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Adafruit Raspberry Pi Finder

The Pi Finder is intended to work with the latest version of Raspbian, so please make sure you have installed Raspbian on your SD card before continuing.

You have your brand new Raspberry Pi, and you are ready to get hacking... Only problem is, you dont have an extra HDMI monitor and keyboard. So how can you find out the IP network address? PI FINDER TO THE RESCUE! Run this cross-platform application to locate your Raspberry Pi's IP address.

But it doesn't end there... Order now and you'll also get the bootstrapping functionality! That's right, the Pi Finder will ssh into the fresh new Pi, update it, set up the wifi SSID and password, set a custom hostname of your choice, and install Occidentalis, a collection of really handy software for you:

  • apt-get update (grabs information on the newest versions of packages)
  • apt-get installs: avahi-daemon, netatalk - so you can connect to raspberrypi.local instead of needing to know the IP address in the future
  • apt-get installs: node, tmux, vim, git - handy development tools!
  • apt-get installs: i2c-tools, python-smbus - tools for letting your connect to common i2c sensors
  • apt-get installs & configures: samba, samba-common-bin - file sharing so you can easily back up your Pi's file or transfer files to it

And, as a bonus, a handy tool we wrote called occi - which will let you change the hostname and wifi details by plugging the SD card into any computer and editing the /boot/occidentalis.txt file (see below).

Looking for code? Occidentalis is maintained as its own GitHub repository.

Note: This project shares a coincidental name with the Pi Finder by Ivan X, a lovely Mac OS X utility that also helps locate a headless Raspberry Pi on your local network. Please visit http://ivanx.com/raspberrypi/ for the other Pi Finder and other fine Raspberry Pi tutorials and projects!

Finding the Pi & Starting the Bootstrap

Please remember that this is beta software, and may be glitchy. We'd love your feedback, but use at your own risk!

We have created a utility that will find a Raspberry Pi connected to your local network and start the bootstrap process. The utility requires you to connect your Pi to your local network via an ethernet cable to start. Once the Pi is bootstrapped, it will be able to use ethernet or WiFi but we need to be able to connect to the Pi the first time around.

Windows, Mac, & Linux App:

finder GUI

Note for Mac users: If you are prevented from launching the app because of your security settings, you can right click on the app and click Open to bypass the warnings

Download the latest release of the Pi Finder utility.

Bootstrap via CLI on Linux or Mac:

$ curl -SLs https://apt.adafruit.com/bootstrap | bash

occidentalis.txt

Occidentalis comes with a configuration helper script called occi, which may be used to set various system options from a text file on your SD card.

The bootstrapping process will help you create the file by prompting for your desired hostname and wifi credentials, but it can also be created as occidentalis.txt on the card at any time. When the Pi is running, edit /boot/occidentalis.txt.

screencast of opening occidentalis.txt in nano

Here's an example file:

# hostname for your Raspberry Pi:
hostname=mypiname

# basic wireless networking options:
wifi_ssid=your network here
wifi_password=your password or passphrase here

Right now, these are the only configuration values supported. Others will be added in time.

By default, occi will run whenever the Pi boots, but can also be run manually with:

sudo occi

Looking for code? occi is maintained in its own GitHub repository.