PiStick

Raspberry Pi Zero Powered Smart USB Stick

Hosts an AP with a captive portal. When you connect you can wirelessly upload files to your USB Drive.

Usage

This allows you to plug into any usb port (TV, Laptop, etc.) and wirelessly transfer files to a virtual USB Flash drive. This lets you play videos from your phone on your TV, upload your favorite photos and share with others. You can also download uploaded data from the captive portal, delete files to make more space, or even tell others to connect to it so they can download data.

Installation

Before installing, make sure everything is up-to-date

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Enable USB Driver

Modify /boot/config.txt and add

dtoverlay=dwc2

Append this to /etc/modules & reboot to load the module

dwc2

Make USB Container File

Make a 2GB bin file. You can change the ammount of MB by changing the count (this may take a while)

sudo dd bs=1M if=/dev/zero of=/piusb.bin count=2048

Format the bin as FAT32

sudo mkdosfs /piusb.bin -F 32 -I

Mount container

Make the directory we'll be using to mount too

sudo mkdir /mnt/usb_share

Append this to /etc/fstab

/piusb.bin  /mnt/usb_share  vfat    users,umask=00  0   02

This will mount the driver automatically and allow for error-checking on boot.

Install Node JS

Download the binaries (Check for latest version here)

wget https://nodejs.org/dist/v10.15.3/node-v10.15.3-linux-armv6l.tar.xz

Extract the tar file

tar xf node-v10.15.3-linux-armv6l.tar.xz

Install Node and NPM

cd node-v10.15.3-linux-armv6l/
sudo cp -R * /usr/local/

Verify the installation by

npm -v
node -v

Go back to your home dir

cd ~

Install PiStick

Make sure git is installed

sudo apt install git -y

Clone this repository

git clone https://github.com/CPunch/PiStick.git

Install Dependencies

cd PiStick/PiStick-WebServer
sudo chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

Test and make sure WebServer is running

sudo node start.js

Now we need to make sure it starts when booting, edit /etc/rc.local and put this right before exit 0

cd /home/pi/PiStick/PiStick-WebServer
node start.js &

Install HostAPD and make the Captive Portal

Make sure to do this step LAST. After running an accesspoint you will NOT be able to access the internet from your pi after reboot.

Install dnsmasq and hostapd

sudo apt-get install dnsmasq hostapd

Setup static address in dhcpcd, append this to /etc/dhcpcd.conf

interface wlan0
    static ip_address=192.168.4.1/24
    nohook wpa_supplicant

Setup DNSMASQ, move conf file and make a new one.

sudo mv /etc/dnsmasq.conf /etc/dnsmasq.conf.orig  
sudo nano /etc/dnsmasq.conf

Type or copy this into the file

interface=wlan0      # Use the require wireless interface - usually wlan0
  dhcp-range=192.168.4.2,192.168.4.20,255.255.255.0,24h
address=/#/192.168.4.1 # redirect to our captive portal

That configures the addresses to lease and the lease time. It also redirects all traffic to our captive portal!

Now, configure hostapd located at /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf

interface=wlan0
driver=nl80211
ssid=pistick
country_code=US
hw_mode=g
channel=7
wmm_enabled=0
macaddr_acl=0
auth_algs=1
ignore_broadcast_ssid=0
wpa=2
wpa_passphrase=Pi_Stick
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
wpa_pairwise=TKIP
rsn_pairwise=CCMP

Defaults: SSID: pistick Passphrase: Pi_Stick

Feel free to change this!

Now we need to tell hostapd where to find that file, edit /etc/default/hostapd and add this at the top

DAEMON_CONF="/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf"

Now you need to reload the services.

sudo systemctl enable dnsmasq
sudo systemctl enable hostapd

NOTE if you get an error about hostapd.service being masked, run this:

sudo systemctl unmask hostapd
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start hostapd
sudo systemctl enable hostapd

Now the installation is done, reboot!

sudo reboot