What do you do with your Raspberry Pi?

[pragmatist]

Hi Penny, thanks for your reply.

I notice on your wiki it says the Pi connects to the internet via an ethernet connection. I'm not looking to do that, I'm after a wireless connection that connects to the marina network and uses that to create the hotspot.

With regards your pricing, I don't understand the monthly server charge. Can you explain this in more detail? Are you saying you are providing a centralised server and we log into that?

Hi demonboy

No - we're not talking an ethernet connection (did I miss that - would love to know where you found it as documentation always seems to have summat wrong somewhere!). The RPi can have a wireless receiver to talk to your marina wifi transmitter. It then offers up the signal to those on board via a wireless access point so you need 2 usb wireless devices. However, if you cruise off to some bay where there is no wifi but there is mobile broadband signal then you can replace the wireless receiver with a 3G dongle and still have a hotspot usable by all on board.

Skippers Mate is becoming all things to all men. In addition to offering hotspot functionality, it can also provide remote access to your boat e.g. from home, the airport or wherever. For this, you need access to a server to redirect you to the RPi on your boat. The software is free and the basic service (log into the server and visit your boat to see camera, GPS etc. is also free.

The free version will also send you email alerts - but on a lower service level (1-6 hours) than the full system.

If you want more functionality - immediate SMS alerts and immediate email alerts, plus storing video of some so-and-so nicking your boat, the ability to plot your current cruise so you or your family can see it (via the server), plots of previous cruises (with your text and photo annotations) then you need to upgrade to the full iicence (monthly charge).

We're currently working on sensors and reporting any other disasters (sinking, fire ...) and control - turning heating, fridge etc on and off. There seems little limit to the powers of a Raspberry ! We think we'll stop short of sailing the boat from A to B without ever being on board

Hope this helps.

Penny

 

[demonboy]

No - we're not talking an ethernet connection (did I miss that - would love to know where you found it as documentation always seems to have summat wrong somewhere!).

First line:

This project configures your Raspberry Pi to connect to the Internet through ethernet

And then under the 'What do you need'

An Ethernet cable to connect to the local network.

I'd be using two wireless antennas, one to pick up the connection and one to act as a hotspot. I'll need a long-range antenna to boost the marina wifi and then a normal wifi dongle for the hotspot. The rest of that page is useful though and will serve as a guide to getting myself set up.

What I really need to know is the best hardware for the job (not including the Pi), ideally powered by USB or at the most 5v. There are plenty of long-range antennas around but which ones are supported by Linux and which ones run efficiently on the boat's 12v DC system.

 

[laika]

Going back to the hotspot/repeater idea, I'm interested to hear how people set this up, i.e. what software and hardware was required.

Hardware I have a wifi bat as the "external" interface. I use an old d-link dongle (RaLink RT2571W chipset) as the "internal" interface. The tricky bit is selecting a dongle which supports master mode (i.e. allows the pi to function as an access point). I believe the dongles which adafruit (US outfit who peddle a lot of pi accessories) sell support this and there's a tutorial on setting up a pi access point on their web site.

Software-wise I use hostapd, isc-dhcpd and bind9. I use the latter two because I'm familiar with them. If I wasn't I might give dnsmasq a look. Obviously wpa-supplicant for connecting to remote access points and a liberal sprinkling of mucking about with iptables. The big weak link is lack of a nice web GUI to make selecting the external SSID to connect to and entering a password easy. It's all a bit command line at the moment. On my very extensive to do list though. radvd and a VPN to the IPv6-connected server which surely everyone has in a data centre somewhere for added IPv6-connected credit which is probably not high on most people's priority list.

Not confident about the pi's ability to supply a decent amount of power to a long range wifi device via USB: others may know better but I'm currently using an externally powered USB hub to connect the bat. The pi works as an access point just fine with just the dlink dongle plugged directly into the pi and no external connectivity. Some udev configuration may be necessary to preserve the device mapping for usb wireless devices if you're in the habit of unplugging and replugging them.

EDIT: I bought the wifi bat some time ago. It works well but I'm not convinced that it's a very cost effective solution compared with things other people here have said they're using.

 

[agurney]

What I really need to know is the best hardware for the job (not including the Pi), ideally powered by USB or at the most 5v. There are plenty of long-range antennas around but which ones are supported by Linux and which ones run efficiently on the boat's 12v DC system.

I have two Alsa wifi boosters of different powers that are plug and play on the Pi (and works just as simply with a Debian laptop that I also use from time to time).
I also keep an Edimax nano dongle permanently attached to the Pi (it's tiny and brilliant).
No reason to believe that I couldn't set up a repeater station with that lot, but I don't need that capability so haven't bothered .. maybe something to do if there's a rainy day.


re. power, something like this will provide more than enough for your pi and peripherals (including USB hub) : http://tinyurl.com/pt2vg4v

 

[pessimist]

Have had success with these - http://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-usb-rocket-bgn.html on the boat with a laptop (Fedora). Not tried one with the Raspberry yet but no reason to suppose it wouldn't work. Otherwise echo what laika said about the access point on the Raspberry.

 

[Forty_Two]

I've just read your thread on this project. Have you ever written up a breakdown on how you set this system up? Alternatively, perhaps you could just tell me when you're going into production with this

No news yet I am afraid, wife is not well so bit occupied