About 2 years ago I wanted to create an easier way for guests to get online via my guest WiFi network. I use Ubiquiti / UniFi for my entire network infrastructure, so the possibilities were there. Initially, the thought was to just create a static graphic, print it out, put it in a frame, and be done. But that’s not fun, nor is it in the spirit of the homelab. Not to mention, it doesn’t automatically update, so your code is only good until you change it in the system, then you need to print another copy, replace the one in the frame, etc., etc. No fun.
So what do we do instead? Well, I had reached out on reddit and asked for some ideas on an e-ink solution, and I hit the jackpot. Original post here. Thanks to /u/eibw3n!!
So I created an e-ink display that can pull the configuration from my server and display it all automatically!
I’ll include links to the scripts / software that I used, but this post isn’t going to be about how to get some of the pieces to work. This post is primarily on the scripts to make the image and the Arduino code that runs on the frame.
While you don’t NEED Unifi, this post assumes that you’re using Unifi Network Manager to run the environment. Really all you need at the end of the day is the text of your SSID, and the SSID Encryption Key.
Hardware / Software / APIs Used:
- My GitHub Repository for this Project (GuestWifiTools)
- Inkplate 6COLOR
- Note that the 6COLOR isn’t required (and might not be desirable to some). Screen refreshes on the color variant take almost 15 seconds. The regular black and white one does them as fast as 1 second.
- A ton of stuff from the inkplate arduino sample github
- Unifi Network Manager v7.3.76
- UniFi API Browser v2.0.18
- UniFi API Client v1.1.79
- php-qrcode by Psyon (latest)