tracking application that completely respects your privacy.

  1. https://github.com/jonasoreland/runnerup

A open source run tracker

  1. https://codeberg.org/jannis/FitoTrack

FitoTrack - A privacy oriented fitness tracker for Android

And they can be combined with FitTrackee

AGPL 3.0 | Self-hosted outdoor activity tracker 🚴

  1. https://github.com/IoTechCrafts/AdventureLog

Self-hostable travel tracker and trip planner.

  1. If you are using a car/camper, this might be helpful:
Android On LinuxAndroid On Linux
Waydroid Setup
  1. https://github.com/gpxstudio/gpx.studio

MIT | the online GPX file editor

BackUps

Nextcloud

If you will be recording at 4K, you will need back up space.

Here it comes Nextcloud as a backup solution, as it has clients for desktop/web/android/ios.

I also like Syncthing but it does not have ios app

Get one of these connected to your SBCs at home and you are ready:

Crucial SSD for a PiCrucial SSD for a Pi
Ready to Plug to MiniPC or SBc

Remember that Nextcloud is a full fledged selfhosted cloud.

Quick NextCloud Server Container Deployment 📌

NC together with MariaDB Compose

version: '2'

# volumes:
#   nextcloud:
#   db:

services:
  nextclouddb:
    image: linuxserver/mariadb:10.11.8
    restart: always
    container_name: nextclouddb
    volumes:
      - /home/Docker/nextcloud/db:/var/lib/mysql
    environment:
      - MYSQL_INITDB_SKIP_TZINFO=1
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=rootpass
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=ncpass
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=nextcloud
      - MYSQL_USER=nextcloud
#    networks: ["nginx_nginx_network"] #optional 

  nextcloudapp:
    image: nextcloud:30.0.0 #latest
    container_name: nextcloud
    restart: always
    ports:
      - 8035:80
    links:
      - nextclouddb
    volumes:
      - /home/Docker/nextcloud/html:/var/www/html
    environment:
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=ncpass
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=nextcloud
      - MYSQL_USER=nextcloud
      - MYSQL_HOST=db
      - NEXTCLOUD_TRUSTED_DOMAINS= http://orangepi5.blablabla.ts.net:8035 #http://0.0.0.0:8050 #https://nextcloud.yourduckdnsubdomain.duckdns.org/
#    networks: ["nginx_nginx_network"] #optional 
 
# networks: #optional
#   nginx_nginx_network: #optional
#     external: true #optional
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Setup Nextcloud as Docker container

Other Image Center Backups

  1. Lychee
  2. Piwigo
  3. Photoview
  4. Ente, PhotoPrism, Immich…
  5. And…PiGallery2: which provides the following cool web UI!

PiGallery2 Map Zoom

…You can see These tools covered at this post

Hardware Setup

Travel pack

Remember that a VPS Setup or some SBCs at home would be good companions.

Single Board Computers vs Thinkpad x13

To bring with you, a compact laptop can also be interesting.

This one is ~1.2kg, a tablet can be ~500g

You can also take a 4G LTE Wingle, like the OLAX:

4g-OLAX-Portable-Router

Action Cam

About DJi Oa5 ProAbout DJi Oa5 Pro
Learning more about this action camera
Video WorkflowVideo Workflow
With the Asrock x300

Some people bring their drons.

But my DJI Tello dron is more a 101 tool to get started with dron flying while doing some Python test on it.

I saw some people mounting action cameras on their drons with some adjustments.

SmartPhone

I am very happy with the Android Pixel 8 Pro

Maybe some backup?

Router

TPLink MR200TPLink MR200
4G Home Router Review
Travel Router SetupTravel Router Setup
GL-MT3000 review and VPN Setup

You can also get one of these portable 4G usb router (and bring a sim adapter):

4g router

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Not all esims on your phone allow you to use them as Hotspot

See: https://www.simyo.es/preguntas-frecuentes/esim.html or airalo

Ive been experimenting with the travel router around and…

If you need to login to a hotel network, where credentials (user/pass) are required, this will prompt:

TailScale Setup with the MT3000
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Can’t access the internet via the repeated hotspot. Try to enter Login Mode for Public Hotspots to fix the issue. Note this mode will pause VPNs and custom DNS until it leave, which may cause data leaks to the provider of the hotspot (e.g., hotel/mall).

Wifi Login UI on MT3000

Conclusions

After travelling and hopefully learning new perspectives, you can create a website to tell your story.

My StoryMy Story
Stories with this MTB

Bonus

  1. Movemouse

GPL 3.0 | Move Mouse is a simple piece of software that is designed to simulate user activity.

  1. https://github.com/CHerSun/NoSleep

Cost of Living

Sometime ago I got to know this site: https://www.numbeo.com

A pure reflection of the knowledge of crowds, applied for cost of living.

At the time of writing, these are separeted by x1.4 without rent

If you are planning a trip and want to make a guess on the costs, its worth to have a look!

FAQ

Sharing Expenses with Spliit

If you are not aware of Spliit for sharing expenses with others:

MIT | Spliit is a free and open-source alternative to Splitwise, aimed at simplifying expense sharing among friends and family.

Spliit | Travel expenses 📌

It addresses the need for a user-friendly platform to manage shared expenses without the hassle of ads or fees.

Key Features:

  • Create and share groups for expense tracking.
  • Add detailed expenses with descriptions.
  • Display balances within groups.
  • Create reimbursement expenses.
  • Progressive Web App (PWA) functionality.
  • Option to split expenses unevenly.
  • Ability to upload images and scan receipts for expenses.
  • Future features may include recurring expenses and import from Splitwise.

Technology Stack:

  1. Next.js for web application framework.
  2. TailwindCSS for styling.
  3. Prisma for database access.
  4. Vercel for hosting.

Local Development:

  • Clone the repository and set up a local PostgreSQL server.
  • Follow setup instructions to run the application locally or in a Docker container.

Spliit offers a robust solution for managing shared expenses and simplifies the process for users.

Spliit an fantastic project to have a look to.

In my opinion its just missing the possibility to add different currencies.

The good thing?

You can get a .json report to analyze later what has been going during the trip.

Open in Google Colab

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A sample ipynb nb is waiting for you here

Alternatively, you can use DollarDollar with multicurrency expenses support!

What about containers?

Containers are great for SelfHosting.

And you can see how simple is to get up and running with docker and Portainer:

No wonder why Containers are one of my favourite technologies to use for app reliability!

More Cool Software

Thanks to this sites, I get to know more cool apps:

  1. https://openalternative.co/self-hosted

Which can be seen also as an awsome Astro project!

  1. https://alternateoss.com/

  2. https://youmightnotneed.co/

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