Software program engineer Cody Tolene has designed a software to transform a Raspberry Pi Pico W — and, probably, the as-yet unannounced Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W — right into a Wi-Fi captive portal, with devoted show for reside suggestions.
“Flip your Raspberry Pi Pico W into a transportable, highly effective Wi-Fi entry level with this light-weight captive portal software program,” Tolene writes of his creation. “Whether or not you are testing networks, showcasing net initiatives, or exploring IoT [Internet of Things], this software provides you the flexibleness to do all of it. It’s simply adaptable for numerous functions — serve net functions, demo single-page apps (SPAs), or arrange captive portals for community safety testing.”
The Pico Portal XL (above) and Mini (high) are battery-powered Wi-Fi captive portal devices, pushed by a Raspberry Pi Pico W. (📷: Cody Tolene)
The firmware for the challenge is written in MicroPython, and units the Raspberry Pi Pico W’s Wi-Fi radio up in entry level mode — permitting different units to hook up with it. Makes an attempt to browse the net will redirect the related gadget to the software program’s personal touchdown web page, written with Node.js — the “captive” a part of “captive portal.”
The Pico Portal is greater than only a software program challenge, although: Tolene has designed it round two show boards from Sheffield, UK-based Pimoroni — the compact Pico Show Pack and the bigger Pico Show Pack 2.0 — to offer reside suggestions on related units. These are paired with an appropriate lithium-polymer battery in a 3D-printed housing, permitting for on-the-go operation.
The on-board show is used to indicate configuration info and log contents, with particulars saved to the gadget for later evaluation. (📹: Cody Tolene)
“[You can] serve net content material/pages and show real-time connection information instantly on the onboard Pimoroni display,” Tolene explains. “Log all of the connection particulars for later debugging and use! I spent a very long time engaged on this challenge and plan to assist it long run. Actually hoping the neighborhood joins in and helps me enhance it from right here.”
The supply code for the challenge is out there on GitHub, together with a invoice of supplies for constructing your personal Pico Portal Mini or Pico Portal XL, underneath the Inventive Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Worldwide Public License; Tolene has indicated plans to launch the case design recordsdata on the market on his retailer, Lambda Guru — although on the time of writing solely fully-assembled units have been listed on the market, priced at $99.99 for the Pico Portal Mini and $119.99 for the Pico Portal XL.