Repository navigation
Using the app
The app walks through four steps.
- Permissions. Android asks for nearby devices, and for location on Android 11 and older. Allow them. The app cannot scan for the board without them.
- Connect your board. Turn the board on and keep it nearby, then tap Find PocketWiki. The app looks for the board over Bluetooth and connects. No address to type.
- Wi-Fi for the board. Pick the 2.4 GHz network the board should join, and type its password. The app sends the details over Bluetooth, so the phone does not have to leave its own network.
- Your library is ready. The app shows the address to open in a browser.
You can skip the Wi-Fi step. The board still serves its own network, and you can
set Wi-Fi later from the Device tab or from the board's own /manage page.
Open the address the app shows, or http://pocketwiki/, in the phone's browser.
The board serves the reader itself, so this part works with no internet and no
app.
Library shows what the board holds: each pack, its article count, and the free space. A pack marked as the built-in guide cannot be removed; it ships with the firmware.
Remove a pack with the remove action on its row. The space comes back at once, and the board keeps serving every other pack while it happens.
Packs lists the catalogue, grouped by collection. The app ships a copy of the
catalogue, so the list appears even with no network; it refreshes the copy from
packs.educated.space when the phone has internet.
Choose one or more packs and start the install. The app:
- adds up the declared sizes and compares the total with the free space the board reports, before it starts;
- downloads the whole selection first, because joining the board's network takes the phone off the internet;
- sends the pack bytes over the board's Wi-Fi network when the phone can reach it, and over Bluetooth when it cannot;
- checks the byte count and the SHA-256 of each pack, and the board checks the pack again before it installs it.
A large selection over Bluetooth takes a while. Wi-Fi is much faster, so stay on the board's network when you can.
If an install fails, the board keeps the pack it already had. Nothing is left half written.
Device shows the connection and the board's own state.
- Reconnect over Bluetooth when the app has lost the board, for example after a phone restart.
- Scan for 2.4 GHz networks and save one, when you want the board to fetch packs and catalogue updates by itself.
- Open app settings when a permission was denied.
The board runs its own access point at the same time, so reading never depends on your home network. If the board cannot reach the saved network, it keeps serving its own, and the app can still install packs over Bluetooth.