BerryLan to The Rescue

One of the challenges to building a LiveSectional Map is for builders who are not familiar with Linux and Raspberry Pi’s to dive into the command line and setup the WiFi credentials.

Version 4 incorporates an open source utility called BerryLan. BerryLan provides a phone app for either IPhone or Android phones that quickly allows the builder to set up the WiFi credentials.

It has the added advantage of allowing the Map to be shipped to some other location and the recipient can use the phone app to reset the credentials to their WiFi router.

The following gives the instructions for setting up WiFi upon initial boot.

  • Put your SD Card with the LiveSectional V4 image into the Raspberry Pi and plug the power cord back in to allow it to boot up. The LiveSectional software will look for an internet connection and will not find one which will then activate Bluetooth for Berrylan.
  • Get the Berrylan App – BerryLan is available for all iOS (10.0.0 or later) and Android (4.1 Jellybean or later) devices.
  • Be sure your Bluetooth is enabled on your phone, otherwise BerryLan will not be able to work. You will need to be physically close to your Raspberry Pi.
  • Open the BerryLan app on your phone. If you have completed all the steps successfully, you will see ‘BT WLAN setup‘ in the list. Select this item.
  • Once a successful connection has been established, you will see a list of the available WiFi hotspots around you.
  • Select the appropriate WiFi ssid and enter it’s password.
  • If the password you provided is correct, BerryLan will give your Raspberry Pi access to your WiFi network and display your Raspberry Pi’s local IP Address. Write this down. (Tip: you can touch this IP Address on your phone to copy it to your phone’s clipboard).
  • The software is looking for a WiFi connection, and will continue to do so. So once you have completed the setup with BerryLan, the LiveSectional software will continue.
  • From another computer on the same local network as the RPI, enter the local IP address you wrote down previously into the address bar of the browser, followed by ‘:5000‘. i.e. 192.156.65.23:5000
  • The web interface will then load. From this web site all configurations for the map can be accomplished.

Changing WiFi Locations

Berrylan works by checking if the RPI is connected to a WiFi source. If not, Berrylan turns on the RPI’s Bluetooth to allow the Berrylan phone app to connect and set up the WiFi. So for instance if a builder sets up WiFi at their shop for building purposes then ships the finished map to a friend, the friend can easily set up the WiFi at their location using the phone app.

As a side note, Berrylan turns on the Bluetooth on the RPI for a few minutes each time the RPI boots up. This allows the user to change the WiFi source if desired. But after a few minutes Bluetooth will be disabled.

A big thanks to the folks at Berrylan.org for generously contributing this open source solution to a common issue faced by many people.

Note: If for some reason Berrylan is not going to be used, the builder can still SSH into the RPI using the username pi, and password livesectional. once logged in, enter ‘sudo raspi-config’ to manually setup the wifi credentials.