Tech Specs

The hardware specs for the flagship Direbox are:

Single Board Computer

  • Raspberry Pi Zero 2W
  • 1GHz quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A53 CPU
  • 512MB SDRAM

Display

  • SSD1306 OLED
  • 128x64 px resolution
  • 0.96" diagonal size
  • Dual button interface
  • I2C serial control

Battery

  • 3000mAh LiPo
  • Up to 15 hours continuous runtime
  • 500mA charge controller
  • MicroUSB charging port

Wireless I/O

  • 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g/n wireless LAN
  • Bluetooth 4.2, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), onboard antenna

Body

  • PLA+
  • 3D printed

Accessory interface

  • MicroUSB OTG
  • MicroUSB to USB-C cable included
  • Exposed GPIO pin for custom PTT

Direbox HAT

In addition to the standard Direbox, you can also build a Direbox using your own Raspberry Pi. We support the following models:

  • Raspberry Pi Zero 2W
  • Raspberry Pi 3 (all variants)
  • Raspberry Pi 4 (all variants)

Please note that Direbox images do not support Raspberry Pi 5 or greater at this time. If you're interested in support for this model, please get in touch to express your interest!

Direbox sort of works on Raspberry Pi Zero W but the single core and low clock speed SoC make for a poor user experience.

We offer a Direbox HAT for a full-size Raspberry Pi that includes the standard SSD1306 OLED and two-button interface but is not battery powered and has no onboard charging circuits. It's a great option for those who already own a Pi and plan on using Direbox from a fixed location.

The Direbox .iso will run just fine without the HAT but it's a nice feature to have ;)

Software

Direbox is written primarily in Python and uses a Flask backend running on Raspberry Pi OS. Its front-end uses VueJS and the Jinja2 templating engine. Direbox's software TNC and AX.25 modem is powered by the open-source Direwolf project (WB2OSZ).

See Credits and Protocol for additional software information.