| Current Version | Release Date | Firmware Download |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 05_03_22 | Download |
- Why does this need to exist?
- Resources
- Get Started
- Learn Ansible
- Read the source code that generates the BuilderHotspot lab
- Why did you make this?
This project makes collaborating on Single Board Computing prototypes easy. It is downloadable firmware that turns your Raspberry Pi into a Wifi Access Point. It uses Ansible orchestration to push software to devices attached to the network. Run a playbook and and build a new fleet of IoT Prototypes.
Why does this need to exist?
- Yocto & Buildroot are too complex for casual prototyping
- Sharing full firmware between developers takes ~3 hours to upload, download & rip full firmware images
- Using shell scripts for configuring a pi are brittle. If a step crashes, usually the whole build stops and you need to start over.
- Shell scripts for building devices isn’t friendly for new developers.
Resources
Ready to get started?
Your prerequisites:
Purchase a Raspberry Pi 3 or 4.
Raspberry pi 3 (Amazon)
Raspberry Pi 4 (Amazon)
Purchase a 16gb or greater micro SD card.
16 gig or greater SD card.
Get Started
Download the firmware.
Rip the firmware to an SDCard
You can rip the firmware to an SDcard using Raspberry Pi Imager. Use a custom image and point to the file you’ve downloaded. If you’ve never used Rasperry Pi Imager, you can learn how to use it here.
Notify me of bugs & ask for help!
File a ticket on github!
Learn Ansible!
- Need a video demo explaining Ansible? Check out Network Chuck’s Ansible Overview
- Getting Started With Ansible
- Learn to make reusable modules with Ansible Roles
- Ansible Roles Resource
Read the source code that generates the BuilderHotspot lab
Firmware source is available.
Look at These Ansible playbook files to see what programs are installed in the firmware and how they are configured.
Why did you make this?
I collaborated with my friend and colleague Amit Agrawal to launch the Alexa Voice Services 3rd party device security program. This team enabled 3rd party device manufacturers to meet Amazon’s security requirements for IoT and Alexa. During that time, we built tools to help 3rd party speaker manufacturers in discovering their own security vulnerabilities. One of those solutions was a wifi hotspot that could help partners detect network-discoverable security weaknesses in wifi-enabled IoT Devices. Collaborating to build that firmware in a reliable & repeatable was way harder than I expected. This annoyed me. After I left Amazon, I built this tooling to make it easier to collaborate & make repeatable IoT prototypes.