raspi-blu

Inspiration

Often when I start a new project with a raspberry pi the first thing I want to do is connect it to wifi and SSH into it. Before you can do that you must configure SSH and update the WPA supplicant config. To do this you need a monitor with HDMI and a keyboard, and sometimes I don't have those on hand.

What it does

Raspi Blu is a raspberry pi distribution that is configured with Bluetooth and SSH enabled. There is an accompanying mobile app the you can use to pair with the pi and send it the wifi credentials. The raspberry pi will then connect to the wifi and enable you to login via SSH.

How I built it

I used the PyBlueZ Bluetooth library to connect from the raspberry pi. I also used Android Studio to build an Android app to connect to it.

Challenges I ran into

Fortunately there were no major roadblocks, although I had a small detour when I corrupted my SD and had to rebuild it with all the dependencies.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

It was my first time using Bluetooth and my first Mobile app

What I learned

How to build a mobile app and use the Bluetooth APIs, also how to connect to Bluetooth devices from the raspberry pi.

What's next for raspi-blu

I need to actually shrink the SD card contents into a reusable image or use a tool to build one with all the dependencies. Finally, I need to polish the App and publish it to Google Play.