// Software
AERA-Gateway
The Raspberry Pi side of the AERA Atari programs: the gateways that give an Atari ST, STE, TT or Falcon modern mail, calendars, contacts, file transfer and Claude, and one program, aera-gateway, that sets them up, keeps them up to date and says how they are.
- Raspberry Pi
One Raspberry Pi on the home network makes the secure connections an Atari can’t, for mail, calendars, contacts, file transfer and Claude.
The Story
Servers on the internet want encrypted connections today, and an Atari can’t make them at a usable speed, or at all. So the AERA programs talk plainly to a Raspberry Pi on the home network, and the Pi makes the secure connection onwards: emailgate for EMail, ecalgate for ECal and EContact, eftpgate for EFTP, and ClaudeST’s own bridge.
One program, aera-gateway, installs each gateway as a service under a user of its own, prints what to type into the Atari program and keeps the Pi at the latest release. The gateways answer only addresses on the home network, check every server’s certificate and name, and log who connected where, never what went through.
How it connects
plain IMAP, SMTP, POP3
plain HTTP, proxy form
plain FTP
Getting started
- On the Pi (Raspberry Pi OS bullseye or newer, or any Debian or Ubuntu with Python 3.9 or newer), in your home folder, install git:
sudo apt install -y git. Raspberry Pi OS Lite comes without it. - Fetch AERA-Gateway and go into it:
git clone https://github.com/whomper/AERA-Gateway, thencd AERA-Gateway. - Run
./update-pi.sh: it takes this copy to AERA-Gateway’s latest release. - Install only the gateways you need, with your own mail provider’s servers and your Atari’s address:
sudo gateway/aera-gateway install mail imap.gmail.com smtp.gmail.com pop.gmail.com,sudo gateway/aera-gateway install dav,sudo gateway/aera-gateway install ftp,sudo gateway/aera-gateway install claude --network --atari 192.168.1.20. Each prints what to type into its Atari program. - Type the Pi’s address, not its name, into the Atari programs: EMail, Options > Accounts: server
PI_IP, IMAP 143 (or POP3 110), SMTP 587. ECal and EContact, Settings > Connection: Pi gatewayPI_IP, port 8180. EFTP, Options > Settings > Secure: Pi gatewayPI_IP, port 2121. ClaudeST, Options > Settings > Network:PI_IP, port 2323. On a Falcon or TT, EMail, ECal, EContact and EFTP can make the secure connections themselves (Falcon mode) and need the Pi only for SFTP. - Now and then, run
./update-pi.shagain: every gateway on the Pi is brought up to date, ClaudeST’s bridge from ClaudeST’s latest release, with all settings, keys and chats kept. gateway/aera-gateway statussays what runs where, andsudo gateway/aera-gateway remove SERVICEtakes one away.
Highlights
- Four services on one Pi: mail for EMail, dav for ECal and EContact, ftp for EFTP and claude for ClaudeST.
- One program,
aera-gateway, sets them up, keeps them up to date and says how they are. - Releases only:
./update-pi.shtakes the Pi to the latest release, every setting, key and chat kept. - Safe updates: a new gateway replaces the old one only once it answers on its ports; otherwise the old one comes back.
- Home network only: the gateways answer only private addresses, and
--allowlimits one to your Atari. - Checked TLS: TLS 1.2 or newer, with every server’s certificate and name checked.
- Feeds trimmed to the months ECal keeps, so a calendar feed of several megabytes fits an ST.
- Each on its own: every gateway runs as its own service, under a user with no access to the rest of the Pi.
Requirements
- A Raspberry Pi with Raspberry Pi OS bullseye or newer, or any Debian or Ubuntu computer
- Python 3.9 or newer
- git (Raspberry Pi OS Lite comes without it)
- python3-paramiko for SFTP; install ftp adds it
- The Pi on the Atari’s home network, or a serial cable for ClaudeST
Credits
- Written by AERA | Erez Yaary
- Free software under the GNU GPL, version 2 or later
- web-proxy/wrp-custom.patch changes WRP (tenox7) and stays under WRP’s own licence
- Tested in emulation: CI on every push: Python 3.9, 3.11, 3.12 and 3.13 (Raspberry Pi OS bullseye, bookworm and trixie, Ubuntu 24.04), and the installer for real on a computer with systemd
// Works with
