How-to

Install slowhub

Run a hub on a Slowboard 1085, or on a Linux machine of your own, and connect a screen to it.

On a Slowboard 1085

Nothing to do: the Slowboard image includes slowhub, already configured. Follow Set up a Slowboard 1085, then Install a slowapp.

On a Linux machine of your own

A hub can run on another machine, such as a Raspberry Pi or a home server, and serve screens over your network. That is useful when a screen’s own computer is too small to run apps, or when you want one hub for several screens.

TODO(owner): this path hasn’t been documented end to end. Confirm which machines and operating systems are supported, where to download slowhub for x86_64 and 64-bit ARM, and the minimum memory. Until then, the steps below are the parts that are known from the Slowboard 1085’s setup.

What it needs

Linux with systemd.
Podman, run rootless, with dbus-user-session installed so that memory limits apply to containers.
A user for the hub to run as. On the Slowboard 1085 it is epaper.
Enough memory for the apps you want to run at once: each app’s manifest states its limit (Reminders 48 MB, Weather 256 MB), plus the hub’s own reserve.

Install the service

slowhub runs as a systemd user service for its user. As root:

apt install dbus-user-session
cp slowhub.service /etc/systemd/user/
loginctl enable-linger epaper
systemctl --user -M epaper@ daemon-reload
systemctl --user -M epaper@ enable --now slowhub

The unit runs /opt/slowboard/bin/slowhub --config /etc/slowhub/slowhub.toml serve. slowhub reference has the configuration file.

TODO(owner): where do slowhub.service, the tmpfiles and logind snippets, and the binary come from for someone who isn’t building from the repository?

Let screens connect

A screen on another machine connects over TCP with a token. In /etc/slowhub/slowhub.toml, turn on the listener and allow the names the screen will use:

listen_device_tcp = "0.0.0.0:8090"
host_allow = ["myhub", "myhub.local"]

Restart slowhub, then create a token for the screen. It is printed once. (Run slowhub commands as the hub’s user; the reference has the full command line.)

slowhub device add kitchen

On the screen’s computer, point slowd at the hub in /etc/slowd/slowd.toml and put the token in the file named by token_file:

[hub]
url = "http://myhub:8090"
token_file = "/etc/slowd/hub.token"

slowhub device list shows the screens a hub knows, and slowhub device revoke ID removes one.

TODO(owner): connections between a screen and a remote hub are plain HTTP today; HTTPS is planned. Say whether to recommend this only on a trusted network for now.

Hosted hub

A hub hosted by us is coming soon.